Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 3 · Baby names
How many babies were given your name each year since 1880?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Type any name to see how many U.S. babies were given it each year since 1880, for girls or boys. Emma, shown first, went from 2,003 girls in 1880 down to 414 in 1976, then back up to a peak of 22,719 in 2003; in 2025 it was 12,754. The counts come from Social Security card applications, so the early years undercount everyone. A year with fewer than 5 babies of a name shows as 0, because Social Security leaves those names out for privacy.
How to read this chart
Each point is the number of U.S. babies given a name in one year, from Social Security card applications. Type any name to see its line, for girls or boys. These are counts, not shares, and far more babies are born today than in 1880, so a count can grow just because the country did.
Questions to discuss
- Look up your own name or a friend's. When was it most popular, and what might explain that?
- Why are counts from the 1880s lower than counts today, even for names that were very popular then?
- How could you change these counts to fairly compare a name's popularity in 1900 with today?
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications (national data) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 3 · World
What is the unemployment rate in each country?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2025, 4.2% of workers in the United States were unemployed, against 4.8% worldwide; the highest rate was 34.2% in Eswatini, and the lowest 0.1%, in Qatar. Search 182 countries and territories. These are the International Labour Organization's estimates, which count people without work who are looking for it and fill gaps where a country runs no regular survey, so they can differ from a country's own figures.
How to read this chart
Each bar is the share of a country's workers who have no job and are looking for one, estimated by the International Labour Organization. The dashed line is the world. People who aren't looking for work, such as students and retirees, aren't counted as unemployed at all.
Questions to discuss
- Is the United States above or below the world rate, and by about how many percentage points?
- A country can have low unemployment while many people earn very little. How is that possible?
- Why would someone who has given up looking for work not count as unemployed? Does that make the number more or less useful?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 3 of 3 · Crime
Is violent crime in the U.S. going up or down?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Down, over the long run. Police reported about 329 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2025, about 59% below the 1991 peak of about 798, and the lowest since at least 1985. The rate rose in 2020 and 2022, then fell in 2023, 2024 and 2025. In 2021 the FBI stopped taking its old summary reports and accepted only its newer, more detailed system (NIBRS); many police departments hadn't switched yet, so agencies covering only about 77% of Americans reported, against 88 to 98% in other years, and 2021's number is less certain. Rates count only the agencies that reported, so they differ a little from the FBI's national estimates, and the FBI widened its definition of rape in 2013.
How to read this chart
Each point is the number of violent crimes police reported for every 100,000 Americans that year. The line starts at zero, so its height shows the true size. In 2021 the FBI changed how it collects reports and fewer police departments sent numbers, so that year is less certain than the others.
Questions to discuss
- Find the year with the highest rate. About how much lower is the rate in the latest year?
- Many people say they think crime is rising. How could that belief and this chart both seem true to different people?
- Why might a change in how crimes are counted, like the one in 2021, make one year hard to compare with the rest?
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Uniform Crime Reporting Program (Public domain (U.S. government work); source FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
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