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.

  1. Which U.S.-listed companies bring in the most revenue?
  2. How has the world's population grown since 1960?
  3. Which big U.S. cities have the most violent crime?

Chart 1 of 3 · Companies

Which U.S.-listed companies bring in the most revenue?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Amazon brought in $717 billion and Walmart $713 billion in their latest fiscal years, followed by UnitedHealth Group ($448 billion) in third. Each company's figure is its total revenue for its latest full fiscal year in the SEC's yearly figures, as reported in its annual report to the SEC; each company's “Filing” link in the table opens it. It covers the 50 largest U.S.-listed companies that report under U.S. accounting rules; foreign companies reporting under international rules, such as Toyota, aren't included, and figures a company tagged wrongly (revenue more than 20 times its assets) are left out.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR company financial data (XBRL) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of May 31, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 3 · World

How has the world's population grown since 1960?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

The world had 8.22 billion people in 2025, about 2.7 times the 3.02 billion of 1960. It passed 8 billion in 2023. Figures are mid-year estimates from the United Nations, which revises them as new censuses come in.

How to read this chart

Each point is the number of people alive in the world in the middle of that year, estimated by the United Nations. The axis starts at zero, so the height of the line shows the true size. Look at how steep the line is to see how fast the population grew.

Questions to discuss

  1. Judging from the chart, about how many years did it take the world to add its most recent billion people?
  2. Is the line getting steeper or flatter in recent years? What does that tell you about the growth rate?
  3. These numbers are estimates that the UN revises. Why is it hard to count every person on Earth?

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Population, total (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 3 of 3 · Crime

Which big U.S. cities have the most violent crime?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2025, Memphis, TN had the highest violent crime rate of the 89 biggest U.S. cities whose police reported a full year to the FBI, about 1,853 per 100,000 people, followed by Detroit, MI (1,654) and Oakland, CA (1,475). Irvine, CA (79) and Virginia Beach, VA (101) had the lowest; the U.S. rate was about 330. Violent crime is murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In 2025 the police in New Orleans, Orlando and St. Petersburg, Florida, didn't report a full year of crimes, so they are left out. Each rate is per person the department serves, and a few, such as Las Vegas, Honolulu, Jacksonville and Louisville, serve their whole county. A city's rate also depends on where its borders fall, so compare cities with care.

How to read this chart

Each bar is one big city's violent crimes reported to the FBI in a year (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) for every 100,000 people its police department serves. The dashed line is the rate for the whole U.S. Dividing by population makes big and small cities fair to compare, but a city's rate also depends on where its borders fall.

Questions to discuss

  1. Find the city with the highest rate and the one with the lowest. About how many times higher is the top rate?
  2. Some departments police a whole county, suburbs included. How could that change a city's rate compared with one that covers only its downtown?
  3. These are crimes reported to police. What kinds of crime might never show up in these numbers, and why?

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

Open the chart and its numbers

Teachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.