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
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
- Find the United States and one country on another continent. How far apart are their shares?
- What do the countries at the bottom of the ranking have in common? What might keep people there offline?
- 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 numbersChart 2 of 2 · Wealth
How is U.S. household wealth divided?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
At the end of June 2026, the wealthiest 1% of U.S. households held 32.5% of all household wealth, the next 9% held 36.4%, the next 40% held 28.8% and the bottom 50% held 2.3%. In 1989 the shares were 22.8%, 38.0%, 35.7% and 3.5%. Wealth here is net worth: what households own (homes, stocks and mutual funds, pensions and retirement accounts, private businesses, cars and other belongings, bank deposits) minus what they owe (mortgages, credit cards, student and car loans). The Fed estimates each quarter by combining its Financial Accounts with its Survey of Consumer Finances, taken every three years, so the newest quarters are estimates that get revised.
How to read this chart
Each bar is one group of U.S. households' share of all household wealth, so the four bars add up to 100%. The groups are different sizes: the top 1% is one household in every hundred, while the bottom 50% is half of all households. Compare each group's share of wealth with its share of households.
Questions to discuss
- Which group holds the largest share of wealth? Is it the group with the most households?
- If wealth were split evenly, what share would the bottom 50% hold? How far is the chart from that?
- The takeaway gives the 1989 shares too. Which groups gained a share since then, and which lost one?
Source: Federal Reserve Board, Distributional Financial Accounts (Public domain (Federal Reserve Board; cite the Board as the source)) · Data as of Jun 30, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.