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. Which countries got online fastest?
  2. How much does each country spend on health care per person?

Chart 1 of 2 · World

Which countries got online fastest?

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

Over the 10 years to 2024, the share of people using the internet rose most in Kiribati, by 77.2 percentage points, and in Iraq, by 69.8. The world's share grew by 33.8 points, the United States' by 21.7 and India's by 51.4. Countries that were already almost all online could only grow a little. The smallest change was -3.6 points, in Japan; a fall can come from a change in how a country measures internet use. Each bar is a country's share in 2024 minus its share 10 years earlier; 179 countries and territories had both figures, and places missing either are left out. It counts people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months.

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?

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?

Teachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.