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. How many drug recalls are there each month?
  2. How much does each country spend on health care per person?

Chart 1 of 2 · Food and drug safety

How many drug recalls are there each month?

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

The FDA classified 38 drug recalls in September 2026. Since January 2025, the monthly count has ranged from 17 in February 2026 to 44 in July 2026. Each recall counts once however many products, strengths or lots it covers, in the month of the weekly Enforcement Report where FDA first listed it, often weeks after the company announced it, so months with five weekly reports tend to count more. The month in progress is left off the chart; its newest recalls are listed below it, each with FDA's reason.

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. Food and Drug Administration, Enforcement Reports (openFDA drug recall data) (Public domain (U.S. government work); source U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA) · Data as of Oct 28, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · World

How much does each country spend on health care per person?

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

In 2023, the United States spent $13,473 per person on health care, about 10 times the world figure of $1,317. Germany spent $6,395, Japan $3,638, China $763 and India $85; Madagascar spent the least, $17. Search 191 countries and territories. Spending counts what governments, insurers and households paid for health care, but not new hospitals or equipment, in US dollars at each year's exchange rates, not adjusted for differences in prices.

How to read this chart

Each bar is what a country spent on health care in a year, by governments, insurers and households together, divided by its population and turned into U.S. dollars. The dashed line is the world. The figures aren't adjusted for prices, so a dollar buys more care in some countries than others.

Questions to discuss

  1. About how many times the world figure does the United States spend per person?
  2. Does spending more on health care per person always mean people live longer? What other chart on Chartly could help you check?
  3. Doctors and nurses are paid less in some countries. How would that change what these dollar figures can tell you?

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