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. What time of day are flights most likely to be delayed?
  2. What share of people use the internet in each country?

Chart 1 of 2 · Air travel

What time of day are flights most likely to be delayed?

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

In the 12 months to August 2026, 8.0% of flights scheduled to leave between 6 and 7 a.m. left 15 or more minutes late, against 35.7% of those leaving between 8 and 9 p.m. Delays build through the day as late planes make their next flights late too, so the first flight of the morning is the safest bet. Hours are local time at the departure airport.

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. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Airline On-Time Performance (Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance, 1987–present) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Aug 31, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · World

What share of people use the internet in each country?

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

In 2024, 94.7% of people in the United States used the internet and 64.9% in India. The highest share was 100%, and the lowest 8.6%, in Burundi. 182 countries and territories had a 2024 figure. It counts people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months; places without a 2024 figure are left out.

How to read this chart

Each bar is the share of a country's people who used the internet in the previous three months. The dashed line is the whole world. The chart opens on the top and bottom of the ranking; search for a country to find its bar among the rest.

Questions to discuss

  1. Find the United States and one country on another continent. How far apart are their shares?
  2. What do the countries at the bottom of the ranking have in common? What might keep people there offline?
  3. The world figure is closer to the bottom than many rich countries are to the top. Why might that be?

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Individuals using the Internet (% of population) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024

Open the chart and its numbers

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