posts_gdocs: 1gGburArxglFdHXeTLotFW4TOOLoeRq5XW6UfAdKtaAw

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id	slug	type	content	published	createdAt	publishedAt	updatedAt	publicationContext	revisionId	breadcrumbs	markdown	title
1gGburArxglFdHXeTLotFW4TOOLoeRq5XW6UfAdKtaAw	gcp-faqs	fragment	{ "toc": [], "body": [], "faqs": [ { "id": "emissions-from-aviation-and-shipping", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Are emissions from aviation and shipping included?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Emissions from domestic aviation and shipping are included in each country\u2019s total. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are not included in any country or region\u2019s total. This is because there is no international agreement on how these emissions should be allocated: should they, for example, be allocated to the country of origin or destination? In our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying\">related article</a> we look at a separate dataset on emissions from aviation." }, { "type": "text", "value": "They are, however, included in the global total. You also <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region\">find it here</a> as a separate category." } ] }, { "id": "missing-consumption-based-emissions", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Why are consumption-based emissions only available from 1990? Why are they not available for all countries?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "To calculate consumption-based emissions we need detailed trade data between countries and the emissions intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar spent) across many industries and sectors in each country. Prior to 1990, there is insufficient high-quality, high-resolution data to produce these calculations." }, { "type": "text", "value": "For this same reason \u2013 insufficient high-resolution trade data \u2013 it is not currently possible to calculate consumption-based emissions for all countries. It is mostly high-income and major economies that are included." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Consumption-based emissions also always lag production-based emissions by one year. For example, when production-based emissions for 2020 were released, the latest year for consumption-based emissions was 2019. This is because the required resolution of trade data was not yet available for 2020." } ] }, { "id": "lpi-measure", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) measure?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The Living Planet Index (LPI) provides a measure of wildlife abundance. It measures the average relative decline in population size since 1970 across a wide range of species." } ] }, { "id": "lpi-not-measure", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) not measure?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The Living Planet Index does not measure:" }, { "type": "list", "value": [ "Number of species lost", "Number of populations or individuals that have been lost", "Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining", "Number of extinctions" ] } ] }, { "id": "lpi-species-types", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What types of species are included?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Only vertebrate species are included in the LPI: this includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Only a small percentage (8%) of known species in these groups are included, and only some populations of these species are represented in the LPI." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Although it is one of the most comprehensive datasets for monitoring biodiversity trends, the LPI still only captures a small sample of global biodiversity. For example, insects, corals, fungi and plants are not included." } ] }, { "id": "lpi-species-coverage", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How many species does it cover? What is the geographical range of this coverage?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "In its latest report, published in 2022, 31,821 populations across 5,230 species were included. It includes species and populations across all continents. However, there is a geographic bias in the data, with areas with higher levels of biodiversity monitoring, such as North America and Europe being overrepresented, and areas where biodiversity is richest, like the tropical regions, being underrepresented." } ] }, { "id": "lpi-data-origin", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Where does the data for the LPI come from?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The underlying data for the LPI comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases and government reports. To be included, data points must contain a time series of vertebrate populations spanning any number of years from 1970 onwards." } ] }, { "id": "lpi-outcome", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What does the LPI show?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The latest results from the LPI indicate an average decline in the studied wildlife populations of 69% between 1970 and 2018." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Note that this does not mean that we have lost 69% of wildlife over this period. For a clear example of why this is the wrong conclusion, and how the LPI is calculated, see our example <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/living-planet-index#example-calculation-why-we-should-use-the-term-decline-and-not-lost\">here</a>." } ] }, { "id": "lpi-outliers", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How sensitive is the LPI to outliers?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The impact of extreme population declines and increases on the calculation of the global LPI (Living Planet Index) has been tested by removing these outliers from the dataset. Although there were slight variations in the results, the overall trend of the global LPI remained very similar, suggesting that extreme declines and increases do not significantly influence the trend of the index." } ] }, { "id": "vdem-characteristics", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does V-Dem characterize democracy?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "True to its name, the Varieties of Democracy project acknowledges that democracy can be characterized differently, and measures electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian characterizations of democracy." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "At Our World in Data we primarily use V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index to measure democracy. The index is used in all of V-Dem\u2019s other democracy indices because V-Dem considers there to be no democracy without elections. The other aspects can therefore be thought of as measuring the <i>quality</i> of a democracy." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem characterizes electoral democracy as a political system in which political leaders are elected under comprehensive voting rights in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed. More specifically, this means:" }, { "type": "list", "value": [ "<b>Elected political leaders</b>: broad elections choose the chief executive and legislature", "<b>Comprehensive voting rights</b>: all adult citizens have the legal right to vote in national elections", "<b>Free and fair elections</b>: no election violence, government intimidation, fraud, large irregularities, and vote buying", "<b>Freedom of association</b>: parties and civil society organizations can form and operate freely", "<b>Freedom of expression</b>: people can voice their views and the media presents different political perspectives" ] }, { "type": "text", "value": "You can find data on the other democracy indices, electoral democracy\u2019s characteristics, and other derived measures in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index\">Democracy Data Explorer</a>." } ] } ] }, { "id": "vdem-scoring", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How is democracy scored?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The Electoral Democracy Index scores each country on a spectrum, with some countries being more democratic than others." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The spectrum ranges from 0 (\u2018highly undemocratic\u2019) to 1 (\u2018highly democratic\u2019)." }, { "type": "text", "value": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data\">\u2018Regimes of the World\u2019</a> and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other projects</a>, which classify countries as a binary: either they are a democracy or not." } ] }, { "id": "vdem-coverage", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What years and countries are covered?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "As of version 13 of the dataset, the original V-Dem data covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Our World in Data expands the coverage of the original data to include more years when current countries were still non-sovereign territories. We use the index score of the historical entity that they were part of, whenever available." }, { "type": "text", "value": "For example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh\u2019s independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We therefore use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million." } ] }, { "id": "vdem-measured", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How is democracy measured?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments valid?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "To actually measure what it wants to capture, V-Dem assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments precise and reliable?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country-experts fill surveys for V-Dem every year." }, { "type": "text", "value": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments comparable?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression." }, { "type": "text", "value": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The overall Electoral Democracy Index score is the result of weighing, multiplying, and adding up the subindices.<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data#note-7\">7</a>" }, { "type": "text", "value": "The subindices are weighted because V-Dem considers some of them as more important than others: elected officials and voting rights are weighted less because they capture more formal requirements, as opposed to free and fair elections and the freedoms of association and expression that rely more on expert assessments." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The subindices are partially multiplied and partially added up because V-Dem wants the subindices to partially compensate for one another, and partially for them to reinforce each other. An example of compensation is voting rights partially making up for a lack of rights to assemble and protest, whereas an example of reinforcement is voting rights mattering more if voters can also choose opposition candidates." } ] } ] }, { "id": "vdem-more-info", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Where can I learn more about how V-Dem produces its data?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem releases <a href=\"https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/\">its data</a> publicly, and makes it straightforward to download and use. This includes the overall index scores, the underlying subindices, and the specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem also releases detailed <a href=\"https://www.v-dem.net/documents/24/codebook_v13.pdf\">descriptions</a> of how they characterize democracy, the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers, as well as why it weighs, adds, and multiplies the scores for specific characteristics." } ] }, { "id": "vdem-shortcomings", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "There are shortcomings in the way the Electoral Democracy Index characterizes and measures democracy." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "The index focuses on an electoral understanding of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index\">most economically-unequal countries</a> in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem also does not cover some countries with very small populations." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Furthermore, the index is more difficult to interpret than other measures. Measures that group countries into democracies and autocracies, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data\">such as the Regimes of the World classification</a>, make it possible to say which country was a democracy." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The Electoral Democracy Index makes no clear assessment there, and only allows us to say whether a country is relatively democratic by comparing it to the range of the index, to other countries, or to the same country at another point in time. And when doing so, it is still difficult to say how large these differences are." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The assessment of the Electoral Democracy Index remains to some extent subjective. Its index is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why these specific subindices were chosen; and why two subindices, elected officials and voting rights, are weighted less than the others." } ] } ] }, { "id": "vdem-strengths", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Despite these shortcomings, the index tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Its characterization of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, is commonly recognized as the basic principle of democracy and shared by <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">all of the leading approaches of measuring democracy</a>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Because it treats democracy as a spectrum, the index is able to capture both big and small differences in the political systems of countries, and to record small changes within countries over time. This allows us to observe whether one country is more democratic than another, or whether a country has become more or less democratic over time." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The index also covers many countries and years. With the exception of microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Finally, V-Dem takes many steps to make its assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. It relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments." } ] } ] }, { "id": "vdem-assessment", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What is our summary assessment?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Whether V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "The index will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in non-electoral understandings of democracy (or different understandings of electoral democracy); if we are also interested in the political systems of microstates; and only interested in big differences in the political systems of countries." }, { "type": "text", "value": "In these cases, we will have to rely on <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other measures</a>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big and small differences in electoral democracy, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data." }, { "type": "text", "value": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy." } ] } ] }, { "id": "row-characteristics", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does RoW characterize democracy?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Regimes of the World distinguishes four types of political systems: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "list", "value": [ "<b>Closed autocracy</b>: citizens do not have the right to choose either the chief executive of the government or the legislature through multi-party elections", "<b>Electoral autocracy</b>: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature through multi-party elections; but they lack some freedoms, such as the freedoms of association or expression that make the elections meaningful, free, and fair", "<b>Electoral democracy</b>: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections", "<b>Liberal democracy</b>: electoral democracy and citizens enjoy individual and minority rights, are equal before the law, and the actions of the executive are constrained by the legislative and the courts" ] }, { "type": "text", "value": "You can find data on the more specific characteristics and derived measures in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index\">Democracy Data Explorer</a>." } ] } ] }, { "id": "row-scoring", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How is democracy scored?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Regimes of the World treats democracy as a binary, by classifying a country as either a democracy or not." }, { "type": "text", "value": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as Varieties of Democracy\u2019s <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data\">electoral democracy index</a> and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other projects</a>, which classify countries as a spectrum, with some being scored as more democratic than others." } ] }, { "id": "row-coverage", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What years and countries are covered?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "As of version 13 of the dataset, V-Dem covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers." }, { "type": "text", "value": "RoW covers countries and years since 1900. But we expand the years and countries covered and refine the coding rules, as detailed below." } ] }, { "id": "row-measured", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How is democracy measured?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments valid?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "To measure what it wants to capture, RoW uses data from the Varieties of Democracy project, which assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments precise and reliable?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country experts fill out surveys for V-Dem every year." }, { "type": "text", "value": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments comparable?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression." }, { "type": "text", "value": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement." }, { "type": "text", "value": "In addition to its main classification, RoW provides an expanded version that identifies countries that may fit better into the next-higher or -lower main categories. You can find the data in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Regimes+of+the+World&Metric=%C2%ADPolitical+regime%2C+including+ambiguous+categories&Sub-metric=Main+classification\">Democracy Data Explorer</a>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The overall classification is the result of evaluating whether necessary characteristics are present or not. If the experts consider a country\u2019s elections to have been both multi-party and free and fair, and the country as having had minimal features of an electoral democracy in general (based on V-Dem\u2019s <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data\">electoral democracy index</a>), RoW classifies it as a democracy." }, { "type": "text", "value": "A country is classified as a liberal democracy if the experts consider the country\u2019s laws to have been transparent; the men and women there as having had access to the justice system; and the country as having had broad features of a liberal democracy overall. If it does not meet one of these conditions, the country is classified as an electoral democracy." }, { "type": "text", "value": "A country is classified as an autocracy if it does not meet the above criteria of meaningful, free and fair, multi-party elections. It is classified as an electoral autocracy if the experts consider the elections for the legislature and chief executive \u2014 the most powerful politician \u2014 to have been multi-party. It is classified as a closed autocracy if either the legislature or chief executive has not been chosen in multi-party elections." } ] } ] }, { "id": "row-more-info", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Where can I learn more about how RoW produces its data?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem, which publishes the RoW data, releases <a href=\"https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/\">its data</a> publicly and makes it straightforward to download and use." }, { "type": "text", "value": "It publishes the overall scores, the underlying subindices, and several hundred specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder." }, { "type": "text", "value": "V-Dem also releases descriptions of how RoW measures democracy, as well as the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers." } ] }, { "id": "row-shortcomings", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "There are shortcomings in the way Regimes of the World characterizes and measures democracy." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "The classification only captures that these political rights were broad, not that they were universal. This means that not all people living in a democracy necessarily enjoy its political rights: this includes children, but often also historically marginalized groups such as women." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The classification also focuses on electoral and liberal understandings of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index\">most economically-unequal countries</a> in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years." }, { "type": "text", "value": "RoW also does not cover some countries with very small populations." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Furthermore, because the classification groups all political systems into four broad types, it is not very granular. This means that it does not pick up small changes in political institutions, or conversely that the classification sometimes categorizes countries with similar institutions differently. This includes some recategorizations of countries across years where their political institutions barely changed, but crossed a somewhat arbitrary threshold." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The assessment of the RoW classification remains to some extent subjective. It is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why specific indicators were chosen, such as whether citizens had access to the justice system, and not (also) whether they were free from government repression." } ] } ] }, { "id": "row-strengths", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Despite these shortcomings, the classification tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Its characterizations of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, and a liberal political system, in which citizens are protected from others and the state, are commonly recognized as the two basic principles of democracy and shared by <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">most of the leading approaches of measuring democracy</a>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Because it treats democracy as a binary, the classification can make the many differences in political institutions we observe across countries and over time much easier to understand. It allows us to combine the many countries with similar political institutions, while still distinguishing countries whose institutions differ in meaningful ways. This allows us to observe whether one country is democratic or not, or whether a country has become a democracy or stopped being one over time." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The index also covers many countries and years. Except for microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Finally, RoW and V-Dem take many steps to make their assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. RoW relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe, and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments in its expanded classification." } ] } ] }, { "id": "row-assessment", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What is our summary assessment?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Whether the Regimes of the World classification is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "The classification will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in the political rights of historically marginalized groups specifically; in non-electoral or non-liberal understandings of democracy; in the political systems of microstates; and interested in small differences in the political systems of countries." }, { "type": "text", "value": "In these cases, we will have to rely on <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other measures</a>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big differences in political regimes, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data." }, { "type": "text", "value": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy." } ] } ] }, { "id": "poverty-international-poverty-line", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What is the International Poverty Line and how is it set?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "There is no single definition of poverty. Our understanding of the extent of poverty and how it is changing depends on which definition we have in mind." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "In particular, richer and poorer countries set very different poverty lines in order to measure poverty in a way that is informative and relevant to the level of incomes of their citizens." }, { "type": "text", "value": "For instance, while in the United States a person is counted as being in poverty if they live on less than roughly $24.55 per day, in Ethiopia the poverty line is set more than 10 times lower \u2013 at $2.04 per day. You can read more about how these comparable national poverty lines are calculated in this footnote.<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-4\">4</a>" }, { "type": "text", "value": "To measure poverty globally, however, we need to apply a poverty line that is consistent across countries." }, { "type": "text", "value": "This is the goal of the International Poverty Line of $2.15 per day \u2013 shown in red in the chart \u2013 which is set by the World Bank and used by the UN to monitor extreme poverty around the world." }, { "type": "text", "value": "We see that, in global terms, this is an extremely low threshold indeed \u2013 set to reflect the poverty lines adopted nationally in the world\u2019s poorest countries. It marks an incredibly low standard of living \u2013 a level of income much lower than just the cost of a <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/diet-affordability\">healthy diet</a>." }, { "type": "image", "value": { "alt": "", "filename": "Five-income-distributions-national-poverty-and-IPL-2.png" } }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does the World Bank set the International Poverty Line?", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The exact method used by the World Bank to set the International Poverty Line has changed somewhat over past updates. But each time the objective has been broadly the same \u2013 to find a \u201ctypical standard by which the poorest countries of the world judge their citizens to be impoverished.\u201d<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-5\">5</a>" }, { "type": "text", "value": "The method used in the latest update to arrive at a figure of $2.15, measured in 2017 international-$, is based on a set of harmonized national poverty lines produced by <a href=\"https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/353811645450974574/pdf/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-2017-PPPs-on-the-International-Poverty-Line-and-Global-Poverty.pdf\">Dean Joliffe and others</a> \u2013 shown in the chart here." }, { "type": "text", "value": "As you can see, there is a strong correlation between the poverty lines countries set, shown on the Y axis, and their income level \u2013 as measured here by GDP per capita, and plotted along the X axis." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The International Poverty Line is calculated as the median national poverty line adopted among low-income countries \u2013 using the World Bank\u2019s income classification system. These are the countries shaded in red in the chart and found in the bottom left corner." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Although the International Poverty Line is by far the most prominent international line, the same method is also used by the World Bank to set two higher poverty lines that reflect the national definitions adopted in lower-middle and upper-middle income groups shown in green and purple respectively. The median poverty line among these two groups of countries are $3.65 and $6.85, and these form the World Bank\u2019s lower-middle income and upper middle-income poverty lines." }, { "type": "text", "value": "You can read more about the methodology used to set these lines in the World Bank\u2019s flagship report on poverty, <a href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity\">Poverty and Shared Prosperity</a>." }, { "type": "chart", "value": { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-poverty-line-vs-gdp-per-capita" } } ] } ] }, { "id": "poverty-international-dollars", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Much of the economic data we use to understand the world \u2013 for instance on the goods and services bought or produced by households, firms and governments, or the incomes they receive \u2013 is initially recorded in terms of the units in which these transactions took place. That means this data starts out being expressed in a variety of local currencies \u2013 as so many rupees, US dollars, or yuan, etc. \u2013 and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in \u2018current prices\u2019, or in \u2018nominal\u2019 terms." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units." }, { "type": "text", "value": "International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this. It is the result of adjusting both for inflation within countries over time and for differences in the cost of living between countries." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The goal of international-$ is to provide a unit whose purchasing power is held fixed over time and across countries, such that one int.-$ can buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services no matter where or when it is spent." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The price level in the US is used as the benchmark \u2013 or \u2018numeraire\u2019 \u2013 so that one 2017 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2017. Similarly, one 2011 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2011." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The year 2017 (2011) here indicates two things, related to the two adjustments mentioned. Firstly, it tells us the base year used for the inflation adjustment within countries. This is the year whose prices are chosen to be the benchmark. If prices are higher than this benchmark year, nominal data will be adjusted downwards. If prices are lower, nominal data will be adjusted upwards. In the base year itself, the nominal and inflation-adjusted figures are the same by definition." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Secondly, 2017 (2011) indicates the year in which the differences in the cost of living between countries was assessed." }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Purchasing Power Parity rates", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Converting data in local currencies to international-$ means dividing the figures by a set of \u2018exchange\u2019 rates, known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates. Unlike the exchange rates between currencies you would see at the foreign exchange counter, these account for differences in the cost of living between countries." }, { "type": "text", "value": "If you have ever shopped or eaten in a restaurant abroad, you may have noticed a country as being a particularly expensive or particularly cheap place to live. A given amount of your own currency, when exchanged for another country\u2019s currency, may buy you considerably more or less there than it would have done at home." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The goal of PPP rates is to account for these price differences. They express, for each country, the amount of local currency that is needed to buy the same goods and services there as 1 US dollar buys in the US." }, { "type": "text", "value": "You can read more about this in our article <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-ppps\">What are PPP adjustments and why do we need them?</a>" }, { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "The \u2018rounds\u2019 of the International Comparison Program", "level": "4" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The calculation of PPP rates is the task of the <a href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp\">International Comparison Program</a> (ICP), which gathers data on the prices of thousands of goods and services in each country in a particular year." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The ICP does not calculate PPP rates every year, but rather conducts its work in \u2018rounds\u2019 that are several years apart. The most recent round was conducted in 2017 and the previous round was conducted in 2011." }, { "type": "text", "value": "In converting economic data to international-$, which round of PPPs are used to adjust for cost-of-living differences between countries is, in principle, a separate issue to the base year used to adjust for inflation over time. By convention, however, the same year tends to be chosen for both. When converted to 2017 international-$, nominal local currencies are first adjusted for inflation to local 2017 prices, and are then adjusted to US prices using the PPPs calculated in the ICP\u2019s 2017 round. Likewise, 2011 international-$ adjust for inflation using 2011 local prices, and then use the 2011 PPPs to adjust for cost-of-living differences." } ] } ] }, { "id": "poverty-comparability", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How comparable is the World Bank data on household incomes across time or between countries?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Because there is no global survey of incomes, researchers need to rely on available national surveys. Such surveys are designed with cross-country comparability in mind, but because the surveys reflect the circumstances and priorities of individual countries at the time of the survey, there are some important differences. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "One important issue is that, whilst in most high-income countries the surveys capture people\u2019s incomes, in poorer countries these surveys tend to capture people\u2019s consumption." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Pooling the data available from different kinds of survey data is unavoidable if we want to get a global picture of poverty or inequality. But it\u2019s important to bear in mind that, depending on the country or year, somewhat different things are being measured." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The two concepts are nevertheless closely related: the income of a household equals their consumption plus any saving, or minus any borrowing or spending out of savings." }, { "type": "text", "value": "One important difference is that, while zero consumption is not a feasible value \u2013 people must consume something to survive \u2013 a zero income is a feasible value. At the bottom end of the distribution, people\u2019s consumption may be somewhat higher than their income. A common example here is retired people who are using their savings: they may have a very low, or even zero, income, but still have a high level of consumption." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Conversely, at the top end of the distribution, consumption is typically lower than income. The gap rises with income, with households generally saving a higher share of their income the richer they are. For both these reasons, the distribution of consumption is generally more equal than the distribution of income." }, { "type": "text", "value": "There are a number of other ways in which comparability across surveys can be limited. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes a range of steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. The PIP <a href=\"https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/\">Methodology Handbook</a> provides a good summary of the comparability and data quality issues affecting this data and how it tries to address them." }, { "type": "text", "value": "To help communicate this limitation of the data, the World Bank produces a companion indicator that groups data points within each individual country into \u2018spells\u2019. The surveys underlying the data within a given spell for a particular country are considered by World Bank researchers to be more comparable. The breaks between these comparable spells are shown in the chart below for the share of population living in extreme poverty. You can select to see these breaks for any indicator in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN&hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true\">Data Explorer</a> of the World Bank data. These spells are also indicated in our <a href=\"https://github.com/owid/poverty-data\">data download</a> of the World Bank poverty and inequality data." }, { "type": "chart", "value": { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true&country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN" } } ] } ] }, { "id": "poverty-regional-estimates", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How does the World Bank produce global and regional estimates of poverty and inequality from national data?