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 2 · World
How many young people go to college in each country?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2022, the number of students in college or university in the United States equaled 79.4% of its young adults, against 42% worldwide; the figure ranged from 166.4% in Greece to 2.7% in Malawi. Search 126 countries and territories. Each figure is everyone enrolled after secondary school, of any age, divided by the people in the five years after the usual age for finishing it, so older students can take it past 100%. Many countries report late, so the newest year in which most countries and the United States reported is shown.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2022
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 2 · Road safety
Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2024 there were 1.19 deaths for every 100 million miles driven, down from 3.35 in 1980. The lowest rate was 1.08 in 2014; it jumped to 1.34 in 2020, when people drove less but deaths rose. Miles driven are the Federal Highway Administration's estimates.
How to read this chart
Each point is the number of people killed in traffic crashes for every 100 million miles Americans drove that year. Dividing by miles driven turns a count into a rate, so years when people drove more or less can be compared fairly.
Questions to discuss
- About what fraction of the 1980 rate is the rate in the latest year?
- In 2020 people drove less, but the rate went up. What could explain that?
- Why is deaths per mile a fairer way to compare years than the total number of deaths?
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.