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 3 · Wealth
How much wealth does each age group hold?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In the quarter ending June 2026, households headed by someone aged 55 to 69 held $76.1 trillion, 41% of all U.S. household wealth, and those headed by someone 70 or older held $62.3 trillion, 34%. Households headed by someone under 40 held $12.1 trillion, 6.5%. In 1989 the 70-and-over share was 18.9%. People build wealth over their working lives, and there are more older Americans now. 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.
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: 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 numbersChart 2 of 3 · 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
Open the chart and its numbersChart 3 of 3 · World
What is the unemployment rate in each country?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2025, 4.2% of workers in the United States were unemployed, against 4.8% worldwide; the highest rate was 34.2% in Eswatini, and the lowest 0.1%, in Qatar. Search 182 countries and territories. These are the International Labour Organization's estimates, which count people without work who are looking for it and fill gaps where a country runs no regular survey, so they can differ from a country's own figures.
How to read this chart
Each bar is the share of a country's workers who have no job and are looking for one, estimated by the International Labour Organization. The dashed line is the world. People who aren't looking for work, such as students and retirees, aren't counted as unemployed at all.
Questions to discuss
- Is the United States above or below the world rate, and by about how many percentage points?
- A country can have low unemployment while many people earn very little. How is that possible?
- Why would someone who has given up looking for work not count as unemployed? Does that make the number more or less useful?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersTeachers: make your own chart assignment, or change this one. Free, no account needed.