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "For its poverty and inequality data the World Bank relies on household surveys that are conducted nationally. In order to produce global or regional estimates, the survey data from different countries needs to be lined up and aggregated. For each year, the World Bank finds the closest survey for each country and projects the data forward or backwards to the year being estimated. This is necessary particularly since surveys are <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/data-deprivation-poverty-surveys-per-decade\">less frequently available</a> in poorer countries and for earlier decades." }, { "type": "text", "value": "These projections are generally made on the assumption that incomes or expenditure grow in line with the growth rates observed in national accounts data." }, { "type": "text", "value": "You can read more about the interpolation methods used by the World Bank in <a href=\"https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/lineupestimates.html\">Chapter 5</a> of the Poverty and Inequality Platform Methodology Handbook." } ] } ] }, { "id": "deaths-estimation", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How are the expected deaths per year estimated?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The total number of deaths expected each year can be estimated using data from censuses, surveys and other data sources about the size of the population by age, sex and other demographics. For example, they can be estimated using historical trends and registered deaths. In addition, countries carry out censuses, usually around every ten years." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Researchers can compare people in one census and the next, and look at their year of birth, to estimate how many people in that birth cohort died in between censuses. This can help project the number of deaths each year by age and other demographics." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Different groups use slightly different methods to estimate the total number of expected deaths each year, but their estimates are mostly similar. Estimates vary more widely for countries with poorly functioning Vital Registries. This dataset by Ariel Karlinsky uses an average of estimates from three sources: the UN's World Population Prospects, WHO's Global Health Estimates and IHME's Global Burden of Disease study." } ] }, { "id": "stunting-definition", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What is stunting?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.<a class=\"ref\" href=\"#note-1\"><sup>1</sup></a>" }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "A child is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019 if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development \u2013 impacts that can persist throughout someone\u2019s life. There is some evidence to suggest that \u2018catch-up growth\u2019 is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case." } ] } ] }, { "id": "stunting-measurement", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "How is stunting measured?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Stunting is measured based on a child\u2019s height relative to their age." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves \u2013 these show the expected trajectory of a child\u2019s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height \u2013 there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights." }, { "type": "text", "value": "We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the \u2018acceptable\u2019 range. This range is <b>two standard deviations</b> above and below the median." }, { "type": "text", "value": "A child whose height falls below the bottom of the ribbon \u2013 that is, two standard deviations below their expected height for their age \u2013 is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019." }, { "type": "text", "value": "In a population, the prevalence of stunting is defined as <b>the share of children under five years old that fall two standard deviations below the expected height for their age</b>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "To estimate the prevalence of stunting, researchers draw on household and demographic surveys, which include measurements of childhood growth, alongside official health data from governments that monitor child development." }, { "type": "image", "value": { "alt": "", "filename": "Healthy20height20growth20curves.png" } } ] } ] }, { "id": "stunting-causes", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "What are the causes of stunting?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child\u2019s \u201cfirst 1,000 days\u201d. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child\u2019s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health." }, { "type": "text", "value": "When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher \u2013 it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases\">diarrheal diseases</a> \u2013 which are common in children \u2013 its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/water-access\">clean water</a>, <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/sanitation\">sanitation</a> and <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/hygiene\">hygiene facilities</a> to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health." } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-satisfaction-vs-happiness", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Is \u2018life satisfaction\u2019 the same as \u2018happiness\u2019?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "The most natural way to attempt to measure subjective well-being is to ask people what they think and feel. Indeed, this is the most common approach." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "In practice, social scientists tend to rely on questions inquiring directly about happiness, or on questions inquiring about life satisfaction. The former tend to measure the experiential or emotional aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI feel very happy\u201d), while the latter tend to measure the evaluative or cognitive aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI think I lead a very positive life\u201d)." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The chart below plots a measure of average happiness against a measure of average life satisfaction." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Along the X-axis we show data from the World Value Survey, which asks directly about happiness: \u201cTaking all things together, would you say you are (i) Very happy, (ii) Rather happy, (iii) Not very happy, (iv) Not at all happy, (v) Don\u2019t know.\u201d Shown is the share of respondents who say they are \u2018very happy\u2019 or \u2018rather happy\u2019." }, { "type": "text", "value": "On the Y-axis is data from the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder question and asks respondents to evaluate their life: <i>\u201cPlease imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?</i>\u201d Shown is the average reported score." }, { "type": "text", "value": "As the visualization shows, these two measures are clearly closely related (countries that score high in one measure also tend to score high in the other), yet they are not identical (there is substantial dispersion, with many countries sharing the same score in one variable but diverging in the other)." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The differences in responses to questions inquiring about life satisfaction and happiness are consistent with the idea that subjective well-being has two sides: an experiential or emotional side, and an evaluative or cognitive side. Of course, the limits between emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being are blurred in our minds; so in practice both kinds of questions measure both aspects to some degree. Indeed, social scientists often construct \u2018subjective well-being indexes\u2019 where they simply average out results from various types of questions." }, { "type": "chart", "value": { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-wvs-vs-gallup" } } ] } ] }, { "id": "life-satisfaction-measurement", "content": [ { "type": "heading", "value": { "text": "Can \u2018happiness\u2019 and \u2018life satisfaction\u2019 really be measured?", "level": "3" } }, { "type": "text", "value": "One way to gauge whether self-reports provide a valid measure of happiness or life satisfaction is to see how well they correlate with things that typically associate with contentment." }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Such a correlation has been found, for example, with <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2017/04/Life-Satisfaction-vs-Laugh-Gallup.png\">smiling and laughing</a>." }, { "type": "text", "value": "Experimental psychologists have also shown that self reports of well-being from surveys turn out to correlate with activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure and satisfaction. And various surveys have confirmed that people who say they are happy also tend to sleep better and express positive emotions verbally more frequently." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The following table, adapted from <a href=\"https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533006776526030\">Kahneman and Krueger (2006)</a><a class=\"ref\" href=\"#note-2\"><sup>2</sup></a>, provides a list of the variables that researchers have found to be related to self-reported happiness and life satisfaction." }, { "type": "text", "value": "The main conclusion from the evidence is that survey-based measures of happiness and life satisfaction do provide a reasonably consistent and reliable picture of subjective well-being." }, { "type": "table", "value": { "rows": [ { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Correlates of high life satisfaction and happiness" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Smiling frequency" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Smiling with the eyes (\"unfakeable smile\")" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Ratings of one's happiness made by friends" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Frequent verbal expressions of positive emotions" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Sociability and extraversion" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Sleep quality" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Happiness of close relatives" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Self-reported health" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "High income, and high income rank in a reference group" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Active involvement in religion" } ] } ] } }, { "type": "table-row", "value": { "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "value": [ { "type": "text", "value": "Recent positive changes of circumstances (increased income, marriage)" } ] } ] } } ], "template": "header-row" } }, { "type": "image", "value": { "alt": "", "filename": "correlates-of-high-life-satisfaction-and-happiness-Kahneman-and-Krueger-2006.png" } } ] } ] } ], "refs": { "errors": [], "definitions": { "08e7cebfbce1dd930ff997f754244410ff6f20e5": { "id": "08e7cebfbce1dd930ff997f754244410ff6f20e5", "index": 0, "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "WHO (2015).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.who.int/news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell", "children": [ { "text": " ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "url": "https://www.who.int/news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell", "children": [ { "text": "Stunting in a nutshell", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ". World Health Organization.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "9a6d8dac19d79fa71c2db43852b4cb7dc79953e9": { "id": "9a6d8dac19d79fa71c2db43852b4cb7dc79953e9", "index": 1, "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Kahneman, D., & Krueger, A. B. (2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. The journal of economic perspectives, 20(1), 3-24.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } } }, "type": "fragment", "title": "Data Pages FAQs", "byline": "Our World In Data", "authors": [ "Our World In Data" ], "excerpt": "Source document for all OWID\u2019s FAQs", "dateline": "September 25, 2023", "parsedFaqs": { "lpi-measure": { "id": "lpi-measure", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) measure?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The Living Planet Index (LPI) provides a measure of wildlife abundance. It measures the average relative decline in population size since 1970 across a wide range of species.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "lpi-outcome": { "id": "lpi-outcome", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What does the LPI show?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The latest results from the LPI indicate an average decline in the studied wildlife populations of 69% between 1970 and 2018.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Note that this does not mean that we have lost 69% of wildlife over this period. For a clear example of why this is the wrong conclusion, and how the LPI is calculated, see our example ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/living-planet-index#example-calculation-why-we-should-use-the-term-decline-and-not-lost", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-scoring": { "id": "row-scoring", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How is democracy scored?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Regimes of the World treats democracy as a binary, by classifying a country as either a democracy or not.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as Varieties of Democracy\u2019s ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data", "children": [ { "text": "electoral democracy index", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " and ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement", "children": [ { "text": "other projects", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ", which classify countries as a spectrum, with some being scored as more democratic than others.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "lpi-outliers": { "id": "lpi-outliers", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How sensitive is the LPI to outliers?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The impact of extreme population declines and increases on the calculation of the global LPI (Living Planet Index) has been tested by removing these outliers from the dataset. Although there were slight variations in the results, the overall trend of the global LPI remained very similar, suggesting that extreme declines and increases do not significantly influence the trend of the index.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-coverage": { "id": "row-coverage", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What years and countries are covered?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As of version 13 of the dataset, V-Dem covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "RoW covers countries and years since 1900. But we expand the years and countries covered and refine the coding rules, as detailed below.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-measured": { "id": "row-measured", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How is democracy measured?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments valid?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To measure what it wants to capture, RoW uses data from the Varieties of Democracy project, which assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments precise and reliable?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country experts fill out surveys for V-Dem every year.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments comparable?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In addition to its main classification, RoW provides an expanded version that identifies countries that may fit better into the next-higher or -lower main categories. You can find the data in our ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Regimes+of+the+World&Metric=%C2%ADPolitical+regime%2C+including+ambiguous+categories&Sub-metric=Main+classification", "children": [ { "text": "Democracy Data Explorer", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The overall classification is the result of evaluating whether necessary characteristics are present or not. If the experts consider a country\u2019s elections to have been both multi-party and free and fair, and the country as having had minimal features of an electoral democracy in general (based on V-Dem\u2019s ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data", "children": [ { "text": "electoral democracy index", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": "), RoW classifies it as a democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "A country is classified as a liberal democracy if the experts consider the country\u2019s laws to have been transparent; the men and women there as having had access to the justice system; and the country as having had broad features of a liberal democracy overall. If it does not meet one of these conditions, the country is classified as an electoral democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "A country is classified as an autocracy if it does not meet the above criteria of meaningful, free and fair, multi-party elections. It is classified as an electoral autocracy if the experts consider the elections for the legislature and chief executive \u2014 the most powerful politician \u2014 to have been multi-party. It is classified as a closed autocracy if either the legislature or chief executive has not been chosen in multi-party elections.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-scoring": { "id": "vdem-scoring", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How is democracy scored?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The Electoral Democracy Index scores each country on a spectrum, with some countries being more democratic than others.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The spectrum ranges from 0 (\u2018highly undemocratic\u2019) to 1 (\u2018highly democratic\u2019).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data", "children": [ { "text": "\u2018Regimes of the World\u2019", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " and ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement", "children": [ { "text": "other projects", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ", which classify countries as a binary: either they are a democracy or not.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-more-info": { "id": "row-more-info", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Where can I learn more about how RoW produces its data?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem, which publishes the RoW data, releases ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/", "children": [ { "text": "its data", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " publicly and makes it straightforward to download and use.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "It publishes the overall scores, the underlying subindices, and several hundred specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem also releases descriptions of how RoW measures democracy, as well as the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-strengths": { "id": "row-strengths", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Despite these shortcomings, the classification tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Its characterizations of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, and a liberal political system, in which citizens are protected from others and the state, are commonly recognized as the two basic principles of democracy and shared by ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement", "children": [ { "text": "most of the leading approaches of measuring democracy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Because it treats democracy as a binary, the classification can make the many differences in political institutions we observe across countries and over time much easier to understand. It allows us to combine the many countries with similar political institutions, while still distinguishing countries whose institutions differ in meaningful ways. This allows us to observe whether one country is democratic or not, or whether a country has become a democracy or stopped being one over time.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The index also covers many countries and years. Except for microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Finally, RoW and V-Dem take many steps to make their assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. RoW relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe, and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments in its expanded classification.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-coverage": { "id": "vdem-coverage", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What years and countries are covered?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As of version 13 of the dataset, the original V-Dem data covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Our World in Data expands the coverage of the original data to include more years when current countries were still non-sovereign territories. We use the index score of the historical entity that they were part of, whenever available.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "For example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh\u2019s independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We therefore use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-measured": { "id": "vdem-measured", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How is democracy measured?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments valid?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To actually measure what it wants to capture, V-Dem assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments precise and reliable?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country-experts fill surveys for V-Dem every year.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments comparable?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The overall Electoral Democracy Index score is the result of weighing, multiplying, and adding up the subindices.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data#note-7", "children": [ { "text": "7", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The subindices are weighted because V-Dem considers some of them as more important than others: elected officials and voting rights are weighted less because they capture more formal requirements, as opposed to free and fair elections and the freedoms of association and expression that rely more on expert assessments.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The subindices are partially multiplied and partially added up because V-Dem wants the subindices to partially compensate for one another, and partially for them to reinforce each other. An example of compensation is voting rights partially making up for a lack of rights to assemble and protest, whereas an example of reinforcement is voting rights mattering more if voters can also choose opposition candidates.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-assessment": { "id": "row-assessment", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What is our summary assessment?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Whether the Regimes of the World classification is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The classification will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in the political rights of historically marginalized groups specifically; in non-electoral or non-liberal understandings of democracy; in the political systems of microstates; and interested in small differences in the political systems of countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In these cases, we will have to rely on ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement", "children": [ { "text": "other measures", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big differences in political regimes, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-more-info": { "id": "vdem-more-info", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Where can I learn more about how V-Dem produces its data?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem releases ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/", "children": [ { "text": "its data", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " publicly, and makes it straightforward to download and use. This includes the overall index scores, the underlying subindices, and the specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem also releases detailed ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.v-dem.net/documents/24/codebook_v13.pdf", "children": [ { "text": "descriptions", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of how they characterize democracy, the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers, as well as why it weighs, adds, and multiplies the scores for specific characteristics.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-strengths": { "id": "vdem-strengths", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Despite these shortcomings, the index tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Its characterization of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, is commonly recognized as the basic principle of democracy and shared by ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement", "children": [ { "text": "all of the leading approaches of measuring democracy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Because it treats democracy as a spectrum, the index is able to capture both big and small differences in the political systems of countries, and to record small changes within countries over time. This allows us to observe whether one country is more democratic than another, or whether a country has become more or less democratic over time.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The index also covers many countries and years. With the exception of microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Finally, V-Dem takes many steps to make its assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. It relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "lpi-data-origin": { "id": "lpi-data-origin", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Where does the data for the LPI come from?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The underlying data for the LPI comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases and government reports. To be included, data points must contain a time series of vertebrate populations spanning any number of years from 1970 onwards.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "lpi-not-measure": { "id": "lpi-not-measure", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) not measure?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The Living Planet Index does not measure:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "list", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Number of species lost", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Number of populations or individuals that have been lost", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Number of extinctions", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "stunting-causes": { "id": "stunting-causes", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What are the causes of stunting?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child\u2019s \u201cfirst 1,000 days\u201d. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child\u2019s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher \u2013 it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases", "children": [ { "text": "diarrheal diseases", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " \u2013 which are common in children \u2013 its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/water-access", "children": [ { "text": "clean water", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ", ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/sanitation", "children": [ { "text": "sanitation", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " and ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/hygiene", "children": [ { "text": "hygiene facilities", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-assessment": { "id": "vdem-assessment", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What is our summary assessment?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Whether V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The index will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in non-electoral understandings of democracy (or different understandings of electoral democracy); if we are also interested in the political systems of microstates; and only interested in big differences in the political systems of countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In these cases, we will have to rely on ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement", "children": [ { "text": "other measures", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big and small differences in electoral democracy, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-shortcomings": { "id": "row-shortcomings", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "There are shortcomings in the way Regimes of the World characterizes and measures democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The classification only captures that these political rights were broad, not that they were universal. This means that not all people living in a democracy necessarily enjoy its political rights: this includes children, but often also historically marginalized groups such as women.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The classification also focuses on electoral and liberal understandings of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index", "children": [ { "text": "most economically-unequal countries", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "RoW also does not cover some countries with very small populations.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Furthermore, because the classification groups all political systems into four broad types, it is not very granular. This means that it does not pick up small changes in political institutions, or conversely that the classification sometimes categorizes countries with similar institutions differently. This includes some recategorizations of countries across years where their political institutions barely changed, but crossed a somewhat arbitrary threshold.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The assessment of the RoW classification remains to some extent subjective. It is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why specific indicators were chosen, such as whether citizens had access to the justice system, and not (also) whether they were free from government repression.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "deaths-estimation": { "id": "deaths-estimation", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How are the expected deaths per year estimated?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The total number of deaths expected each year can be estimated using data from censuses, surveys and other data sources about the size of the population by age, sex and other demographics. For example, they can be estimated using historical trends and registered deaths. In addition, countries carry out censuses, usually around every ten years.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Researchers can compare people in one census and the next, and look at their year of birth, to estimate how many people in that birth cohort died in between censuses. This can help project the number of deaths each year by age and other demographics.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Different groups use slightly different methods to estimate the total number of expected deaths each year, but their estimates are mostly similar. Estimates vary more widely for countries with poorly functioning Vital Registries. This dataset by Ariel Karlinsky uses an average of estimates from three sources: the UN's World Population Prospects, WHO's Global Health Estimates and IHME's Global Burden of Disease study.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "lpi-species-types": { "id": "lpi-species-types", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What types of species are included?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Only vertebrate species are included in the LPI: this includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Only a small percentage (8%) of known species in these groups are included, and only some populations of these species are represented in the LPI.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Although it is one of the most comprehensive datasets for monitoring biodiversity trends, the LPI still only captures a small sample of global biodiversity. For example, insects, corals, fungi and plants are not included.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-shortcomings": { "id": "vdem-shortcomings", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "There are shortcomings in the way the Electoral Democracy Index characterizes and measures democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The index focuses on an electoral understanding of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index", "children": [ { "text": "most economically-unequal countries", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem also does not cover some countries with very small populations.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Furthermore, the index is more difficult to interpret than other measures. Measures that group countries into democracies and autocracies, ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data", "children": [ { "text": "such as the Regimes of the World classification", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ", make it possible to say which country was a democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The Electoral Democracy Index makes no clear assessment there, and only allows us to say whether a country is relatively democratic by comparing it to the range of the index, to other countries, or to the same country at another point in time. And when doing so, it is still difficult to say how large these differences are.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The assessment of the Electoral Democracy Index remains to some extent subjective. Its index is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why these specific subindices were chosen; and why two subindices, elected officials and voting rights, are weighted less than the others.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "row-characteristics": { "id": "row-characteristics", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How does RoW characterize democracy?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Regimes of the World distinguishes four types of political systems: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "list", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Closed autocracy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": citizens do not have the right to choose either the chief executive of the government or the legislature through multi-party elections", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Electoral autocracy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature through multi-party elections; but they lack some freedoms, such as the freedoms of association or expression that make the elections meaningful, free, and fair", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Electoral democracy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Liberal democracy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": electoral democracy and citizens enjoy individual and minority rights, are equal before the law, and the actions of the executive are constrained by the legislative and the courts", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "You can find data on the more specific characteristics and derived measures in our ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index", "children": [ { "text": "Democracy Data Explorer", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "stunting-definition": { "id": "stunting-definition", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What is stunting?