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 · Banks
How many banks are there in the U.S.?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
There were 3,806 FDIC-insured commercial banks at the end of 2025, down from 14,496 in 1984, the most since the FDIC began in 1934. The number held near 13,000 to 14,500 for fifty years, while many states limited banks to one office or one state; once those limits were lifted in the 1980s and 1990s, banks merged and fewer new ones opened. The count leaves out savings institutions (thrifts), which the FDIC counts only since 1984; there were 521 of them at the end of 2025.
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: FDIC BankFind Suite, historical bank data (Public domain (U.S. government work; FDIC)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 2 · World
How fast has the world come online?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
73.6% of the world's people used the internet in 2025, up from 15.6% in 2005, the first year the World Bank gives a world figure. It counts people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months. The world figures are estimates by the International Telecommunication Union.
How to read this chart
Each point is the share of the world's people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months, as estimated by the International Telecommunication Union. The axis starts at zero, so the height shows the true share. The steeper the line, the faster people were coming online.
Questions to discuss
- About what share of the world was online in the first year on the chart, and in the latest year?
- Did the share grow faster in some years than others? What could have sped it up?
- Using the internet once in three months counts here. What does this number leave out about how people get online?
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, 2025
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