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 · World
How do countries compare on wealth, health and the internet?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Pick countries and compare them on GDP per person, population, life expectancy, internet use, access to electricity, unemployment, inflation, carbon emissions per person, health spending per person or college enrollment. It opens with GDP per person in 2024: $86,170 in the United States, $56,104 in Germany, $13,293 in China, $2,592 in India and $1,084 in Nigeria. Each measure uses the newest year most countries have reported; GDP is in US dollars at that year's exchange rates, not adjusted for prices.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: GDP per capita (current US$) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 3 · Income and poverty
What is the typical household income in each state?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In the Census Bureau's 5-year survey ending in 2024, the typical household in District of Columbia earned $109,870 a year, the most, followed by Massachusetts ($103,960) and Maryland ($103,678). Mississippi was lowest at $56,447, and the U.S. median was $80,734. These are 5-year estimates in 2024 dollars, each with a margin of error.
How to read this chart
Each bar is the median household income in a state: half of households earn more and half earn less. The dashed line is the whole U.S., for comparison. These are survey estimates, and each has a margin of error: the true value is likely within that range, so states with overlapping ranges may not really differ.
Questions to discuss
- Find your state. Is it above or below the U.S. median, and by about how much?
- Why do statisticians often use the median instead of the average (mean) for income?
- Housing and groceries cost more in some states. What would you need to know to compare what these incomes can buy?
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (Public domain (U.S. government work). This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024
Open the chart and its numbersChart 3 of 3 · Climate
How much has the US warmed since 1895?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
The contiguous US averaged 54.6°F in 2025. The warmest year since records began in 1895 was 2024, at 55.5°F. Through 2025, the dashed trend line, the straight line that best fits every year, rose about 0.18°F a decade, or 2.3°F since 1895, and warming had sped up to about 0.5°F a decade since 1970. Alaska and Hawaii aren't included.
How to read this chart
Each point is one year's average temperature across the lower 48 states, in degrees Fahrenheit. The axis doesn't start at zero, so a small rise looks steep: read the numbers on the axis, not the height of the line. The dashed line is the trend, the straight line that best fits every year; single years bounce above and below it.
Questions to discuss
- Find the warmest and coolest years on the chart. How many degrees apart are they?
- Why might one year be much cooler than the year before, even while the trend line keeps rising?
- The axis doesn't start at zero here, but bar charts always do. Why is that fair for temperatures but not for bars?
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Climate at a Glance (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.