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "#note-1", "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "1", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-superscript" } ], "spanType": "span-ref" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "A child is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019 if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development \u2013 impacts that can persist throughout someone\u2019s life. There is some evidence to suggest that \u2018catch-up growth\u2019 is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "lpi-species-coverage": { "id": "lpi-species-coverage", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How many species does it cover? What is the geographical range of this coverage?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In its latest report, published in 2022, 31,821 populations across 5,230 species were included. It includes species and populations across all continents. However, there is a geographic bias in the data, with areas with higher levels of biodiversity monitoring, such as North America and Europe being overrepresented, and areas where biodiversity is richest, like the tropical regions, being underrepresented.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "stunting-measurement": { "id": "stunting-measurement", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How is stunting measured?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Stunting is measured based on a child\u2019s height relative to their age.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves \u2013 these show the expected trajectory of a child\u2019s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height \u2013 there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the \u2018acceptable\u2019 range. This range is ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "two standard deviations", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": " above and below the median.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "A child whose height falls below the bottom of the ribbon \u2013 that is, two standard deviations below their expected height for their age \u2013 is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In a population, the prevalence of stunting is defined as ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "the share of children under five years old that fall two standard deviations below the expected height for their age", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To estimate the prevalence of stunting, researchers draw on household and demographic surveys, which include measurements of childhood growth, alongside official health data from governments that monitor child development.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "alt": "", "size": "wide", "type": "image", "filename": "Healthy20height20growth20curves.png", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "vdem-characteristics": { "id": "vdem-characteristics", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How does V-Dem characterize democracy?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "True to its name, the Varieties of Democracy project acknowledges that democracy can be characterized differently, and measures electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian characterizations of democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "At Our World in Data we primarily use V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index to measure democracy. The index is used in all of V-Dem\u2019s other democracy indices because V-Dem considers there to be no democracy without elections. The other aspects can therefore be thought of as measuring the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "quality", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " of a democracy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "V-Dem characterizes electoral democracy as a political system in which political leaders are elected under comprehensive voting rights in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed. More specifically, this means:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "list", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Elected political leaders", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": broad elections choose the chief executive and legislature", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Comprehensive voting rights", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": all adult citizens have the legal right to vote in national elections", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Free and fair elections", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": no election violence, government intimidation, fraud, large irregularities, and vote buying", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Freedom of association", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": parties and civil society organizations can form and operate freely", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Freedom of expression", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ": people can voice their views and the media presents different political perspectives", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "You can find data on the other democracy indices, electoral democracy\u2019s characteristics, and other derived measures in our ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index", "children": [ { "text": "Democracy Data Explorer", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "poverty-comparability": { "id": "poverty-comparability", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How comparable is the World Bank data on household incomes across time or between countries?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Because there is no global survey of incomes, researchers need to rely on available national surveys. Such surveys are designed with cross-country comparability in mind, but because the surveys reflect the circumstances and priorities of individual countries at the time of the survey, there are some important differences. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "One important issue is that, whilst in most high-income countries the surveys capture people\u2019s incomes, in poorer countries these surveys tend to capture people\u2019s consumption.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Pooling the data available from different kinds of survey data is unavoidable if we want to get a global picture of poverty or inequality. But it\u2019s important to bear in mind that, depending on the country or year, somewhat different things are being measured.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The two concepts are nevertheless closely related: the income of a household equals their consumption plus any saving, or minus any borrowing or spending out of savings.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "One important difference is that, while zero consumption is not a feasible value \u2013 people must consume something to survive \u2013 a zero income is a feasible value. At the bottom end of the distribution, people\u2019s consumption may be somewhat higher than their income. A common example here is retired people who are using their savings: they may have a very low, or even zero, income, but still have a high level of consumption.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Conversely, at the top end of the distribution, consumption is typically lower than income. The gap rises with income, with households generally saving a higher share of their income the richer they are. For both these reasons, the distribution of consumption is generally more equal than the distribution of income.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "There are a number of other ways in which comparability across surveys can be limited. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes a range of steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. The PIP ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/", "children": [ { "text": "Methodology Handbook", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " provides a good summary of the comparability and data quality issues affecting this data and how it tries to address them.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To help communicate this limitation of the data, the World Bank produces a companion indicator that groups data points within each individual country into \u2018spells\u2019. The surveys underlying the data within a given spell for a particular country are considered by World Bank researchers to be more comparable. The breaks between these comparable spells are shown in the chart below for the share of population living in extreme poverty. You can select to see these breaks for any indicator in our ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN&hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true", "children": [ { "text": "Data Explorer", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of the World Bank data. These spells are also indicated in our ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://github.com/owid/poverty-data", "children": [ { "text": "data download", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of the World Bank poverty and inequality data.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true&country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "poverty-regional-estimates": { "id": "poverty-regional-estimates", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "How does the World Bank produce global and regional estimates of poverty and inequality from national data?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "For its poverty and inequality data the World Bank relies on household surveys that are conducted nationally. In order to produce global or regional estimates, the survey data from different countries needs to be lined up and aggregated. For each year, the World Bank finds the closest survey for each country and projects the data forward or backwards to the year being estimated. This is necessary particularly since surveys are ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/data-deprivation-poverty-surveys-per-decade", "children": [ { "text": "less frequently available", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " in poorer countries and for earlier decades.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "These projections are generally made on the assumption that incomes or expenditure grow in line with the growth rates observed in national accounts data.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "You can read more about the interpolation methods used by the World Bank in ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/lineupestimates.html", "children": [ { "text": "Chapter 5", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of the Poverty and Inequality Platform Methodology Handbook.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "life-satisfaction-measurement": { "id": "life-satisfaction-measurement", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Can \u2018happiness\u2019 and \u2018life satisfaction\u2019 really be measured?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "One way to gauge whether self-reports provide a valid measure of happiness or life satisfaction is to see how well they correlate with things that typically associate with contentment.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Such a correlation has been found, for example, with ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2017/04/Life-Satisfaction-vs-Laugh-Gallup.png", "children": [ { "text": "smiling and laughing", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Experimental psychologists have also shown that self reports of well-being from surveys turn out to correlate with activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure and satisfaction. And various surveys have confirmed that people who say they are happy also tend to sleep better and express positive emotions verbally more frequently.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The following table, adapted from ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533006776526030", "children": [ { "text": "Kahneman and Krueger (2006)", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "url": "#note-2", "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-superscript" } ], "spanType": "span-ref" }, { "text": ", provides a list of the variables that researchers have found to be related to self-reported happiness and life satisfaction.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The main conclusion from the evidence is that survey-based measures of happiness and life satisfaction do provide a reasonably consistent and reliable picture of subjective well-being.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "rows": [ { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Correlates of high life satisfaction and happiness", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Smiling frequency", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Smiling with the eyes (\"unfakeable smile\")", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Ratings of one's happiness made by friends", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Frequent verbal expressions of positive emotions", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Sociability and extraversion", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Sleep quality", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Happiness of close relatives", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Self-reported health", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "High income, and high income rank in a reference group", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Active involvement in religion", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] }, { "type": "table-row", "cells": [ { "type": "table-cell", "content": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Recent positive changes of circumstances (increased income, marriage)", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ] } ] } ], "size": "narrow", "type": "table", "template": "header-row", "parseErrors": [] }, { "alt": "", "size": "wide", "type": "image", "filename": "correlates-of-high-life-satisfaction-and-happiness-Kahneman-and-Krueger-2006.png", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "poverty-international-dollars": { "id": "poverty-international-dollars", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Much of the economic data we use to understand the world \u2013 for instance on the goods and services bought or produced by households, firms and governments, or the incomes they receive \u2013 is initially recorded in terms of the units in which these transactions took place. That means this data starts out being expressed in a variety of local currencies \u2013 as so many rupees, US dollars, or yuan, etc. \u2013 and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in \u2018current prices\u2019, or in \u2018nominal\u2019 terms.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this. It is the result of adjusting both for inflation within countries over time and for differences in the cost of living between countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The goal of international-$ is to provide a unit whose purchasing power is held fixed over time and across countries, such that one int.-$ can buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services no matter where or when it is spent.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The price level in the US is used as the benchmark \u2013 or \u2018numeraire\u2019 \u2013 so that one 2017 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2017. Similarly, one 2011 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2011.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The year 2017 (2011) here indicates two things, related to the two adjustments mentioned. Firstly, it tells us the base year used for the inflation adjustment within countries. This is the year whose prices are chosen to be the benchmark. If prices are higher than this benchmark year, nominal data will be adjusted downwards. If prices are lower, nominal data will be adjusted upwards. In the base year itself, the nominal and inflation-adjusted figures are the same by definition.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Secondly, 2017 (2011) indicates the year in which the differences in the cost of living between countries was assessed.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Purchasing Power Parity rates", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Converting data in local currencies to international-$ means dividing the figures by a set of \u2018exchange\u2019 rates, known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates. Unlike the exchange rates between currencies you would see at the foreign exchange counter, these account for differences in the cost of living between countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "If you have ever shopped or eaten in a restaurant abroad, you may have noticed a country as being a particularly expensive or particularly cheap place to live. A given amount of your own currency, when exchanged for another country\u2019s currency, may buy you considerably more or less there than it would have done at home.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The goal of PPP rates is to account for these price differences. They express, for each country, the amount of local currency that is needed to buy the same goods and services there as 1 US dollar buys in the US.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "You can read more about this in our article ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-ppps", "children": [ { "text": "What are PPP adjustments and why do we need them?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "The \u2018rounds\u2019 of the International Comparison Program", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The calculation of PPP rates is the task of the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp", "children": [ { "text": "International Comparison Program", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " (ICP), which gathers data on the prices of thousands of goods and services in each country in a particular year.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The ICP does not calculate PPP rates every year, but rather conducts its work in \u2018rounds\u2019 that are several years apart. The most recent round was conducted in 2017 and the previous round was conducted in 2011.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In converting economic data to international-$, which round of PPPs are used to adjust for cost-of-living differences between countries is, in principle, a separate issue to the base year used to adjust for inflation over time. By convention, however, the same year tends to be chosen for both. When converted to 2017 international-$, nominal local currencies are first adjusted for inflation to local 2017 prices, and are then adjusted to US prices using the PPPs calculated in the ICP\u2019s 2017 round. Likewise, 2011 international-$ adjust for inflation using 2011 local prices, and then use the 2011 PPPs to adjust for cost-of-living differences.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "life-satisfaction-vs-happiness": { "id": "life-satisfaction-vs-happiness", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Is \u2018life satisfaction\u2019 the same as \u2018happiness\u2019?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The most natural way to attempt to measure subjective well-being is to ask people what they think and feel. Indeed, this is the most common approach.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In practice, social scientists tend to rely on questions inquiring directly about happiness, or on questions inquiring about life satisfaction. The former tend to measure the experiential or emotional aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI feel very happy\u201d), while the latter tend to measure the evaluative or cognitive aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI think I lead a very positive life\u201d).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The chart below plots a measure of average happiness against a measure of average life satisfaction.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Along the X-axis we show data from the World Value Survey, which asks directly about happiness: \u201cTaking all things together, would you say you are (i) Very happy, (ii) Rather happy, (iii) Not very happy, (iv) Not at all happy, (v) Don\u2019t know.\u201d Shown is the share of respondents who say they are \u2018very happy\u2019 or \u2018rather happy\u2019.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "On the Y-axis is data from the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder question and asks respondents to evaluate their life: ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "\u201cPlease imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": "\u201d Shown is the average reported score.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As the visualization shows, these two measures are clearly closely related (countries that score high in one measure also tend to score high in the other), yet they are not identical (there is substantial dispersion, with many countries sharing the same score in one variable but diverging in the other).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The differences in responses to questions inquiring about life satisfaction and happiness are consistent with the idea that subjective well-being has two sides: an experiential or emotional side, and an evaluative or cognitive side. Of course, the limits between emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being are blurred in our minds; so in practice both kinds of questions measure both aspects to some degree. Indeed, social scientists often construct \u2018subjective well-being indexes\u2019 where they simply average out results from various types of questions.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-wvs-vs-gallup", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "poverty-international-poverty-line": { "id": "poverty-international-poverty-line", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "What is the International Poverty Line and how is it set?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "There is no single definition of poverty. Our understanding of the extent of poverty and how it is changing depends on which definition we have in mind.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "expandable-paragraph", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In particular, richer and poorer countries set very different poverty lines in order to measure poverty in a way that is informative and relevant to the level of incomes of their citizens.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "For instance, while in the United States a person is counted as being in poverty if they live on less than roughly $24.55 per day, in Ethiopia the poverty line is set more than 10 times lower \u2013 at $2.04 per day. You can read more about how these comparable national poverty lines are calculated in this footnote.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-4", "children": [ { "text": "4", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To measure poverty globally, however, we need to apply a poverty line that is consistent across countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This is the goal of the International Poverty Line of $2.15 per day \u2013 shown in red in the chart \u2013 which is set by the World Bank and used by the UN to monitor extreme poverty around the world.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "We see that, in global terms, this is an extremely low threshold indeed \u2013 set to reflect the poverty lines adopted nationally in the world\u2019s poorest countries. It marks an incredibly low standard of living \u2013 a level of income much lower than just the cost of a ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/diet-affordability", "children": [ { "text": "healthy diet", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "alt": "", "size": "wide", "type": "image", "filename": "Five-income-distributions-national-poverty-and-IPL-2.png", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "How does the World Bank set the International Poverty Line?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 4, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The exact method used by the World Bank to set the International Poverty Line has changed somewhat over past updates. But each time the objective has been broadly the same \u2013 to find a \u201ctypical standard by which the poorest countries of the world judge their citizens to be impoverished.\u201d", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-5", "children": [ { "text": "5", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The method used in the latest update to arrive at a figure of $2.15, measured in 2017 international-$, is based on a set of harmonized national poverty lines produced by ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/353811645450974574/pdf/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-2017-PPPs-on-the-International-Poverty-Line-and-Global-Poverty.pdf", "children": [ { "text": "Dean Joliffe and others", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " \u2013 shown in the chart here.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As you can see, there is a strong correlation between the poverty lines countries set, shown on the Y axis, and their income level \u2013 as measured here by GDP per capita, and plotted along the X axis.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The International Poverty Line is calculated as the median national poverty line adopted among low-income countries \u2013 using the World Bank\u2019s income classification system. These are the countries shaded in red in the chart and found in the bottom left corner.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Although the International Poverty Line is by far the most prominent international line, the same method is also used by the World Bank to set two higher poverty lines that reflect the national definitions adopted in lower-middle and upper-middle income groups shown in green and purple respectively. The median poverty line among these two groups of countries are $3.65 and $6.85, and these form the World Bank\u2019s lower-middle income and upper middle-income poverty lines.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "You can read more about the methodology used to set these lines in the World Bank\u2019s flagship report on poverty, ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity", "children": [ { "text": "Poverty and Shared Prosperity", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-poverty-line-vs-gdp-per-capita", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "missing-consumption-based-emissions": { "id": "missing-consumption-based-emissions", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Why are consumption-based emissions only available from 1990? Why are they not available for all countries?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To calculate consumption-based emissions we need detailed trade data between countries and the emissions intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar spent) across many industries and sectors in each country. Prior to 1990, there is insufficient high-quality, high-resolution data to produce these calculations.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "For this same reason \u2013 insufficient high-resolution trade data \u2013 it is not currently possible to calculate consumption-based emissions for all countries. It is mostly high-income and major economies that are included.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Consumption-based emissions also always lag production-based emissions by one year. For example, when production-based emissions for 2020 were released, the latest year for consumption-based emissions was 2019. This is because the required resolution of trade data was not yet available for 2020.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, "emissions-from-aviation-and-shipping": { "id": "emissions-from-aviation-and-shipping", "content": [ { "text": [ { "text": "Are emissions from aviation and shipping included?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Emissions from domestic aviation and shipping are included in each country\u2019s total. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are not included in any country or region\u2019s total. This is because there is no international agreement on how these emissions should be allocated: should they, for example, be allocated to the country of origin or destination? In our ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying", "children": [ { "text": "related article", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " we look at a separate dataset on emissions from aviation.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "They are, however, included in the global total. You also ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region", "children": [ { "text": "find it here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " as a separate category.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } } }	1	2023-09-26 07:26:10	2023-09-26 07:28:37	2023-12-28 16:31:07	unlisted	ALBJ4LvPJo8ff9ArzS66Lww0fo-F0PRM9mKkJWpRE7nm7sWdNSBQVPXl_OpmPYI8kbY0Ib4QfUYN_YZeo4DKpw		### What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) measure? The Living Planet Index (LPI) provides a measure of wildlife abundance. It measures the average relative decline in population size since 1970 across a wide range of species. ### What does the LPI show? The latest results from the LPI indicate an average decline in the studied wildlife populations of 69% between 1970 and 2018. Note that this does not mean that we have lost 69% of wildlife over this period. For a clear example of why this is the wrong conclusion, and how the LPI is calculated, see our example [here](https://ourworldindata.org/living-planet-index#example-calculation-why-we-should-use-the-term-decline-and-not-lost). ### How is democracy scored? Regimes of the World treats democracy as a binary, by classifying a country as either a democracy or not. This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as Varieties of Democracy’s [electoral democracy index](https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data) and [other projects](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement), which classify countries as a spectrum, with some being scored as more democratic than others. ### How sensitive is the LPI to outliers? The impact of extreme population declines and increases on the calculation of the global LPI (Living Planet Index) has been tested by removing these outliers from the dataset. Although there were slight variations in the results, the overall trend of the global LPI remained very similar, suggesting that extreme declines and increases do not significantly influence the trend of the index. ### What years and countries are covered? As of version 13 of the dataset, V-Dem covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers. RoW covers countries and years since 1900. But we expand the years and countries covered and refine the coding rules, as detailed below. ### How is democracy measured? #### How does RoW work to make its assessments valid? To measure what it wants to capture, RoW uses data from the Varieties of Democracy project, which assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts. These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe. V-Dem’s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house. #### How does RoW work to make its assessments precise and reliable? V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country experts fill out surveys for V-Dem every year. While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic. #### How does RoW work to make its assessments comparable? V-Dem also works to make their coders’ assessments comparable across countries and time. The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems — such as the presence or absence of election fraud — instead of making them rely on their broad impressions. The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings. Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information. V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments. #### How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with? V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders. The model combines the experts’ ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts’ stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics. V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression. With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement. In addition to its main classification, RoW provides an expanded version that identifies countries that may fit better into the next-higher or -lower main categories. You can find the data in our [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Regimes+of+the+World&Metric=%C2%ADPolitical+regime%2C+including+ambiguous+categories&Sub-metric=Main+classification). The overall classification is the result of evaluating whether necessary characteristics are present or not. If the experts consider a country’s elections to have been both multi-party and free and fair, and the country as having had minimal features of an electoral democracy in general (based on V-Dem’s [electoral democracy index](https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data)), RoW classifies it as a democracy. A country is classified as a liberal democracy if the experts consider the country’s laws to have been transparent; the men and women there as having had access to the justice system; and the country as having had broad features of a liberal democracy overall. If it does not meet one of these conditions, the country is classified as an electoral democracy. A country is classified as an autocracy if it does not meet the above criteria of meaningful, free and fair, multi-party elections. It is classified as an electoral autocracy if the experts consider the elections for the legislature and chief executive — the most powerful politician — to have been multi-party. It is classified as a closed autocracy if either the legislature or chief executive has not been chosen in multi-party elections. ### How is democracy scored? The Electoral Democracy Index scores each country on a spectrum, with some countries being more democratic than others. The spectrum ranges from 0 (‘highly undemocratic’) to 1 (‘highly democratic’). This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as [‘Regimes of the World’](https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data) and [other projects](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement), which classify countries as a binary: either they are a democracy or not. ### Where can I learn more about how RoW produces its data? V-Dem, which publishes the RoW data, releases [its data](https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/) publicly and makes it straightforward to download and use. It publishes the overall scores, the underlying subindices, and several hundred specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder. V-Dem also releases descriptions of how RoW measures democracy, as well as the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers. ### What are the data’s strengths? Despite these shortcomings, the classification tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today. Its characterizations of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, and a liberal political system, in which citizens are protected from others and the state, are commonly recognized as the two basic principles of democracy and shared by [most of the leading approaches of measuring democracy](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). Because it treats democracy as a binary, the classification can make the many differences in political institutions we observe across countries and over time much easier to understand. It allows us to combine the many countries with similar political institutions, while still distinguishing countries whose institutions differ in meaningful ways. This allows us to observe whether one country is democratic or not, or whether a country has become a democracy or stopped being one over time. The index also covers many countries and years. Except for microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 — even while they were colonized by another country — and some of them as far back as 1789. Finally, RoW and V-Dem take many steps to make their assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. RoW relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe, and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments in its expanded classification. ### What years and countries are covered? As of version 13 of the dataset, the original V-Dem data covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers. Our World in Data expands the coverage of the original data to include more years when current countries were still non-sovereign territories. We use the index score of the historical entity that they were part of, whenever available. For example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We therefore use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million. ### How is democracy measured? #### How does V-Dem work to make its assessments valid? To actually measure what it wants to capture, V-Dem assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts. These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe. V-Dem’s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house. #### How does V-Dem work to make its assessments precise and reliable? V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country-experts fill surveys for V-Dem every year. While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic. #### How does V-Dem work to make its assessments comparable? V-Dem also works to make their coders’ assessments comparable across countries and time. The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems — such as the presence or absence of election fraud — instead of making them rely on their broad impressions. The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings. Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information. V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments. #### How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with? V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders. The model combines the experts’ ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts’ stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics. V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression. With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement. The overall Electoral Democracy Index score is the result of weighing, multiplying, and adding up the subindices.[7](https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data#note-7) The subindices are weighted because V-Dem considers some of them as more important than others: elected officials and voting rights are weighted less because they capture more formal requirements, as opposed to free and fair elections and the freedoms of association and expression that rely more on expert assessments. The subindices are partially multiplied and partially added up because V-Dem wants the subindices to partially compensate for one another, and partially for them to reinforce each other. An example of compensation is voting rights partially making up for a lack of rights to assemble and protest, whereas an example of reinforcement is voting rights mattering more if voters can also choose opposition candidates. ### What is our summary assessment? Whether the Regimes of the World classification is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer. The classification will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in the political rights of historically marginalized groups specifically; in non-electoral or non-liberal understandings of democracy; in the political systems of microstates; and interested in small differences in the political systems of countries. In these cases, we will have to rely on [other measures](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big differences in political regimes, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data. It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy. ### Where can I learn more about how V-Dem produces its data? V-Dem releases [its data](https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/) publicly, and makes it straightforward to download and use. This includes the overall index scores, the underlying subindices, and the specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder. V-Dem also releases detailed [descriptions](https://www.v-dem.net/documents/24/codebook_v13.pdf) of how they characterize democracy, the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers, as well as why it weighs, adds, and multiplies the scores for specific characteristics. ### What are the data’s strengths? Despite these shortcomings, the index tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today. Its characterization of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, is commonly recognized as the basic principle of democracy and shared by [all of the leading approaches of measuring democracy](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). Because it treats democracy as a spectrum, the index is able to capture both big and small differences in the political systems of countries, and to record small changes within countries over time. This allows us to observe whether one country is more democratic than another, or whether a country has become more or less democratic over time. The index also covers many countries and years. With the exception of microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 — even while they were colonized by another country — and some of them as far back as 1789. Finally, V-Dem takes many steps to make its assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. It relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments. ### Where does the data for the LPI come from? The underlying data for the LPI comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases and government reports. To be included, data points must contain a time series of vertebrate populations spanning any number of years from 1970 onwards. ### What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) not measure? The Living Planet Index does not measure: * Number of species lost * Number of populations or individuals that have been lost * Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining * Number of extinctions ### What are the causes of stunting? Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child’s “first 1,000 days”. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child’s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development. Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health. When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher – it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of [diarrheal diseases](http://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases) – which are common in children – its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted. Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to [clean water](http://ourworldindata.org/water-access), [sanitation](http://ourworldindata.org/sanitation) and [hygiene facilities](http://ourworldindata.org/hygiene) to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health. ### What is our summary assessment? Whether V-Dem’s Electoral Democracy Index is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer. The index will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in non-electoral understandings of democracy (or different understandings of electoral democracy); if we are also interested in the political systems of microstates; and only interested in big differences in the political systems of countries. In these cases, we will have to rely on [other measures](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big and small differences in electoral democracy, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data. It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy. ### What are the data’s shortcomings? There are shortcomings in the way Regimes of the World characterizes and measures democracy. The classification only captures that these political rights were broad, not that they were universal. This means that not all people living in a democracy necessarily enjoy its political rights: this includes children, but often also historically marginalized groups such as women. The classification also focuses on electoral and liberal understandings of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the [most economically-unequal countries](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index) in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years. RoW also does not cover some countries with very small populations. Furthermore, because the classification groups all political systems into four broad types, it is not very granular. This means that it does not pick up small changes in political institutions, or conversely that the classification sometimes categorizes countries with similar institutions differently. This includes some recategorizations of countries across years where their political institutions barely changed, but crossed a somewhat arbitrary threshold. The assessment of the RoW classification remains to some extent subjective. It is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held. Finally, the index’s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why specific indicators were chosen, such as whether citizens had access to the justice system, and not (also) whether they were free from government repression. ### How are the expected deaths per year estimated? The total number of deaths expected each year can be estimated using data from censuses, surveys and other data sources about the size of the population by age, sex and other demographics. For example, they can be estimated using historical trends and registered deaths. In addition, countries carry out censuses, usually around every ten years. Researchers can compare people in one census and the next, and look at their year of birth, to estimate how many people in that birth cohort died in between censuses. This can help project the number of deaths each year by age and other demographics. Different groups use slightly different methods to estimate the total number of expected deaths each year, but their estimates are mostly similar. Estimates vary more widely for countries with poorly functioning Vital Registries. This dataset by Ariel Karlinsky uses an average of estimates from three sources: the UN's World Population Prospects, WHO's Global Health Estimates and IHME's Global Burden of Disease study. ### What types of species are included? Only vertebrate species are included in the LPI: this includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Only a small percentage (8%) of known species in these groups are included, and only some populations of these species are represented in the LPI. Although it is one of the most comprehensive datasets for monitoring biodiversity trends, the LPI still only captures a small sample of global biodiversity. For example, insects, corals, fungi and plants are not included. ### What are the data’s shortcomings? There are shortcomings in the way the Electoral Democracy Index characterizes and measures democracy. The index focuses on an electoral understanding of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the [most economically-unequal countries](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index) in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years. V-Dem also does not cover some countries with very small populations. Furthermore, the index is more difficult to interpret than other measures. Measures that group countries into democracies and autocracies, [such as the Regimes of the World classification](https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data), make it possible to say which country was a democracy. The Electoral Democracy Index makes no clear assessment there, and only allows us to say whether a country is relatively democratic by comparing it to the range of the index, to other countries, or to the same country at another point in time. And when doing so, it is still difficult to say how large these differences are. The assessment of the Electoral Democracy Index remains to some extent subjective. Its index is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held. Finally, the index’s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why these specific subindices were chosen; and why two subindices, elected officials and voting rights, are weighted less than the others. ### How does RoW characterize democracy? Regimes of the World distinguishes four types of political systems: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies. * Closed autocracy: citizens do not have the right to choose either the chief executive of the government or the legislature through multi-party elections * Electoral autocracy: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature through multi-party elections; but they lack some freedoms, such as the freedoms of association or expression that make the elections meaningful, free, and fair * Electoral democracy: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections * Liberal democracy: electoral democracy and citizens enjoy individual and minority rights, are equal before the law, and the actions of the executive are constrained by the legislative and the courts You can find data on the more specific characteristics and derived measures in our [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index). ### What is stunting? Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.1 A child is defined as ‘stunted’ if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered. Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development – impacts that can persist throughout someone’s life. There is some evidence to suggest that ‘catch-up growth’ is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case. ### How many species does it cover? What is the geographical range of this coverage? In its latest report, published in 2022, 31,821 populations across 5,230 species were included. It includes species and populations across all continents. However, there is a geographic bias in the data, with areas with higher levels of biodiversity monitoring, such as North America and Europe being overrepresented, and areas where biodiversity is richest, like the tropical regions, being underrepresented. ### How is stunting measured? Stunting is measured based on a child’s height relative to their age. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves – these show the expected trajectory of a child’s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height – there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights. We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the ‘acceptable’ range. This range is two standard deviations above and below the median. A child whose height falls below the bottom of the ribbon – that is, two standard deviations below their expected height for their age – is defined as ‘stunted’. In a population, the prevalence of stunting is defined as the share of children under five years old that fall two standard deviations below the expected height for their age. To estimate the prevalence of stunting, researchers draw on household and demographic surveys, which include measurements of childhood growth, alongside official health data from governments that monitor child development. <Image filename="Healthy20height20growth20curves.png" alt=""/> ### How does V-Dem characterize democracy? True to its name, the Varieties of Democracy project acknowledges that democracy can be characterized differently, and measures electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian characterizations of democracy. At Our World in Data we primarily use V-Dem’s Electoral Democracy Index to measure democracy. The index is used in all of V-Dem’s other democracy indices because V-Dem considers there to be no democracy without elections. The other aspects can therefore be thought of as measuring the _quality_ of a democracy. V-Dem characterizes electoral democracy as a political system in which political leaders are elected under comprehensive voting rights in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed. More specifically, this means: * Elected political leaders: broad elections choose the chief executive and legislature * Comprehensive voting rights: all adult citizens have the legal right to vote in national elections * Free and fair elections: no election violence, government intimidation, fraud, large irregularities, and vote buying * Freedom of association: parties and civil society organizations can form and operate freely * Freedom of expression: people can voice their views and the media presents different political perspectives You can find data on the other democracy indices, electoral democracy’s characteristics, and other derived measures in our [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index). ### How comparable is the World Bank data on household incomes across time or between countries? Because there is no global survey of incomes, researchers need to rely on available national surveys. Such surveys are designed with cross-country comparability in mind, but because the surveys reflect the circumstances and priorities of individual countries at the time of the survey, there are some important differences. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. One important issue is that, whilst in most high-income countries the surveys capture people’s incomes, in poorer countries these surveys tend to capture people’s consumption. Pooling the data available from different kinds of survey data is unavoidable if we want to get a global picture of poverty or inequality. But it’s important to bear in mind that, depending on the country or year, somewhat different things are being measured. The two concepts are nevertheless closely related: the income of a household equals their consumption plus any saving, or minus any borrowing or spending out of savings. One important difference is that, while zero consumption is not a feasible value – people must consume something to survive – a zero income is a feasible value. At the bottom end of the distribution, people’s consumption may be somewhat higher than their income. A common example here is retired people who are using their savings: they may have a very low, or even zero, income, but still have a high level of consumption. Conversely, at the top end of the distribution, consumption is typically lower than income. The gap rises with income, with households generally saving a higher share of their income the richer they are. For both these reasons, the distribution of consumption is generally more equal than the distribution of income. There are a number of other ways in which comparability across surveys can be limited. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes a range of steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. The PIP [Methodology Handbook](https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/) provides a good summary of the comparability and data quality issues affecting this data and how it tries to address them. To help communicate this limitation of the data, the World Bank produces a companion indicator that groups data points within each individual country into ‘spells’. The surveys underlying the data within a given spell for a particular country are considered by World Bank researchers to be more comparable. The breaks between these comparable spells are shown in the chart below for the share of population living in extreme poverty. You can select to see these breaks for any indicator in our [Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN&hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true) of the World Bank data. These spells are also indicated in our [data download](https://github.com/owid/poverty-data) of the World Bank poverty and inequality data. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true&country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN"/> ### How does the World Bank produce global and regional estimates of poverty and inequality from national data? For its poverty and inequality data the World Bank relies on household surveys that are conducted nationally. In order to produce global or regional estimates, the survey data from different countries needs to be lined up and aggregated. For each year, the World Bank finds the closest survey for each country and projects the data forward or backwards to the year being estimated. This is necessary particularly since surveys are [less frequently available](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/data-deprivation-poverty-surveys-per-decade) in poorer countries and for earlier decades. These projections are generally made on the assumption that incomes or expenditure grow in line with the growth rates observed in national accounts data. You can read more about the interpolation methods used by the World Bank in [Chapter 5](https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/lineupestimates.html) of the Poverty and Inequality Platform Methodology Handbook. ### Can ‘happiness’ and ‘life satisfaction’ really be measured? One way to gauge whether self-reports provide a valid measure of happiness or life satisfaction is to see how well they correlate with things that typically associate with contentment. Such a correlation has been found, for example, with [smiling and laughing](https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2017/04/Life-Satisfaction-vs-Laugh-Gallup.png). Experimental psychologists have also shown that self reports of well-being from surveys turn out to correlate with activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure and satisfaction. And various surveys have confirmed that people who say they are happy also tend to sleep better and express positive emotions verbally more frequently. The following table, adapted from [Kahneman and Krueger (2006)](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533006776526030)2, provides a list of the variables that researchers have found to be related to self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. The main conclusion from the evidence is that survey-based measures of happiness and life satisfaction do provide a reasonably consistent and reliable picture of subjective well-being. \|Correlates of high life satisfaction and happiness\| \|Smiling frequency\| \|Smiling with the eyes ("unfakeable smile")\| \|Ratings of one's happiness made by friends\| \|Frequent verbal expressions of positive emotions\| \|Sociability and extraversion\| \|Sleep quality\| \|Happiness of close relatives\| \|Self-reported health\| \|High income, and high income rank in a reference group\| \|Active involvement in religion\| \|Recent positive changes of circumstances (increased income, marriage)\| <Image filename="correlates-of-high-life-satisfaction-and-happiness-Kahneman-and-Krueger-2006.png" alt=""/> ### What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes? Much of the economic data we use to understand the world – for instance on the goods and services bought or produced by households, firms and governments, or the incomes they receive – is initially recorded in terms of the units in which these transactions took place. That means this data starts out being expressed in a variety of local currencies – as so many rupees, US dollars, or yuan, etc. – and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in ‘current prices’, or in ‘nominal’ terms. Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units. International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this. It is the result of adjusting both for inflation within countries over time and for differences in the cost of living between countries. The goal of international-$ is to provide a unit whose purchasing power is held fixed over time and across countries, such that one int.-$ can buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services no matter where or when it is spent. The price level in the US is used as the benchmark – or ‘numeraire’ – so that one 2017 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2017. Similarly, one 2011 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2011. The year 2017 (2011) here indicates two things, related to the two adjustments mentioned. Firstly, it tells us the base year used for the inflation adjustment within countries. This is the year whose prices are chosen to be the benchmark. If prices are higher than this benchmark year, nominal data will be adjusted downwards. If prices are lower, nominal data will be adjusted upwards. In the base year itself, the nominal and inflation-adjusted figures are the same by definition. Secondly, 2017 (2011) indicates the year in which the differences in the cost of living between countries was assessed. #### Purchasing Power Parity rates Converting data in local currencies to international-$ means dividing the figures by a set of ‘exchange’ rates, known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates. Unlike the exchange rates between currencies you would see at the foreign exchange counter, these account for differences in the cost of living between countries. If you have ever shopped or eaten in a restaurant abroad, you may have noticed a country as being a particularly expensive or particularly cheap place to live. A given amount of your own currency, when exchanged for another country’s currency, may buy you considerably more or less there than it would have done at home. The goal of PPP rates is to account for these price differences. They express, for each country, the amount of local currency that is needed to buy the same goods and services there as 1 US dollar buys in the US. You can read more about this in our article [What are PPP adjustments and why do we need them?](https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-ppps) #### The ‘rounds’ of the International Comparison Program The calculation of PPP rates is the task of the [International Comparison Program](https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp) (ICP), which gathers data on the prices of thousands of goods and services in each country in a particular year. The ICP does not calculate PPP rates every year, but rather conducts its work in ‘rounds’ that are several years apart. The most recent round was conducted in 2017 and the previous round was conducted in 2011. In converting economic data to international-$, which round of PPPs are used to adjust for cost-of-living differences between countries is, in principle, a separate issue to the base year used to adjust for inflation over time. By convention, however, the same year tends to be chosen for both. When converted to 2017 international-$, nominal local currencies are first adjusted for inflation to local 2017 prices, and are then adjusted to US prices using the PPPs calculated in the ICP’s 2017 round. Likewise, 2011 international-$ adjust for inflation using 2011 local prices, and then use the 2011 PPPs to adjust for cost-of-living differences. ### Is ‘life satisfaction’ the same as ‘happiness’? The most natural way to attempt to measure subjective well-being is to ask people what they think and feel. Indeed, this is the most common approach. In practice, social scientists tend to rely on questions inquiring directly about happiness, or on questions inquiring about life satisfaction. The former tend to measure the experiential or emotional aspects of well-being (e.g. “I feel very happy”), while the latter tend to measure the evaluative or cognitive aspects of well-being (e.g. “I think I lead a very positive life”). The chart below plots a measure of average happiness against a measure of average life satisfaction. Along the X-axis we show data from the World Value Survey, which asks directly about happiness: “Taking all things together, would you say you are (i) Very happy, (ii) Rather happy, (iii) Not very happy, (iv) Not at all happy, (v) Don’t know.” Shown is the share of respondents who say they are ‘very happy’ or ‘rather happy’. On the Y-axis is data from the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder question and asks respondents to evaluate their life: _“Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?_” Shown is the average reported score. As the visualization shows, these two measures are clearly closely related (countries that score high in one measure also tend to score high in the other), yet they are not identical (there is substantial dispersion, with many countries sharing the same score in one variable but diverging in the other). The differences in responses to questions inquiring about life satisfaction and happiness are consistent with the idea that subjective well-being has two sides: an experiential or emotional side, and an evaluative or cognitive side. Of course, the limits between emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being are blurred in our minds; so in practice both kinds of questions measure both aspects to some degree. Indeed, social scientists often construct ‘subjective well-being indexes’ where they simply average out results from various types of questions. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-wvs-vs-gallup"/> ### What is the International Poverty Line and how is it set? There is no single definition of poverty. Our understanding of the extent of poverty and how it is changing depends on which definition we have in mind. In particular, richer and poorer countries set very different poverty lines in order to measure poverty in a way that is informative and relevant to the level of incomes of their citizens. For instance, while in the United States a person is counted as being in poverty if they live on less than roughly $24.55 per day, in Ethiopia the poverty line is set more than 10 times lower – at $2.04 per day. You can read more about how these comparable national poverty lines are calculated in this footnote.[4](https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-4) To measure poverty globally, however, we need to apply a poverty line that is consistent across countries. This is the goal of the International Poverty Line of $2.15 per day – shown in red in the chart – which is set by the World Bank and used by the UN to monitor extreme poverty around the world. We see that, in global terms, this is an extremely low threshold indeed – set to reflect the poverty lines adopted nationally in the world’s poorest countries. It marks an incredibly low standard of living – a level of income much lower than just the cost of a [healthy diet](https://ourworldindata.org/diet-affordability). <Image filename="Five-income-distributions-national-poverty-and-IPL-2.png" alt=""/> #### How does the World Bank set the International Poverty Line? The exact method used by the World Bank to set the International Poverty Line has changed somewhat over past updates. But each time the objective has been broadly the same – to find a “typical standard by which the poorest countries of the world judge their citizens to be impoverished.”[5](https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-5) The method used in the latest update to arrive at a figure of $2.15, measured in 2017 international-$, is based on a set of harmonized national poverty lines produced by [Dean Joliffe and others](https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/353811645450974574/pdf/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-2017-PPPs-on-the-International-Poverty-Line-and-Global-Poverty.pdf) – shown in the chart here. As you can see, there is a strong correlation between the poverty lines countries set, shown on the Y axis, and their income level – as measured here by GDP per capita, and plotted along the X axis. The International Poverty Line is calculated as the median national poverty line adopted among low-income countries – using the World Bank’s income classification system. These are the countries shaded in red in the chart and found in the bottom left corner. Although the International Poverty Line is by far the most prominent international line, the same method is also used by the World Bank to set two higher poverty lines that reflect the national definitions adopted in lower-middle and upper-middle income groups shown in green and purple respectively. The median poverty line among these two groups of countries are $3.65 and $6.85, and these form the World Bank’s lower-middle income and upper middle-income poverty lines. You can read more about the methodology used to set these lines in the World Bank’s flagship report on poverty, [Poverty and Shared Prosperity](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-poverty-line-vs-gdp-per-capita"/> ### Why are consumption-based emissions only available from 1990? Why are they not available for all countries? To calculate consumption-based emissions we need detailed trade data between countries and the emissions intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar spent) across many industries and sectors in each country. Prior to 1990, there is insufficient high-quality, high-resolution data to produce these calculations. For this same reason – insufficient high-resolution trade data – it is not currently possible to calculate consumption-based emissions for all countries. It is mostly high-income and major economies that are included. Consumption-based emissions also always lag production-based emissions by one year. For example, when production-based emissions for 2020 were released, the latest year for consumption-based emissions was 2019. This is because the required resolution of trade data was not yet available for 2020. ### Are emissions from aviation and shipping included? Emissions from domestic aviation and shipping are included in each country’s total. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are not included in any country or region’s total. This is because there is no international agreement on how these emissions should be allocated: should they, for example, be allocated to the country of origin or destination? In our [related article](https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying) we look at a separate dataset on emissions from aviation. They are, however, included in the global total. You also [find it here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region) as a separate category. WHO (2015).[ ](https://www.who.int/news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell)[Stunting in a nutshell](https://www.who.int/news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell). World Health Organization. Kahneman, D., & Krueger, A. B. (2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. The journal of economic perspectives, 20(1), 3-24.	Data Pages FAQs

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    "toc": [],
    "body": [],
    "faqs": [
        {
            "id": "emissions-from-aviation-and-shipping",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "Are emissions from aviation and shipping included?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Emissions from domestic aviation and shipping are included in each country\u2019s total. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are not included in any country or region\u2019s total. This is because there is no international agreement on how these emissions should be allocated: should they, for example, be allocated to the country of origin or destination? In our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying\">related article</a> we look at a separate dataset on emissions from aviation."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "They are, however, included in the global total. You also <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region\">find it here</a> as a separate category."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "missing-consumption-based-emissions",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "Why are consumption-based emissions only available from 1990? Why are they not available for all countries?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "To calculate consumption-based emissions we need detailed trade data between countries and the emissions intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar spent) across many industries and sectors in each country. Prior to 1990, there is insufficient high-quality, high-resolution data to produce these calculations."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "For this same reason \u2013 insufficient high-resolution trade data \u2013 it is not currently possible to calculate consumption-based emissions for all countries. It is mostly high-income and major economies that are included."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Consumption-based emissions also always lag production-based emissions by one year. For example, when production-based emissions for 2020 were released, the latest year for consumption-based emissions was 2019. This is because the required resolution of trade data was not yet available for 2020."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-measure",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) measure?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The Living Planet Index (LPI) provides a measure of wildlife abundance. It measures the average relative decline in population size since 1970 across a wide range of species."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-not-measure",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) not measure?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The Living Planet Index does not measure:"
                },
                {
                    "type": "list",
                    "value": [
                        "Number of species lost",
                        "Number of populations or individuals that have been lost",
                        "Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining",
                        "Number of extinctions"
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-species-types",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What types of species are included?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Only vertebrate species are included in the LPI: this includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Only a small percentage (8%) of known species in these groups are included, and only some populations of these species are represented in the LPI."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Although it is one of the most comprehensive datasets for monitoring biodiversity trends, the LPI still only captures a small sample of global biodiversity. For example, insects, corals, fungi and plants are not included."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-species-coverage",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How many species does it cover? What is the geographical range of this coverage?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "In its latest report, published in 2022, 31,821 populations across 5,230 species were included. It includes species and populations across all continents. However, there is a geographic bias in the data, with areas with higher levels of biodiversity monitoring, such as North America and Europe being overrepresented, and areas where biodiversity is richest, like the tropical regions, being underrepresented."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-data-origin",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "Where does the data for the LPI come from?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The underlying data for the LPI comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases and government reports. To be included, data points must contain a time series of vertebrate populations spanning any number of years from 1970 onwards."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-outcome",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What does the LPI show?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The latest results from the LPI indicate an average decline in the studied wildlife populations of 69% between 1970 and 2018."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Note that this does not mean that we have lost 69% of wildlife over this period. For a clear example of why this is the wrong conclusion, and how the LPI is calculated, see our example <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/living-planet-index#example-calculation-why-we-should-use-the-term-decline-and-not-lost\">here</a>."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "lpi-outliers",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How sensitive is the LPI to outliers?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The impact of extreme population declines and increases on the calculation of the global LPI (Living Planet Index) has been tested by removing these outliers from the dataset. Although there were slight variations in the results, the overall trend of the global LPI remained very similar, suggesting that extreme declines and increases do not significantly influence the trend of the index."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-characteristics",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How does V-Dem characterize democracy?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "True to its name, the Varieties of Democracy project acknowledges that democracy can be characterized differently, and measures electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian characterizations of democracy."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "At Our World in Data we primarily use V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index to measure democracy. The index is used in all of V-Dem\u2019s other democracy indices because V-Dem considers there to be no democracy without elections. The other aspects can therefore be thought of as measuring the <i>quality</i> of a democracy."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem characterizes electoral democracy as a political system in which political leaders are elected under comprehensive voting rights in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed. More specifically, this means:"
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "list",
                            "value": [
                                "<b>Elected political leaders</b>: broad elections choose the chief executive and legislature",
                                "<b>Comprehensive voting rights</b>: all adult citizens have the legal right to vote in national elections",
                                "<b>Free and fair elections</b>: no election violence, government intimidation, fraud, large irregularities, and vote buying",
                                "<b>Freedom of association</b>: parties and civil society organizations can form and operate freely",
                                "<b>Freedom of expression</b>: people can voice their views and the media presents different political perspectives"
                            ]
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "You can find data on the other democracy indices, electoral democracy\u2019s characteristics, and other derived measures in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index\">Democracy Data Explorer</a>."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-scoring",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How is democracy scored?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The Electoral Democracy Index scores each country on a spectrum, with some countries being more democratic than others."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The spectrum ranges from 0 (\u2018highly undemocratic\u2019) to 1 (\u2018highly democratic\u2019)."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data\">\u2018Regimes of the World\u2019</a> and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other projects</a>, which classify countries as a binary: either they are a democracy or not."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-coverage",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What years and countries are covered?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "As of version 13 of the dataset, the original V-Dem data covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Our World in Data expands the coverage of the original data to include more years when current countries were still non-sovereign territories. We use the index score of the historical entity that they were part of, whenever available."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "For example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh\u2019s independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We therefore use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-measured",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How is democracy measured?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments valid?",
                        "level": "4"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "To actually measure what it wants to capture, V-Dem assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments precise and reliable?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country-experts fill surveys for V-Dem every year."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments comparable?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The overall Electoral Democracy Index score is the result of weighing, multiplying, and adding up the subindices.<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data#note-7\">7</a>"
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The subindices are weighted because V-Dem considers some of them as more important than others: elected officials and voting rights are weighted less because they capture more formal requirements, as opposed to free and fair elections and the freedoms of association and expression that rely more on expert assessments."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The subindices are partially multiplied and partially added up because V-Dem wants the subindices to partially compensate for one another, and partially for them to reinforce each other. An example of compensation is voting rights partially making up for a lack of rights to assemble and protest, whereas an example of reinforcement is voting rights mattering more if voters can also choose opposition candidates."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-more-info",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "Where can I learn more about how V-Dem produces its data?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "V-Dem releases <a href=\"https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/\">its data</a> publicly, and makes it straightforward to download and use. This includes the overall index scores, the underlying subindices, and the specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "V-Dem also releases detailed <a href=\"https://www.v-dem.net/documents/24/codebook_v13.pdf\">descriptions</a> of how they characterize democracy, the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers, as well as why it weighs, adds, and multiplies the scores for specific characteristics."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-shortcomings",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "There are shortcomings in the way the Electoral Democracy Index characterizes and measures democracy."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The index focuses on an electoral understanding of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index\">most economically-unequal countries</a> in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem also does not cover some countries with very small populations."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Furthermore, the index is more difficult to interpret than other measures. Measures that group countries into democracies and autocracies, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data\">such as the Regimes of the World classification</a>, make it possible to say which country was a democracy."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The Electoral Democracy Index makes no clear assessment there, and only allows us to say whether a country is relatively democratic by comparing it to the range of the index, to other countries, or to the same country at another point in time. And when doing so, it is still difficult to say how large these differences are."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The assessment of the Electoral Democracy Index remains to some extent subjective. Its index is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why these specific subindices were chosen; and why two subindices, elected officials and voting rights, are weighted less than the others."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-strengths",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Despite these shortcomings, the index tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Its characterization of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, is commonly recognized as the basic principle of democracy and shared by <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">all of the leading approaches of measuring democracy</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Because it treats democracy as a spectrum, the index is able to capture both big and small differences in the political systems of countries, and to record small changes within countries over time. This allows us to observe whether one country is more democratic than another, or whether a country has become more or less democratic over time."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The index also covers many countries and years. With the exception of microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Finally, V-Dem takes many steps to make its assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. It relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "vdem-assessment",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What is our summary assessment?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Whether V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The index will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in non-electoral understandings of democracy (or different understandings of electoral democracy); if we are also interested in the political systems of microstates; and only interested in big differences in the political systems of countries."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In these cases, we will have to rely on <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other measures</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big and small differences in electoral democracy, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-characteristics",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How does RoW characterize democracy?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Regimes of the World distinguishes four types of political systems: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "list",
                            "value": [
                                "<b>Closed autocracy</b>: citizens do not have the right to choose either the chief executive of the government or the legislature through multi-party elections",
                                "<b>Electoral autocracy</b>: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature through multi-party elections; but they lack some freedoms, such as the freedoms of association or expression that make the elections meaningful, free, and fair",
                                "<b>Electoral democracy</b>: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections",
                                "<b>Liberal democracy</b>: electoral democracy and citizens enjoy individual and minority rights, are equal before the law, and the actions of the executive are constrained by the legislative and the courts"
                            ]
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "You can find data on the more specific characteristics and derived measures in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index\">Democracy Data Explorer</a>."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-scoring",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How is democracy scored?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Regimes of the World treats democracy as a binary, by classifying a country as either a democracy or not."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as Varieties of Democracy\u2019s <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data\">electoral democracy index</a> and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other projects</a>, which classify countries as a spectrum, with some being scored as more democratic than others."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-coverage",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What years and countries are covered?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "As of version 13 of the dataset, V-Dem covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "RoW covers countries and years since 1900. But we expand the years and countries covered and refine the coding rules, as detailed below."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-measured",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How is democracy measured?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments valid?",
                        "level": "4"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "To measure what it wants to capture, RoW uses data from the Varieties of Democracy project, which assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments precise and reliable?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country experts fill out surveys for V-Dem every year."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How does RoW work to make its assessments comparable?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In addition to its main classification, RoW provides an expanded version that identifies countries that may fit better into the next-higher or -lower main categories. You can find the data in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Regimes+of+the+World&Metric=%C2%ADPolitical+regime%2C+including+ambiguous+categories&Sub-metric=Main+classification\">Democracy Data Explorer</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The overall classification is the result of evaluating whether necessary characteristics are present or not. If the experts consider a country\u2019s elections to have been both multi-party and free and fair, and the country as having had minimal features of an electoral democracy in general (based on V-Dem\u2019s <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data\">electoral democracy index</a>), RoW classifies it as a democracy."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "A country is classified as a liberal democracy if the experts consider the country\u2019s laws to have been transparent; the men and women there as having had access to the justice system; and the country as having had broad features of a liberal democracy overall. If it does not meet one of these conditions, the country is classified as an electoral democracy."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "A country is classified as an autocracy if it does not meet the above criteria of meaningful, free and fair, multi-party elections. It is classified as an electoral autocracy if the experts consider the elections for the legislature and chief executive \u2014 the most powerful politician \u2014 to have been multi-party. It is classified as a closed autocracy if either the legislature or chief executive has not been chosen in multi-party elections."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-more-info",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "Where can I learn more about how RoW produces its data?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "V-Dem, which publishes the RoW data, releases <a href=\"https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/\">its data</a> publicly and makes it straightforward to download and use."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "It publishes the overall scores, the underlying subindices, and several hundred specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "V-Dem also releases descriptions of how RoW measures democracy, as well as the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-shortcomings",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "There are shortcomings in the way Regimes of the World characterizes and measures democracy."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The classification only captures that these political rights were broad, not that they were universal. This means that not all people living in a democracy necessarily enjoy its political rights: this includes children, but often also historically marginalized groups such as women."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The classification also focuses on electoral and liberal understandings of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index\">most economically-unequal countries</a> in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "RoW also does not cover some countries with very small populations."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Furthermore, because the classification groups all political systems into four broad types, it is not very granular. This means that it does not pick up small changes in political institutions, or conversely that the classification sometimes categorizes countries with similar institutions differently. This includes some recategorizations of countries across years where their political institutions barely changed, but crossed a somewhat arbitrary threshold."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The assessment of the RoW classification remains to some extent subjective. It is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why specific indicators were chosen, such as whether citizens had access to the justice system, and not (also) whether they were free from government repression."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-strengths",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Despite these shortcomings, the classification tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Its characterizations of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, and a liberal political system, in which citizens are protected from others and the state, are commonly recognized as the two basic principles of democracy and shared by <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">most of the leading approaches of measuring democracy</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Because it treats democracy as a binary, the classification can make the many differences in political institutions we observe across countries and over time much easier to understand. It allows us to combine the many countries with similar political institutions, while still distinguishing countries whose institutions differ in meaningful ways. This allows us to observe whether one country is democratic or not, or whether a country has become a democracy or stopped being one over time."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The index also covers many countries and years. Except for microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Finally, RoW and V-Dem take many steps to make their assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. RoW relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe, and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments in its expanded classification."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "row-assessment",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What is our summary assessment?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Whether the Regimes of the World classification is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The classification will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in the political rights of historically marginalized groups specifically; in non-electoral or non-liberal understandings of democracy; in the political systems of microstates; and interested in small differences in the political systems of countries."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In these cases, we will have to rely on <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement\">other measures</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big differences in political regimes, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "poverty-international-poverty-line",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What is the International Poverty Line and how is it set?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "There is no single definition of poverty. Our understanding of the extent of poverty and how it is changing depends on which definition we have in mind."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In particular, richer and poorer countries set very different poverty lines in order to measure poverty in a way that is informative and relevant to the level of incomes of their citizens."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "For instance, while in the United States a person is counted as being in poverty if they live on less than roughly $24.55 per day, in Ethiopia the poverty line is set more than 10 times lower \u2013 at $2.04 per day. You can read more about how these comparable national poverty lines are calculated in this footnote.<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-4\">4</a>"
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "To measure poverty globally, however, we need to apply a poverty line that is consistent across countries."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "This is the goal of the International Poverty Line of $2.15 per day \u2013 shown in red in the chart \u2013 which is set by the World Bank and used by the UN to monitor extreme poverty around the world."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "We see that, in global terms, this is an extremely low threshold indeed \u2013 set to reflect the poverty lines adopted nationally in the world\u2019s poorest countries. It marks an incredibly low standard of living \u2013 a level of income much lower than just the cost of a <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/diet-affordability\">healthy diet</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "image",
                            "value": {
                                "alt": "",
                                "filename": "Five-income-distributions-national-poverty-and-IPL-2.png"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "How does the World Bank set the International Poverty Line?",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The exact method used by the World Bank to set the International Poverty Line has changed somewhat over past updates. But each time the objective has been broadly the same \u2013 to find a \u201ctypical standard by which the poorest countries of the world judge their citizens to be impoverished.\u201d<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-5\">5</a>"
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The method used in the latest update to arrive at a figure of $2.15, measured in 2017 international-$, is based on a set of harmonized national poverty lines produced by <a href=\"https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/353811645450974574/pdf/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-2017-PPPs-on-the-International-Poverty-Line-and-Global-Poverty.pdf\">Dean Joliffe and others</a> \u2013 shown in the chart here."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "As you can see, there is a strong correlation between the poverty lines countries set, shown on the Y axis, and their income level \u2013 as measured here by GDP per capita, and plotted along the X axis."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The International Poverty Line is calculated as the median national poverty line adopted among low-income countries \u2013 using the World Bank\u2019s income classification system. These are the countries shaded in red in the chart and found in the bottom left corner."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Although the International Poverty Line is by far the most prominent international line, the same method is also used by the World Bank to set two higher poverty lines that reflect the national definitions adopted in lower-middle and upper-middle income groups shown in green and purple respectively. The median poverty line among these two groups of countries are $3.65 and $6.85, and these form the World Bank\u2019s lower-middle income and upper middle-income poverty lines."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "You can read more about the methodology used to set these lines in the World Bank\u2019s flagship report on poverty, <a href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity\">Poverty and Shared Prosperity</a>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "chart",
                            "value": {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-poverty-line-vs-gdp-per-capita"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "poverty-international-dollars",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Much of the economic data we use to understand the world \u2013 for instance on the goods and services bought or produced by households, firms and governments, or the incomes they receive \u2013 is initially recorded in terms of the units in which these transactions took place. That means this data starts out being expressed in a variety of local currencies \u2013 as so many rupees, US dollars, or yuan, etc. \u2013 and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in \u2018current prices\u2019, or in \u2018nominal\u2019 terms."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this. It is the result of adjusting both for inflation within countries over time and for differences in the cost of living between countries."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The goal of international-$ is to provide a unit whose purchasing power is held fixed over time and across countries, such that one int.-$ can buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services no matter where or when it is spent."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The price level in the US is used as the benchmark \u2013 or \u2018numeraire\u2019 \u2013 so that one 2017 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2017. Similarly, one 2011 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2011."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The year 2017 (2011) here indicates two things, related to the two adjustments mentioned. Firstly, it tells us the base year used for the inflation adjustment within countries. This is the year whose prices are chosen to be the benchmark. If prices are higher than this benchmark year, nominal data will be adjusted downwards. If prices are lower, nominal data will be adjusted upwards. In the base year itself, the nominal and inflation-adjusted figures are the same by definition."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Secondly, 2017 (2011) indicates the year in which the differences in the cost of living between countries was assessed."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "Purchasing Power Parity rates",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Converting data in local currencies to international-$ means dividing the figures by a set of \u2018exchange\u2019 rates, known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates. Unlike the exchange rates between currencies you would see at the foreign exchange counter, these account for differences in the cost of living between countries."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "If you have ever shopped or eaten in a restaurant abroad, you may have noticed a country as being a particularly expensive or particularly cheap place to live. A given amount of your own currency, when exchanged for another country\u2019s currency, may buy you considerably more or less there than it would have done at home."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The goal of PPP rates is to account for these price differences. They express, for each country, the amount of local currency that is needed to buy the same goods and services there as 1 US dollar buys in the US."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "You can read more about this in our article <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-ppps\">What are PPP adjustments and why do we need them?</a>"
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "heading",
                            "value": {
                                "text": "The \u2018rounds\u2019 of the International Comparison Program",
                                "level": "4"
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The calculation of PPP rates is the task of the <a href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp\">International Comparison Program</a> (ICP), which gathers data on the prices of thousands of goods and services in each country in a particular year."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The ICP does not calculate PPP rates every year, but rather conducts its work in \u2018rounds\u2019 that are several years apart. The most recent round was conducted in 2017 and the previous round was conducted in 2011."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In converting economic data to international-$, which round of PPPs are used to adjust for cost-of-living differences between countries is, in principle, a separate issue to the base year used to adjust for inflation over time. By convention, however, the same year tends to be chosen for both. When converted to 2017 international-$, nominal local currencies are first adjusted for inflation to local 2017 prices, and are then adjusted to US prices using the PPPs calculated in the ICP\u2019s 2017 round. Likewise, 2011 international-$ adjust for inflation using 2011 local prices, and then use the 2011 PPPs to adjust for cost-of-living differences."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "poverty-comparability",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How comparable is the World Bank data on household incomes across time or between countries?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Because there is no global survey of incomes, researchers need to rely on available national surveys. Such surveys are designed with cross-country comparability in mind, but because the surveys reflect the circumstances and priorities of individual countries at the time of the survey, there are some important differences. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "One important issue is that, whilst in most high-income countries the surveys capture people\u2019s incomes, in poorer countries these surveys tend to capture people\u2019s consumption."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Pooling the data available from different kinds of survey data is unavoidable if we want to get a global picture of poverty or inequality. But it\u2019s important to bear in mind that, depending on the country or year, somewhat different things are being measured."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The two concepts are nevertheless closely related: the income of a household equals their consumption plus any saving, or minus any borrowing or spending out of savings."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "One important difference is that, while zero consumption is not a feasible value \u2013 people must consume something to survive \u2013 a zero income is a feasible value. At the bottom end of the distribution, people\u2019s consumption may be somewhat higher than their income. A common example here is retired people who are using their savings: they may have a very low, or even zero, income, but still have a high level of consumption."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Conversely, at the top end of the distribution, consumption is typically lower than income. The gap rises with income, with households generally saving a higher share of their income the richer they are. For both these reasons, the distribution of consumption is generally more equal than the distribution of income."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "There are a number of other ways in which comparability across surveys can be limited. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes a range of steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. The PIP <a href=\"https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/\">Methodology Handbook</a> provides a good summary of the comparability and data quality issues affecting this data and how it tries to address them."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "To help communicate this limitation of the data, the World Bank produces a companion indicator that groups data points within each individual country into \u2018spells\u2019. The surveys underlying the data within a given spell for a particular country are considered by World Bank researchers to be more comparable. The breaks between these comparable spells are shown in the chart below for the share of population living in extreme poverty. You can select to see these breaks for any indicator in our <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN&hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true\">Data Explorer</a> of the World Bank data. These spells are also indicated in our <a href=\"https://github.com/owid/poverty-data\">data download</a> of the World Bank poverty and inequality data."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "chart",
                            "value": {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true&country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "poverty-regional-estimates",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How does the World Bank produce global and regional estimates of poverty and inequality from national data?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "For its poverty and inequality data the World Bank relies on household surveys that are conducted nationally. In order to produce global or regional estimates, the survey data from different countries needs to be lined up and aggregated. For each year, the World Bank finds the closest survey for each country and projects the data forward or backwards to the year being estimated. This is necessary particularly since surveys are <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/data-deprivation-poverty-surveys-per-decade\">less frequently available</a> in poorer countries and for earlier decades."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "These projections are generally made on the assumption that incomes or expenditure grow in line with the growth rates observed in national accounts data."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "You can read more about the interpolation methods used by the World Bank in <a href=\"https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/lineupestimates.html\">Chapter 5</a> of the Poverty and Inequality Platform Methodology Handbook."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "deaths-estimation",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How are the expected deaths per year estimated?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The total number of deaths expected each year can be estimated using data from censuses, surveys and other data sources about the size of the population by age, sex and other demographics. For example, they can be estimated using historical trends and registered deaths. In addition, countries carry out censuses, usually around every ten years."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Researchers can compare people in one census and the next, and look at their year of birth, to estimate how many people in that birth cohort died in between censuses. This can help project the number of deaths each year by age and other demographics."
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Different groups use slightly different methods to estimate the total number of expected deaths each year, but their estimates are mostly similar. Estimates vary more widely for countries with poorly functioning Vital Registries. This dataset by Ariel Karlinsky uses an average of estimates from three sources: the UN's World Population Prospects, WHO's Global Health Estimates and IHME's Global Burden of Disease study."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "stunting-definition",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What is stunting?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.<a class=\"ref\" href=\"#note-1\"><sup>1</sup></a>"
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "A child is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019 if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development \u2013 impacts that can persist throughout someone\u2019s life. There is some evidence to suggest that \u2018catch-up growth\u2019 is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "stunting-measurement",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "How is stunting measured?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Stunting is measured based on a child\u2019s height relative to their age."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves \u2013 these show the expected trajectory of a child\u2019s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height \u2013 there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the \u2018acceptable\u2019 range. This range is <b>two standard deviations</b> above and below the median."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "A child whose height falls below the bottom of the ribbon \u2013 that is, two standard deviations below their expected height for their age \u2013 is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In a population, the prevalence of stunting is defined as <b>the share of children under five years old that fall two standard deviations below the expected height for their age</b>."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "To estimate the prevalence of stunting, researchers draw on household and demographic surveys, which include measurements of childhood growth, alongside official health data from governments that monitor child development."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "image",
                            "value": {
                                "alt": "",
                                "filename": "Healthy20height20growth20curves.png"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "stunting-causes",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "What are the causes of stunting?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child\u2019s \u201cfirst 1,000 days\u201d. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child\u2019s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher \u2013 it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases\">diarrheal diseases</a> \u2013 which are common in children \u2013 its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/water-access\">clean water</a>, <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/sanitation\">sanitation</a> and <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/hygiene\">hygiene facilities</a> to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "life-satisfaction-vs-happiness",
            "content": [
                {
                    "type": "heading",
                    "value": {
                        "text": "Is \u2018life satisfaction\u2019 the same as \u2018happiness\u2019?",
                        "level": "3"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": "The most natural way to attempt to measure subjective well-being is to ask people what they think and feel. Indeed, this is the most common approach."
                },
                {
                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "In practice, social scientists tend to rely on questions inquiring directly about happiness, or on questions inquiring about life satisfaction. The former tend to measure the experiential or emotional aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI feel very happy\u201d), while the latter tend to measure the evaluative or cognitive aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI think I lead a very positive life\u201d)."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "The chart below plots a measure of average happiness against a measure of average life satisfaction."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "Along the X-axis we show data from the World Value Survey, which asks directly about happiness: \u201cTaking all things together, would you say you are (i) Very happy, (ii) Rather happy, (iii) Not very happy, (iv) Not at all happy, (v) Don\u2019t know.\u201d Shown is the share of respondents who say they are \u2018very happy\u2019 or \u2018rather happy\u2019."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "On the Y-axis is data from the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder question and asks respondents to evaluate their life: <i>\u201cPlease imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?</i>\u201d Shown is the average reported score."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": "As the visualization shows, these two measures are clearly closely related (countries that score high in one measure also tend to score high in the other), yet they are not identical (there is substantial dispersion, with many countries sharing the same score in one variable but diverging in the other)."
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                            "value": "The differences in responses to questions inquiring about life satisfaction and happiness are consistent with the idea that subjective well-being has two sides: an experiential or emotional side, and an evaluative or cognitive side. Of course, the limits between emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being are blurred in our minds; so in practice both kinds of questions measure both aspects to some degree. Indeed, social scientists often construct \u2018subjective well-being indexes\u2019 where they simply average out results from various types of questions."
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                            "value": "Such a correlation has been found, for example, with <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2017/04/Life-Satisfaction-vs-Laugh-Gallup.png\">smiling and laughing</a>."
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                            "value": "Experimental psychologists have also shown that self reports of well-being from surveys turn out to correlate with activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure and satisfaction. And various surveys have confirmed that people who say they are happy also tend to sleep better and express positive emotions verbally more frequently."
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                            "value": "The following table, adapted from <a href=\"https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533006776526030\">Kahneman and Krueger (2006)</a><a class=\"ref\" href=\"#note-2\"><sup>2</sup></a>, provides a list of the variables that researchers have found to be related to self-reported happiness and life satisfaction."
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                            "text": "The Electoral Democracy Index scores each country on a spectrum, with some countries being more democratic than others.",
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                    "value": [
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                            "text": "The spectrum ranges from 0 (\u2018highly undemocratic\u2019) to 1 (\u2018highly democratic\u2019).",
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                            "text": "This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as ",
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                            "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data",
                            "children": [
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                                    "text": "\u2018Regimes of the World\u2019",
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                            "text": " and ",
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                            "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement",
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                                    "text": "other projects",
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                            "text": ", which classify countries as a binary: either they are a democracy or not.",
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        "row-more-info": {
            "id": "row-more-info",
            "content": [
                {
                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "Where can I learn more about how RoW produces its data?",
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                        }
                    ],
                    "type": "heading",
                    "level": 3,
                    "parseErrors": []
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                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
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                            "text": "V-Dem, which publishes the RoW data, releases ",
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                        {
                            "url": "https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/",
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                                    "text": "its data",
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                                }
                            ],
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                        {
                            "text": " publicly and makes it straightforward to download and use.",
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                            "text": "It publishes the overall scores, the underlying subindices, and several hundred specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder.",
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                    "value": [
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                            "text": "V-Dem also releases descriptions of how RoW measures democracy, as well as the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers.",
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            "content": [
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?",
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                        }
                    ],
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                            "text": "Despite these shortcomings, the classification tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today.",
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                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
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                                    "text": "Its characterizations of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, and a liberal political system, in which citizens are protected from others and the state, are commonly recognized as the two basic principles of democracy and shared by ",
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                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement",
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                                            "text": "most of the leading approaches of measuring democracy",
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                                        }
                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
                                },
                                {
                                    "text": ".",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "Because it treats democracy as a binary, the classification can make the many differences in political institutions we observe across countries and over time much easier to understand. It allows us to combine the many countries with similar political institutions, while still distinguishing countries whose institutions differ in meaningful ways. This allows us to observe whether one country is democratic or not, or whether a country has become a democracy or stopped being one over time.",
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                                    "text": "The index also covers many countries and years. Except for microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789.",
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                                    "text": "Finally, RoW and V-Dem take many steps to make their assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. RoW relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe, and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments in its expanded classification.",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What years and countries are covered?",
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                        }
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                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
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                            "text": "As of version 13 of the dataset, the original V-Dem data covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers.",
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                    ],
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                    "type": "text",
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                            "text": "Our World in Data expands the coverage of the original data to include more years when current countries were still non-sovereign territories. We use the index score of the historical entity that they were part of, whenever available.",
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                    ],
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                            "text": "For example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh\u2019s independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We therefore use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million.",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "How is democracy measured?",
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                    "level": 3,
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                {
                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments valid?",
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                    "value": [
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                            "text": "To actually measure what it wants to capture, V-Dem assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts.",
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                                    "text": "These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe.",
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                                }
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "V-Dem\u2019s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                        {
                            "text": [
                                {
                                    "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments precise and reliable?",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country-experts fill surveys for V-Dem every year.",
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                                    "text": "While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic.",
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                            "text": [
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                                    "text": "How does V-Dem work to make its assessments comparable?",
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                            "level": 4,
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "V-Dem also works to make their coders\u2019 assessments comparable across countries and time.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems \u2014 such as the presence or absence of election fraud \u2014 instead of making them rely on their broad impressions.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information.",
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                                    "text": "V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments.",
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                        {
                            "text": [
                                {
                                    "text": "How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with?",
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                            "level": 4,
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders.",
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The model combines the experts\u2019 ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts\u2019 stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics.",
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                                    "text": "V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression.",
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                                    "text": "With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement.",
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                                }
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                                    "text": "The overall Electoral Democracy Index score is the result of weighing, multiplying, and adding up the subindices.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
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                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data#note-7",
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                                            "text": "7",
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                                    "text": "The subindices are weighted because V-Dem considers some of them as more important than others: elected officials and voting rights are weighted less because they capture more formal requirements, as opposed to free and fair elections and the freedoms of association and expression that rely more on expert assessments.",
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                                }
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
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                                    "text": "The subindices are partially multiplied and partially added up because V-Dem wants the subindices to partially compensate for one another, and partially for them to reinforce each other. An example of compensation is voting rights partially making up for a lack of rights to assemble and protest, whereas an example of reinforcement is voting rights mattering more if voters can also choose opposition candidates.",
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "What is our summary assessment?",
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                        {
                            "text": "Whether the Regimes of the World classification is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer.",
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                                    "text": "The classification will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in the political rights of historically marginalized groups specifically; in non-electoral or non-liberal understandings of democracy; in the political systems of microstates; and interested in small differences in the political systems of countries.",
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "In these cases, we will have to rely on ",
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                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "other measures",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                    "spanType": "span-link"
                                },
                                {
                                    "text": ".",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                {
                                    "text": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big differences in political regimes, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data.",
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                                {
                                    "text": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy.",
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            "id": "vdem-more-info",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "Where can I learn more about how V-Dem produces its data?",
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                            "text": "V-Dem releases ",
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                                    "text": "its data",
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                                }
                            ],
                            "spanType": "span-link"
                        },
                        {
                            "text": " publicly, and makes it straightforward to download and use. This includes the overall index scores, the underlying subindices, and the specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder.",
                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                    ],
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                            "text": "V-Dem also releases detailed ",
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                            "url": "https://www.v-dem.net/documents/24/codebook_v13.pdf",
                            "children": [
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                                    "text": "descriptions",
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                            ],
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                        {
                            "text": " of how they characterize democracy, the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers, as well as why it weighs, adds, and multiplies the scores for specific characteristics.",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What are the data\u2019s strengths?",
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                            "text": "Despite these shortcomings, the index tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today.",
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                                    "text": "Its characterization of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, is commonly recognized as the basic principle of democracy and shared by ",
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                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement",
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                                            "text": "all of the leading approaches of measuring democracy",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                        }
                                    ],
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                                {
                                    "text": ".",
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                                    "text": "Because it treats democracy as a spectrum, the index is able to capture both big and small differences in the political systems of countries, and to record small changes within countries over time. This allows us to observe whether one country is more democratic than another, or whether a country has become more or less democratic over time.",
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                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The index also covers many countries and years. With the exception of microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 \u2014 even while they were colonized by another country \u2014 and some of them as far back as 1789.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
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                                    "text": "Finally, V-Dem takes many steps to make its assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. It relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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            "id": "lpi-data-origin",
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "Where does the data for the LPI come from?",
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                            "text": "The underlying data for the LPI comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases and government reports. To be included, data points must contain a time series of vertebrate populations spanning any number of years from 1970 onwards.",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) not measure?",
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                    "type": "heading",
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                            "text": "The Living Planet Index does not measure:",
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                                    "text": "Number of species lost",
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                                    "text": "Number of populations or individuals that have been lost",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining",
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                                    "text": "Number of extinctions",
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            "content": [
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "What are the causes of stunting?",
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                            "text": "Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child\u2019s \u201cfirst 1,000 days\u201d. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child\u2019s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development.",
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                                    "text": "Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health.",
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                                    "text": "When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher \u2013 it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of ",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases",
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                                            "text": "diarrheal diseases",
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                                    "spanType": "span-link"
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                                {
                                    "text": " \u2013 which are common in children \u2013 its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted.",
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                                    "text": "Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to ",
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                                {
                                    "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/water-access",
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                                            "text": "clean water",
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                                    "spanType": "span-link"
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                                    "text": ", ",
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                                    "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/sanitation",
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                                            "text": "sanitation",
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                                    "text": " and ",
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                                    "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/hygiene",
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                                            "text": "hygiene facilities",
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                                    "text": " to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health.",
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "What is our summary assessment?",
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                    "value": [
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                            "text": "Whether V-Dem\u2019s Electoral Democracy Index is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer.",
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                                    "text": "The index will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in non-electoral understandings of democracy (or different understandings of electoral democracy); if we are also interested in the political systems of microstates; and only interested in big differences in the political systems of countries.",
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                                    "text": "In these cases, we will have to rely on ",
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                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement",
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                                            "text": "other measures",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                },
                                {
                                    "text": ".",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big and small differences in electoral democracy, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data.",
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                                    "text": "It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy.",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?",
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                            "text": "There are shortcomings in the way Regimes of the World characterizes and measures democracy.",
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                    "items": [
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "The classification only captures that these political rights were broad, not that they were universal. This means that not all people living in a democracy necessarily enjoy its political rights: this includes children, but often also historically marginalized groups such as women.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "The classification also focuses on electoral and liberal understandings of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the ",
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                                },
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                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index",
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                                            "text": "most economically-unequal countries",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
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                                    "text": " in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years.",
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                                    "text": "RoW also does not cover some countries with very small populations.",
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                                    "text": "Furthermore, because the classification groups all political systems into four broad types, it is not very granular. This means that it does not pick up small changes in political institutions, or conversely that the classification sometimes categorizes countries with similar institutions differently. This includes some recategorizations of countries across years where their political institutions barely changed, but crossed a somewhat arbitrary threshold.",
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                                    "text": "The assessment of the RoW classification remains to some extent subjective. It is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held.",
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                                    "text": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why specific indicators were chosen, such as whether citizens had access to the justice system, and not (also) whether they were free from government repression.",
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                    ],
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            "content": [
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "How are the expected deaths per year estimated?",
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                        }
                    ],
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                },
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                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "text": "The total number of deaths expected each year can be estimated using data from censuses, surveys and other data sources about the size of the population by age, sex and other demographics. For example, they can be estimated using historical trends and registered deaths. In addition, countries carry out censuses, usually around every ten years.",
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                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
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                            "text": "Researchers can compare people in one census and the next, and look at their year of birth, to estimate how many people in that birth cohort died in between censuses. This can help project the number of deaths each year by age and other demographics.",
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                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "text": "Different groups use slightly different methods to estimate the total number of expected deaths each year, but their estimates are mostly similar. Estimates vary more widely for countries with poorly functioning Vital Registries. This dataset by Ariel Karlinsky uses an average of estimates from three sources: the UN's World Population Prospects, WHO's Global Health Estimates and IHME's Global Burden of Disease study.",
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "What types of species are included?",
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                            "text": "Only vertebrate species are included in the LPI: this includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Only a small percentage (8%) of known species in these groups are included, and only some populations of these species are represented in the LPI.",
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                            "text": "Although it is one of the most comprehensive datasets for monitoring biodiversity trends, the LPI still only captures a small sample of global biodiversity. For example, insects, corals, fungi and plants are not included.",
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What are the data\u2019s shortcomings?",
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                            "text": "There are shortcomings in the way the Electoral Democracy Index characterizes and measures democracy.",
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                                    "text": "The index focuses on an electoral understanding of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the ",
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                                },
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                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index",
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                                            "text": "most economically-unequal countries",
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                                    "text": " in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years.",
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                                    "text": "V-Dem also does not cover some countries with very small populations.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "Furthermore, the index is more difficult to interpret than other measures. Measures that group countries into democracies and autocracies, ",
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                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data",
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                                            "text": "such as the Regimes of the World classification",
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                                    "spanType": "span-link"
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                                {
                                    "text": ", make it possible to say which country was a democracy.",
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                                    "text": "The Electoral Democracy Index makes no clear assessment there, and only allows us to say whether a country is relatively democratic by comparing it to the range of the index, to other countries, or to the same country at another point in time. And when doing so, it is still difficult to say how large these differences are.",
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                                    "text": "The assessment of the Electoral Democracy Index remains to some extent subjective. Its index is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held.",
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                                    "text": "Finally, the index\u2019s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why these specific subindices were chosen; and why two subindices, elected officials and voting rights, are weighted less than the others.",
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                            "text": "How does RoW characterize democracy?",
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                            "text": "Regimes of the World distinguishes four types of political systems: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies.",
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                                        {
                                            "text": ": citizens do not have the right to choose either the chief executive of the government or the legislature through multi-party elections",
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                                            "text": ": citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature through multi-party elections; but they lack some freedoms, such as the freedoms of association or expression that make the elections meaningful, free, and fair",
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                                                    "text": "Electoral democracy",
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                                            "text": ": citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections",
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                                                    "text": "Liberal democracy",
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                                            "text": ": electoral democracy and citizens enjoy individual and minority rights, are equal before the law, and the actions of the executive are constrained by the legislative and the courts",
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                                    "text": "You can find data on the more specific characteristics and derived measures in our ",
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                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index",
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                                            "text": "Democracy Data Explorer",
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                                    "text": ".",
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        "stunting-definition": {
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "What is stunting?",
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                            "text": "Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.",
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                        {
                            "url": "#note-1",
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                                            "text": "1",
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                                    "text": "A child is defined as \u2018stunted\u2019 if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered.",
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                                    "text": "Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development \u2013 impacts that can persist throughout someone\u2019s life. There is some evidence to suggest that \u2018catch-up growth\u2019 is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case.",
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        "lpi-species-coverage": {
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            "content": [
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                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "How many species does it cover? What is the geographical range of this coverage?",
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                            "text": "In its latest report, published in 2022, 31,821 populations across 5,230 species were included. It includes species and populations across all continents. However, there is a geographic bias in the data, with areas with higher levels of biodiversity monitoring, such as North America and Europe being overrepresented, and areas where biodiversity is richest, like the tropical regions, being underrepresented.",
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                    "text": [
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                            "text": "How is stunting measured?",
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                            "text": "Stunting is measured based on a child\u2019s height relative to their age.",
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                                    "text": "The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves \u2013 these show the expected trajectory of a child\u2019s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height \u2013 there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights.",
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                            "value": [
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                                    "text": "We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the \u2018acceptable\u2019 range. This range is ",
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                                },
                                {
                                    "children": [
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                                            "text": "two standard deviations",
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                                    "text": " above and below the median.",
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                            "text": "True to its name, the Varieties of Democracy project acknowledges that democracy can be characterized differently, and measures electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian characterizations of democracy.",
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                                    "text": "To help communicate this limitation of the data, the World Bank produces a companion indicator that groups data points within each individual country into \u2018spells\u2019. The surveys underlying the data within a given spell for a particular country are considered by World Bank researchers to be more comparable. The breaks between these comparable spells are shown in the chart below for the share of population living in extreme poverty. You can select to see these breaks for any indicator in our ",
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            ],
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        "poverty-international-dollars": {
            "id": "poverty-international-dollars",
            "content": [
                {
                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes?",
                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                    ],
                    "type": "heading",
                    "level": 3,
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                            "text": "Much of the economic data we use to understand the world \u2013 for instance on the goods and services bought or produced by households, firms and governments, or the incomes they receive \u2013 is initially recorded in terms of the units in which these transactions took place. That means this data starts out being expressed in a variety of local currencies \u2013 as so many rupees, US dollars, or yuan, etc. \u2013 and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in \u2018current prices\u2019, or in \u2018nominal\u2019 terms.",
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                                    "text": "Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
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                                    "text": "International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this. It is the result of adjusting both for inflation within countries over time and for differences in the cost of living between countries.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "The goal of international-$ is to provide a unit whose purchasing power is held fixed over time and across countries, such that one int.-$ can buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services no matter where or when it is spent.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                    "text": "The price level in the US is used as the benchmark \u2013 or \u2018numeraire\u2019 \u2013 so that one 2017 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2017. Similarly, one 2011 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2011.",
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
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                                    "text": "The year 2017 (2011) here indicates two things, related to the two adjustments mentioned. Firstly, it tells us the base year used for the inflation adjustment within countries. This is the year whose prices are chosen to be the benchmark. If prices are higher than this benchmark year, nominal data will be adjusted downwards. If prices are lower, nominal data will be adjusted upwards. In the base year itself, the nominal and inflation-adjusted figures are the same by definition.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "Secondly, 2017 (2011) indicates the year in which the differences in the cost of living between countries was assessed.",
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                        {
                            "text": [
                                {
                                    "text": "Purchasing Power Parity rates",
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                            "type": "heading",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "Converting data in local currencies to international-$ means dividing the figures by a set of \u2018exchange\u2019 rates, known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates. Unlike the exchange rates between currencies you would see at the foreign exchange counter, these account for differences in the cost of living between countries.",
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                            ],
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "If you have ever shopped or eaten in a restaurant abroad, you may have noticed a country as being a particularly expensive or particularly cheap place to live. A given amount of your own currency, when exchanged for another country\u2019s currency, may buy you considerably more or less there than it would have done at home.",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                    "text": "The goal of PPP rates is to account for these price differences. They express, for each country, the amount of local currency that is needed to buy the same goods and services there as 1 US dollar buys in the US.",
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                                    "text": "You can read more about this in our article ",
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                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-ppps",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "What are PPP adjustments and why do we need them?",
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                            "text": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The \u2018rounds\u2019 of the International Comparison Program",
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                            "type": "text",
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                                {
                                    "text": "The calculation of PPP rates is the task of the ",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "International Comparison Program",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                        }
                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
                                },
                                {
                                    "text": " (ICP), which gathers data on the prices of thousands of goods and services in each country in a particular year.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
                            "parseErrors": []
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The ICP does not calculate PPP rates every year, but rather conducts its work in \u2018rounds\u2019 that are several years apart. The most recent round was conducted in 2017 and the previous round was conducted in 2011.",
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                                    "text": "In converting economic data to international-$, which round of PPPs are used to adjust for cost-of-living differences between countries is, in principle, a separate issue to the base year used to adjust for inflation over time. By convention, however, the same year tends to be chosen for both. When converted to 2017 international-$, nominal local currencies are first adjusted for inflation to local 2017 prices, and are then adjusted to US prices using the PPPs calculated in the ICP\u2019s 2017 round. Likewise, 2011 international-$ adjust for inflation using 2011 local prices, and then use the 2011 PPPs to adjust for cost-of-living differences.",
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            "id": "life-satisfaction-vs-happiness",
            "content": [
                {
                    "text": [
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                            "text": "Is \u2018life satisfaction\u2019 the same as \u2018happiness\u2019?",
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                    ],
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                    "value": [
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                            "text": "The most natural way to attempt to measure subjective well-being is to ask people what they think and feel. Indeed, this is the most common approach.",
                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                    "text": "In practice, social scientists tend to rely on questions inquiring directly about happiness, or on questions inquiring about life satisfaction. The former tend to measure the experiential or emotional aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI feel very happy\u201d), while the latter tend to measure the evaluative or cognitive aspects of well-being (e.g. \u201cI think I lead a very positive life\u201d).",
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                                }
                            ],
                            "parseErrors": []
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The chart below plots a measure of average happiness against a measure of average life satisfaction.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
                            "parseErrors": []
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "Along the X-axis we show data from the World Value Survey, which asks directly about happiness: \u201cTaking all things together, would you say you are (i) Very happy, (ii) Rather happy, (iii) Not very happy, (iv) Not at all happy, (v) Don\u2019t know.\u201d Shown is the share of respondents who say they are \u2018very happy\u2019 or \u2018rather happy\u2019.",
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                                }
                            ],
                            "parseErrors": []
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "On the Y-axis is data from the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder question and asks respondents to evaluate their life: ",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "\u201cPlease imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                        }
                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-italic"
                                },
                                {
                                    "text": "\u201d Shown is the average reported score.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "As the visualization shows, these two measures are clearly closely related (countries that score high in one measure also tend to score high in the other), yet they are not identical (there is substantial dispersion, with many countries sharing the same score in one variable but diverging in the other).",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The differences in responses to questions inquiring about life satisfaction and happiness are consistent with the idea that subjective well-being has two sides: an experiential or emotional side, and an evaluative or cognitive side. Of course, the limits between emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being are blurred in our minds; so in practice both kinds of questions measure both aspects to some degree. Indeed, social scientists often construct \u2018subjective well-being indexes\u2019 where they simply average out results from various types of questions.",
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                            "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-wvs-vs-gallup",
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            ],
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        },
        "poverty-international-poverty-line": {
            "id": "poverty-international-poverty-line",
            "content": [
                {
                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "What is the International Poverty Line and how is it set?",
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                        }
                    ],
                    "type": "heading",
                    "level": 3,
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                },
                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
                        {
                            "text": "There is no single definition of poverty. Our understanding of the extent of poverty and how it is changing depends on which definition we have in mind.",
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                        }
                    ],
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                    "type": "expandable-paragraph",
                    "items": [
                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "In particular, richer and poorer countries set very different poverty lines in order to measure poverty in a way that is informative and relevant to the level of incomes of their citizens.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "For instance, while in the United States a person is counted as being in poverty if they live on less than roughly $24.55 per day, in Ethiopia the poverty line is set more than 10 times lower \u2013 at $2.04 per day. You can read more about how these comparable national poverty lines are calculated in this footnote.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-4",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "4",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                        }
                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
                                }
                            ],
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "To measure poverty globally, however, we need to apply a poverty line that is consistent across countries.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "This is the goal of the International Poverty Line of $2.15 per day \u2013 shown in red in the chart \u2013 which is set by the World Bank and used by the UN to monitor extreme poverty around the world.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "We see that, in global terms, this is an extremely low threshold indeed \u2013 set to reflect the poverty lines adopted nationally in the world\u2019s poorest countries. It marks an incredibly low standard of living \u2013 a level of income much lower than just the cost of a ",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/diet-affordability",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "healthy diet",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                        }
                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
                                },
                                {
                                    "text": ".",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
                            "parseErrors": []
                        },
                        {
                            "alt": "",
                            "size": "wide",
                            "type": "image",
                            "filename": "Five-income-distributions-national-poverty-and-IPL-2.png",
                            "parseErrors": []
                        },
                        {
                            "text": [
                                {
                                    "text": "How does the World Bank set the International Poverty Line?",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                            ],
                            "type": "heading",
                            "level": 4,
                            "parseErrors": []
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The exact method used by the World Bank to set the International Poverty Line has changed somewhat over past updates. But each time the objective has been broadly the same \u2013 to find a \u201ctypical standard by which the poorest countries of the world judge their citizens to be impoverished.\u201d",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-5",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "5",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The method used in the latest update to arrive at a figure of $2.15, measured in 2017 international-$, is based on a set of harmonized national poverty lines produced by ",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/353811645450974574/pdf/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-2017-PPPs-on-the-International-Poverty-Line-and-Global-Poverty.pdf",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "Dean Joliffe and others",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                        }
                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
                                },
                                {
                                    "text": " \u2013 shown in the chart here.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                        {
                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "As you can see, there is a strong correlation between the poverty lines countries set, shown on the Y axis, and their income level \u2013 as measured here by GDP per capita, and plotted along the X axis.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "The International Poverty Line is calculated as the median national poverty line adopted among low-income countries \u2013 using the World Bank\u2019s income classification system. These are the countries shaded in red in the chart and found in the bottom left corner.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
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                            "type": "text",
                            "value": [
                                {
                                    "text": "Although the International Poverty Line is by far the most prominent international line, the same method is also used by the World Bank to set two higher poverty lines that reflect the national definitions adopted in lower-middle and upper-middle income groups shown in green and purple respectively. The median poverty line among these two groups of countries are $3.65 and $6.85, and these form the World Bank\u2019s lower-middle income and upper middle-income poverty lines.",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                    "text": "You can read more about the methodology used to set these lines in the World Bank\u2019s flagship report on poverty, ",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                },
                                {
                                    "url": "https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity",
                                    "children": [
                                        {
                                            "text": "Poverty and Shared Prosperity",
                                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                    ],
                                    "spanType": "span-link"
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                                {
                                    "text": ".",
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                            "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-poverty-line-vs-gdp-per-capita",
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                    ],
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            ],
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        },
        "missing-consumption-based-emissions": {
            "id": "missing-consumption-based-emissions",
            "content": [
                {
                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "Why are consumption-based emissions only available from 1990? Why are they not available for all countries?",
                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                        }
                    ],
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                    "level": 3,
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                {
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                    "value": [
                        {
                            "text": "To calculate consumption-based emissions we need detailed trade data between countries and the emissions intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar spent) across many industries and sectors in each country. Prior to 1990, there is insufficient high-quality, high-resolution data to produce these calculations.",
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                    ],
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                {
                    "type": "text",
                    "value": [
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                            "text": "For this same reason \u2013 insufficient high-resolution trade data \u2013 it is not currently possible to calculate consumption-based emissions for all countries. It is mostly high-income and major economies that are included.",
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                    ],
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                {
                    "type": "text",
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                            "text": "Consumption-based emissions also always lag production-based emissions by one year. For example, when production-based emissions for 2020 were released, the latest year for consumption-based emissions was 2019. This is because the required resolution of trade data was not yet available for 2020.",
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                    ],
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            ],
            "parseErrors": []
        },
        "emissions-from-aviation-and-shipping": {
            "id": "emissions-from-aviation-and-shipping",
            "content": [
                {
                    "text": [
                        {
                            "text": "Are emissions from aviation and shipping included?",
                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                        }
                    ],
                    "type": "heading",
                    "level": 3,
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                {
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                        {
                            "text": "Emissions from domestic aviation and shipping are included in each country\u2019s total. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are not included in any country or region\u2019s total. This is because there is no international agreement on how these emissions should be allocated: should they, for example, be allocated to the country of origin or destination? In our ",
                            "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                        },
                        {
                            "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying",
                            "children": [
                                {
                                    "text": "related article",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
                            "spanType": "span-link"
                        },
                        {
                            "text": " we look at a separate dataset on emissions from aviation.",
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                    "type": "text",
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                            "text": "They are, however, included in the global total. You also ",
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                        },
                        {
                            "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region",
                            "children": [
                                {
                                    "text": "find it here",
                                    "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                }
                            ],
                            "spanType": "span-link"
                        },
                        {
                            "text": " as a separate category.",
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    }
}

2023-09-26 07:26:10

2023-09-26 07:28:37

2023-12-28 16:31:07

unlisted

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### What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) measure? The Living Planet Index (LPI) provides a measure of wildlife abundance. It measures the average relative decline in population size since 1970 across a wide range of species. ### What does the LPI show? The latest results from the LPI indicate an average decline in the studied wildlife populations of 69% between 1970 and 2018. Note that this does not mean that we have lost 69% of wildlife over this period. For a clear example of why this is the wrong conclusion, and how the LPI is calculated, see our example [here](https://ourworldindata.org/living-planet-index#example-calculation-why-we-should-use-the-term-decline-and-not-lost). ### How is democracy scored? Regimes of the World treats democracy as a binary, by classifying a country as either a democracy or not. This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as Varieties of Democracy’s [electoral democracy index](https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data) and [other projects](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement), which classify countries as a spectrum, with some being scored as more democratic than others. ### How sensitive is the LPI to outliers? The impact of extreme population declines and increases on the calculation of the global LPI (Living Planet Index) has been tested by removing these outliers from the dataset. Although there were slight variations in the results, the overall trend of the global LPI remained very similar, suggesting that extreme declines and increases do not significantly influence the trend of the index. ### What years and countries are covered? As of version 13 of the dataset, V-Dem covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers. RoW covers countries and years since 1900. But we expand the years and countries covered and refine the coding rules, as detailed below. ### How is democracy measured? #### How does RoW work to make its assessments valid? To measure what it wants to capture, RoW uses data from the Varieties of Democracy project, which assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts. These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe. V-Dem’s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house. #### How does RoW work to make its assessments precise and reliable? V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country experts fill out surveys for V-Dem every year. While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic. #### How does RoW work to make its assessments comparable? V-Dem also works to make their coders’ assessments comparable across countries and time. The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems — such as the presence or absence of election fraud — instead of making them rely on their broad impressions. The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings. Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information. V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments. #### How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with? V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders. The model combines the experts’ ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts’ stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics. V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression. With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement. In addition to its main classification, RoW provides an expanded version that identifies countries that may fit better into the next-higher or -lower main categories. You can find the data in our [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Regimes+of+the+World&Metric=%C2%ADPolitical+regime%2C+including+ambiguous+categories&Sub-metric=Main+classification). The overall classification is the result of evaluating whether necessary characteristics are present or not. If the experts consider a country’s elections to have been both multi-party and free and fair, and the country as having had minimal features of an electoral democracy in general (based on V-Dem’s [electoral democracy index](https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data)), RoW classifies it as a democracy. A country is classified as a liberal democracy if the experts consider the country’s laws to have been transparent; the men and women there as having had access to the justice system; and the country as having had broad features of a liberal democracy overall. If it does not meet one of these conditions, the country is classified as an electoral democracy. A country is classified as an autocracy if it does not meet the above criteria of meaningful, free and fair, multi-party elections. It is classified as an electoral autocracy if the experts consider the elections for the legislature and chief executive — the most powerful politician — to have been multi-party. It is classified as a closed autocracy if either the legislature or chief executive has not been chosen in multi-party elections. ### How is democracy scored? The Electoral Democracy Index scores each country on a spectrum, with some countries being more democratic than others. The spectrum ranges from 0 (‘highly undemocratic’) to 1 (‘highly democratic’). This scoring thereby differs from other approaches such as [‘Regimes of the World’](https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data) and [other projects](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement), which classify countries as a binary: either they are a democracy or not. ### Where can I learn more about how RoW produces its data? V-Dem, which publishes the RoW data, releases [its data](https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/) publicly and makes it straightforward to download and use. It publishes the overall scores, the underlying subindices, and several hundred specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder. V-Dem also releases descriptions of how RoW measures democracy, as well as the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers. ### What are the data’s strengths? Despite these shortcomings, the classification tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today. Its characterizations of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, and a liberal political system, in which citizens are protected from others and the state, are commonly recognized as the two basic principles of democracy and shared by [most of the leading approaches of measuring democracy](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). Because it treats democracy as a binary, the classification can make the many differences in political institutions we observe across countries and over time much easier to understand. It allows us to combine the many countries with similar political institutions, while still distinguishing countries whose institutions differ in meaningful ways. This allows us to observe whether one country is democratic or not, or whether a country has become a democracy or stopped being one over time. The index also covers many countries and years. Except for microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 — even while they were colonized by another country — and some of them as far back as 1789. Finally, RoW and V-Dem take many steps to make their assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. RoW relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe, and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments in its expanded classification. ### What years and countries are covered? As of version 13 of the dataset, the original V-Dem data covers 202 countries, going back in time as far as 1789. Many countries have been covered since 1900, including before they became independent from their colonial powers. Our World in Data expands the coverage of the original data to include more years when current countries were still non-sovereign territories. We use the index score of the historical entity that they were part of, whenever available. For example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We therefore use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million. ### How is democracy measured? #### How does V-Dem work to make its assessments valid? To actually measure what it wants to capture, V-Dem assesses the characteristics of democracy mostly through evaluations by experts. These anonymous experts are primarily academics and members of the media and civil society. They are also often nationals or residents of the country they assess, and therefore know its political system well and can evaluate aspects that are difficult to observe. V-Dem’s own team of researchers supplements the expert evaluations. They code some easier-to-observe rules and laws of the political system, such as whether the legislature has a lower and upper house. #### How does V-Dem work to make its assessments precise and reliable? V-Dem uses several experts per country, year, and topic, to make its assessments less subjective. In total, around 3,500 country-experts fill surveys for V-Dem every year. While there are fewer experts for small countries and for the time before 1900, they rely typically on 25 experts per country and 5 experts per topic. #### How does V-Dem work to make its assessments comparable? V-Dem also works to make their coders’ assessments comparable across countries and time. The surveys ask the experts to answer very specific questions on completely explained scales about sub-characteristics of political systems — such as the presence or absence of election fraud — instead of making them rely on their broad impressions. The surveys are available in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish to reduce misunderstandings. Experts further evaluate hypothetical countries, many coded several countries, and they denote their own uncertainty and personal demographic information. V-Dem then uses this information to investigate expert biases, which they have found to be limited: they only find that experts from a country tend to be stricter in their assessments. #### How are the remaining differences in the data dealt with? V-Dem uses a statistical model to address any remaining differences between coders. The model combines the experts’ ratings of actual countries and hypothetical countries, as well as the experts’ stated uncertainties and personal demographics to produce best, upper-, and lower-bound estimates of many characteristics. V-Dem provides these different estimates for all of its main and supplementary indices, including the Electoral Democracy Index and the subindices for free and fair elections, freedom of association, and freedom of expression. With the different estimates, V-Dem explicitly acknowledges that its coders can be uncertain or make errors in their measurement. The overall Electoral Democracy Index score is the result of weighing, multiplying, and adding up the subindices.[7](https://ourworldindata.org/vdem-electoral-democracy-data#note-7) The subindices are weighted because V-Dem considers some of them as more important than others: elected officials and voting rights are weighted less because they capture more formal requirements, as opposed to free and fair elections and the freedoms of association and expression that rely more on expert assessments. The subindices are partially multiplied and partially added up because V-Dem wants the subindices to partially compensate for one another, and partially for them to reinforce each other. An example of compensation is voting rights partially making up for a lack of rights to assemble and protest, whereas an example of reinforcement is voting rights mattering more if voters can also choose opposition candidates. ### What is our summary assessment? Whether the Regimes of the World classification is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer. The classification will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in the political rights of historically marginalized groups specifically; in non-electoral or non-liberal understandings of democracy; in the political systems of microstates; and interested in small differences in the political systems of countries. In these cases, we will have to rely on [other measures](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big differences in political regimes, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data. It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy. ### Where can I learn more about how V-Dem produces its data? V-Dem releases [its data](https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/) publicly, and makes it straightforward to download and use. This includes the overall index scores, the underlying subindices, and the specific questions by country-year, country-date, and coder. V-Dem also releases detailed [descriptions](https://www.v-dem.net/documents/24/codebook_v13.pdf) of how they characterize democracy, the questions and coding procedures that guide the experts and researchers, as well as why it weighs, adds, and multiplies the scores for specific characteristics. ### What are the data’s strengths? Despite these shortcomings, the index tells us a lot about how democratic the world was in the past and today. Its characterization of democracy as an electoral political system, in which citizens get to participate in free and fair elections, is commonly recognized as the basic principle of democracy and shared by [all of the leading approaches of measuring democracy](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). Because it treats democracy as a spectrum, the index is able to capture both big and small differences in the political systems of countries, and to record small changes within countries over time. This allows us to observe whether one country is more democratic than another, or whether a country has become more or less democratic over time. The index also covers many countries and years. With the exception of microstates, it covers all countries in the world. Many countries are covered since 1900 — even while they were colonized by another country — and some of them as far back as 1789. Finally, V-Dem takes many steps to make its assessments valid, precise, comparable across countries and time, and transparent. It relies on many country and subject experts answering detailed surveys to measure aspects of political systems that are often difficult to observe and acknowledges the remaining uncertainty in their assessments. ### Where does the data for the LPI come from? The underlying data for the LPI comes from a combination of published scientific articles, online databases and government reports. To be included, data points must contain a time series of vertebrate populations spanning any number of years from 1970 onwards. ### What does the Living Planet Index (LPI) not measure? The Living Planet Index does not measure: * Number of species lost * Number of populations or individuals that have been lost * Number or percentage of species or populations that are declining * Number of extinctions ### What are the causes of stunting? Stunting can occur throughout childhood, but is largely determined by a child’s “first 1,000 days”. This stretches from the period just before conception (meaning the nutritional status of mothers is very important) through to the child’s second birthday. This is when a child experiences its most rapid phase of growth and development. Stunting occurs when a child does not have sufficient nutrition to grow and develop. This can be caused by a poor diet alone, but is often exacerbated by disease and poor health. When a child is fighting poor health or disease, its nutritional requirements are often higher – it needs more energy and nutrients to not only grow, but to also fight infection. The absorption of nutrients might also be impacted. For example, if it experiences repeated bouts of [diarrheal diseases](http://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases) – which are common in children – its ability to retain nutrients will be severely impacted. Therefore, to prevent stunting we must ensure mothers have good nutrition and health prior to, and during, pregnancy; a child has access to a sufficient and nutritious diet; has access to [clean water](http://ourworldindata.org/water-access), [sanitation](http://ourworldindata.org/sanitation) and [hygiene facilities](http://ourworldindata.org/hygiene) to prevent infection; and has adequate treatment to recover quickly from disease and poor health. ### What is our summary assessment? Whether V-Dem’s Electoral Democracy Index is a useful measure of democracy will depend on the questions we want to answer. The index will not give us a satisfying answer if we are interested in non-electoral understandings of democracy (or different understandings of electoral democracy); if we are also interested in the political systems of microstates; and only interested in big differences in the political systems of countries. In these cases, we will have to rely on [other measures](https://ourworldindata.org/democracies-measurement). But if we value a sophisticated measure based on the knowledge of many country experts and are interested in big and small differences in electoral democracy, within and across countries, and far into the past, we can learn a lot from this data. It is for these latter purposes we use the measure in some of our reporting on democracy. ### What are the data’s shortcomings? There are shortcomings in the way Regimes of the World characterizes and measures democracy. The classification only captures that these political rights were broad, not that they were universal. This means that not all people living in a democracy necessarily enjoy its political rights: this includes children, but often also historically marginalized groups such as women. The classification also focuses on electoral and liberal understandings of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the [most economically-unequal countries](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index) in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years. RoW also does not cover some countries with very small populations. Furthermore, because the classification groups all political systems into four broad types, it is not very granular. This means that it does not pick up small changes in political institutions, or conversely that the classification sometimes categorizes countries with similar institutions differently. This includes some recategorizations of countries across years where their political institutions barely changed, but crossed a somewhat arbitrary threshold. The assessment of the RoW classification remains to some extent subjective. It is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held. Finally, the index’s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why specific indicators were chosen, such as whether citizens had access to the justice system, and not (also) whether they were free from government repression. ### How are the expected deaths per year estimated? The total number of deaths expected each year can be estimated using data from censuses, surveys and other data sources about the size of the population by age, sex and other demographics. For example, they can be estimated using historical trends and registered deaths. In addition, countries carry out censuses, usually around every ten years. Researchers can compare people in one census and the next, and look at their year of birth, to estimate how many people in that birth cohort died in between censuses. This can help project the number of deaths each year by age and other demographics. Different groups use slightly different methods to estimate the total number of expected deaths each year, but their estimates are mostly similar. Estimates vary more widely for countries with poorly functioning Vital Registries. This dataset by Ariel Karlinsky uses an average of estimates from three sources: the UN's World Population Prospects, WHO's Global Health Estimates and IHME's Global Burden of Disease study. ### What types of species are included? Only vertebrate species are included in the LPI: this includes mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Only a small percentage (8%) of known species in these groups are included, and only some populations of these species are represented in the LPI. Although it is one of the most comprehensive datasets for monitoring biodiversity trends, the LPI still only captures a small sample of global biodiversity. For example, insects, corals, fungi and plants are not included. ### What are the data’s shortcomings? There are shortcomings in the way the Electoral Democracy Index characterizes and measures democracy. The index focuses on an electoral understanding of democracy and does not account for other characterizations, such as democracies as egalitarian political systems, in which political power is equally distributed to allow everyone to participate. This means that some of the [most economically-unequal countries](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/economic-inequality-gini-index) in the world, such as Brazil and South Africa, are classified as broadly democratic in recent years. V-Dem also does not cover some countries with very small populations. Furthermore, the index is more difficult to interpret than other measures. Measures that group countries into democracies and autocracies, [such as the Regimes of the World classification](https://ourworldindata.org/regimes-of-the-world-data), make it possible to say which country was a democracy. The Electoral Democracy Index makes no clear assessment there, and only allows us to say whether a country is relatively democratic by comparing it to the range of the index, to other countries, or to the same country at another point in time. And when doing so, it is still difficult to say how large these differences are. The assessment of the Electoral Democracy Index remains to some extent subjective. Its index is built on difficult evaluations by experts that rely less on easier-to-observe characteristics, such as whether regular elections are held. Finally, the index’s aggregation remains to some extent arbitrary. It is unclear why these specific subindices were chosen; and why two subindices, elected officials and voting rights, are weighted less than the others. ### How does RoW characterize democracy? Regimes of the World distinguishes four types of political systems: closed autocracies, electoral autocracies, electoral democracies, and liberal democracies. * **Closed autocracy**: citizens do not have the right to choose either the chief executive of the government or the legislature through multi-party elections * **Electoral autocracy**: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature through multi-party elections; but they lack some freedoms, such as the freedoms of association or expression that make the elections meaningful, free, and fair * **Electoral democracy**: citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in meaningful, free and fair, and multi-party elections * **Liberal democracy**: electoral democracy and citizens enjoy individual and minority rights, are equal before the law, and the actions of the executive are constrained by the legislative and the courts You can find data on the more specific characteristics and derived measures in our [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index). ### What is stunting? Stunting is one of the leading measures used to assess childhood malnutrition. It indicates that a child has failed to reach their growth potential as a result of disease, poor health and malnutrition.1 A child is defined as ‘stunted’ if they are too short for their age. This indicates that their growth and development have been hindered. Stunting is not just an issue during childhood. It affects both physical and cognitive development – impacts that can persist throughout someone’s life. There is some evidence to suggest that ‘catch-up growth’ is possible: that it is possible to reverse some of these impacts if environmental conditions significantly improve. But this is not always the case. ### How many species does it cover? What is the geographical range of this coverage? In its latest report, published in 2022, 31,821 populations across 5,230 species were included. It includes species and populations across all continents. However, there is a geographic bias in the data, with areas with higher levels of biodiversity monitoring, such as North America and Europe being overrepresented, and areas where biodiversity is richest, like the tropical regions, being underrepresented. ### How is stunting measured? Stunting is measured based on a child’s height relative to their age. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets out global growth curves – these show the expected trajectory of a child’s growth from birth through to adulthood. Of course, we would not expect everyone to be exactly the same height – there is a range of factors, such as genetics, which influence our height and are not a reflection of poor health or malnutrition. These growth curves therefore span a range of heights. We see these growth curves for boys and girls in the chart. The median growth curve is shown by the thick line. The ribbons around this median show the ‘acceptable’ range. This range is **two standard deviations** above and below the median. A child whose height falls below the bottom of the ribbon – that is, two standard deviations below their expected height for their age – is defined as ‘stunted’. In a population, the prevalence of stunting is defined as **the share of children under five years old that fall two standard deviations below the expected height for their age**. To estimate the prevalence of stunting, researchers draw on household and demographic surveys, which include measurements of childhood growth, alongside official health data from governments that monitor child development. <Image filename="Healthy20height20growth20curves.png" alt=""/> ### How does V-Dem characterize democracy? True to its name, the Varieties of Democracy project acknowledges that democracy can be characterized differently, and measures electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian characterizations of democracy. At Our World in Data we primarily use V-Dem’s Electoral Democracy Index to measure democracy. The index is used in all of V-Dem’s other democracy indices because V-Dem considers there to be no democracy without elections. The other aspects can therefore be thought of as measuring the _quality_ of a democracy. V-Dem characterizes electoral democracy as a political system in which political leaders are elected under comprehensive voting rights in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed. More specifically, this means: * **Elected political leaders**: broad elections choose the chief executive and legislature * **Comprehensive voting rights**: all adult citizens have the legal right to vote in national elections * **Free and fair elections**: no election violence, government intimidation, fraud, large irregularities, and vote buying * **Freedom of association**: parties and civil society organizations can form and operate freely * **Freedom of expression**: people can voice their views and the media presents different political perspectives You can find data on the other democracy indices, electoral democracy’s characteristics, and other derived measures in our [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL&Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index). ### How comparable is the World Bank data on household incomes across time or between countries? Because there is no global survey of incomes, researchers need to rely on available national surveys. Such surveys are designed with cross-country comparability in mind, but because the surveys reflect the circumstances and priorities of individual countries at the time of the survey, there are some important differences. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. One important issue is that, whilst in most high-income countries the surveys capture people’s incomes, in poorer countries these surveys tend to capture people’s consumption. Pooling the data available from different kinds of survey data is unavoidable if we want to get a global picture of poverty or inequality. But it’s important to bear in mind that, depending on the country or year, somewhat different things are being measured. The two concepts are nevertheless closely related: the income of a household equals their consumption plus any saving, or minus any borrowing or spending out of savings. One important difference is that, while zero consumption is not a feasible value – people must consume something to survive – a zero income is a feasible value. At the bottom end of the distribution, people’s consumption may be somewhat higher than their income. A common example here is retired people who are using their savings: they may have a very low, or even zero, income, but still have a high level of consumption. Conversely, at the top end of the distribution, consumption is typically lower than income. The gap rises with income, with households generally saving a higher share of their income the richer they are. For both these reasons, the distribution of consumption is generally more equal than the distribution of income. There are a number of other ways in which comparability across surveys can be limited. In collating this survey data the World Bank takes a range of steps to harmonize it where possible, but comparability issues remain. The PIP [Methodology Handbook](https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/) provides a good summary of the comparability and data quality issues affecting this data and how it tries to address them. To help communicate this limitation of the data, the World Bank produces a companion indicator that groups data points within each individual country into ‘spells’. The surveys underlying the data within a given spell for a particular country are considered by World Bank researchers to be more comparable. The breaks between these comparable spells are shown in the chart below for the share of population living in extreme poverty. You can select to see these breaks for any indicator in our [Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN&hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true) of the World Bank data. These spells are also indicated in our [data download](https://github.com/owid/poverty-data) of the World Bank poverty and inequality data. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/poverty-explorer?hideControls=true&Metric=Share+in+poverty&Poverty+line=%242.15+per+day%3A+International+Poverty+Line&Household+survey+data+type=Show+data+from+both+income+and+consumption+surveys&Show+breaks+between+less+comparable+surveys=true&country=BGD~BRA~CHN~KEN"/> ### How does the World Bank produce global and regional estimates of poverty and inequality from national data? For its poverty and inequality data the World Bank relies on household surveys that are conducted nationally. In order to produce global or regional estimates, the survey data from different countries needs to be lined up and aggregated. For each year, the World Bank finds the closest survey for each country and projects the data forward or backwards to the year being estimated. This is necessary particularly since surveys are [less frequently available](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/data-deprivation-poverty-surveys-per-decade) in poorer countries and for earlier decades. These projections are generally made on the assumption that incomes or expenditure grow in line with the growth rates observed in national accounts data. You can read more about the interpolation methods used by the World Bank in [Chapter 5](https://datanalytics.worldbank.org/PIP-Methodology/lineupestimates.html) of the Poverty and Inequality Platform Methodology Handbook. ### Can ‘happiness’ and ‘life satisfaction’ really be measured? One way to gauge whether self-reports provide a valid measure of happiness or life satisfaction is to see how well they correlate with things that typically associate with contentment. Such a correlation has been found, for example, with [smiling and laughing](https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2017/04/Life-Satisfaction-vs-Laugh-Gallup.png). Experimental psychologists have also shown that self reports of well-being from surveys turn out to correlate with activity in the parts of the brain associated with pleasure and satisfaction. And various surveys have confirmed that people who say they are happy also tend to sleep better and express positive emotions verbally more frequently. The following table, adapted from [Kahneman and Krueger (2006)](https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/089533006776526030)2, provides a list of the variables that researchers have found to be related to self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. The main conclusion from the evidence is that survey-based measures of happiness and life satisfaction do provide a reasonably consistent and reliable picture of subjective well-being. |Correlates of high life satisfaction and happiness| |Smiling frequency| |Smiling with the eyes ("unfakeable smile")| |Ratings of one's happiness made by friends| |Frequent verbal expressions of positive emotions| |Sociability and extraversion| |Sleep quality| |Happiness of close relatives| |Self-reported health| |High income, and high income rank in a reference group| |Active involvement in religion| |Recent positive changes of circumstances (increased income, marriage)| <Image filename="correlates-of-high-life-satisfaction-and-happiness-Kahneman-and-Krueger-2006.png" alt=""/> ### What are international-$ and why are they used to measure incomes? Much of the economic data we use to understand the world – for instance on the goods and services bought or produced by households, firms and governments, or the incomes they receive – is initially recorded in terms of the units in which these transactions took place. That means this data starts out being expressed in a variety of local currencies – as so many rupees, US dollars, or yuan, etc. – and without adjusting for inflation over time. This is known as being in ‘current prices’, or in ‘nominal’ terms. Before these figures can be meaningfully compared, they need to be converted into common units. International dollars (int.-$) are a hypothetical currency that is used for this. It is the result of adjusting both for inflation within countries over time and for differences in the cost of living between countries. The goal of international-$ is to provide a unit whose purchasing power is held fixed over time and across countries, such that one int.-$ can buy the same quantity and quality of goods and services no matter where or when it is spent. The price level in the US is used as the benchmark – or ‘numeraire’ – so that one 2017 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2017. Similarly, one 2011 int.-$ is defined as the value of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the US in 2011. The year 2017 (2011) here indicates two things, related to the two adjustments mentioned. Firstly, it tells us the base year used for the inflation adjustment within countries. This is the year whose prices are chosen to be the benchmark. If prices are higher than this benchmark year, nominal data will be adjusted downwards. If prices are lower, nominal data will be adjusted upwards. In the base year itself, the nominal and inflation-adjusted figures are the same by definition. Secondly, 2017 (2011) indicates the year in which the differences in the cost of living between countries was assessed. #### Purchasing Power Parity rates Converting data in local currencies to international-$ means dividing the figures by a set of ‘exchange’ rates, known as Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rates. Unlike the exchange rates between currencies you would see at the foreign exchange counter, these account for differences in the cost of living between countries. If you have ever shopped or eaten in a restaurant abroad, you may have noticed a country as being a particularly expensive or particularly cheap place to live. A given amount of your own currency, when exchanged for another country’s currency, may buy you considerably more or less there than it would have done at home. The goal of PPP rates is to account for these price differences. They express, for each country, the amount of local currency that is needed to buy the same goods and services there as 1 US dollar buys in the US. You can read more about this in our article [What are PPP adjustments and why do we need them?](https://ourworldindata.org/what-are-ppps) #### The ‘rounds’ of the International Comparison Program The calculation of PPP rates is the task of the [International Comparison Program](https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/icp) (ICP), which gathers data on the prices of thousands of goods and services in each country in a particular year. The ICP does not calculate PPP rates every year, but rather conducts its work in ‘rounds’ that are several years apart. The most recent round was conducted in 2017 and the previous round was conducted in 2011. In converting economic data to international-$, which round of PPPs are used to adjust for cost-of-living differences between countries is, in principle, a separate issue to the base year used to adjust for inflation over time. By convention, however, the same year tends to be chosen for both. When converted to 2017 international-$, nominal local currencies are first adjusted for inflation to local 2017 prices, and are then adjusted to US prices using the PPPs calculated in the ICP’s 2017 round. Likewise, 2011 international-$ adjust for inflation using 2011 local prices, and then use the 2011 PPPs to adjust for cost-of-living differences. ### Is ‘life satisfaction’ the same as ‘happiness’? The most natural way to attempt to measure subjective well-being is to ask people what they think and feel. Indeed, this is the most common approach. In practice, social scientists tend to rely on questions inquiring directly about happiness, or on questions inquiring about life satisfaction. The former tend to measure the experiential or emotional aspects of well-being (e.g. “I feel very happy”), while the latter tend to measure the evaluative or cognitive aspects of well-being (e.g. “I think I lead a very positive life”). The chart below plots a measure of average happiness against a measure of average life satisfaction. Along the X-axis we show data from the World Value Survey, which asks directly about happiness: “Taking all things together, would you say you are (i) Very happy, (ii) Rather happy, (iii) Not very happy, (iv) Not at all happy, (v) Don’t know.” Shown is the share of respondents who say they are ‘very happy’ or ‘rather happy’. On the Y-axis is data from the Gallup World Poll, which uses the Cantril Ladder question and asks respondents to evaluate their life: _“Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?_” Shown is the average reported score. As the visualization shows, these two measures are clearly closely related (countries that score high in one measure also tend to score high in the other), yet they are not identical (there is substantial dispersion, with many countries sharing the same score in one variable but diverging in the other). The differences in responses to questions inquiring about life satisfaction and happiness are consistent with the idea that subjective well-being has two sides: an experiential or emotional side, and an evaluative or cognitive side. Of course, the limits between emotional and cognitive aspects of well-being are blurred in our minds; so in practice both kinds of questions measure both aspects to some degree. Indeed, social scientists often construct ‘subjective well-being indexes’ where they simply average out results from various types of questions. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/happiness-wvs-vs-gallup"/> ### What is the International Poverty Line and how is it set? There is no single definition of poverty. Our understanding of the extent of poverty and how it is changing depends on which definition we have in mind. In particular, richer and poorer countries set very different poverty lines in order to measure poverty in a way that is informative and relevant to the level of incomes of their citizens. For instance, while in the United States a person is counted as being in poverty if they live on less than roughly $24.55 per day, in Ethiopia the poverty line is set more than 10 times lower – at $2.04 per day. You can read more about how these comparable national poverty lines are calculated in this footnote.[4](https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-4) To measure poverty globally, however, we need to apply a poverty line that is consistent across countries. This is the goal of the International Poverty Line of $2.15 per day – shown in red in the chart – which is set by the World Bank and used by the UN to monitor extreme poverty around the world. We see that, in global terms, this is an extremely low threshold indeed – set to reflect the poverty lines adopted nationally in the world’s poorest countries. It marks an incredibly low standard of living – a level of income much lower than just the cost of a [healthy diet](https://ourworldindata.org/diet-affordability). <Image filename="Five-income-distributions-national-poverty-and-IPL-2.png" alt=""/> #### How does the World Bank set the International Poverty Line? The exact method used by the World Bank to set the International Poverty Line has changed somewhat over past updates. But each time the objective has been broadly the same – to find a “typical standard by which the poorest countries of the world judge their citizens to be impoverished.”[5](https://ourworldindata.org/from-1-90-to-2-15-a-day-the-updated-international-poverty-line#note-5) The method used in the latest update to arrive at a figure of $2.15, measured in 2017 international-$, is based on a set of harmonized national poverty lines produced by [Dean Joliffe and others](https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/353811645450974574/pdf/Assessing-the-Impact-of-the-2017-PPPs-on-the-International-Poverty-Line-and-Global-Poverty.pdf) – shown in the chart here. As you can see, there is a strong correlation between the poverty lines countries set, shown on the Y axis, and their income level – as measured here by GDP per capita, and plotted along the X axis. The International Poverty Line is calculated as the median national poverty line adopted among low-income countries – using the World Bank’s income classification system. These are the countries shaded in red in the chart and found in the bottom left corner. Although the International Poverty Line is by far the most prominent international line, the same method is also used by the World Bank to set two higher poverty lines that reflect the national definitions adopted in lower-middle and upper-middle income groups shown in green and purple respectively. The median poverty line among these two groups of countries are $3.65 and $6.85, and these form the World Bank’s lower-middle income and upper middle-income poverty lines. You can read more about the methodology used to set these lines in the World Bank’s flagship report on poverty, [Poverty and Shared Prosperity](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-and-shared-prosperity). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/national-poverty-line-vs-gdp-per-capita"/> ### Why are consumption-based emissions only available from 1990? Why are they not available for all countries? To calculate consumption-based emissions we need detailed trade data between countries and the emissions intensity (the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar spent) across many industries and sectors in each country. Prior to 1990, there is insufficient high-quality, high-resolution data to produce these calculations. For this same reason – insufficient high-resolution trade data – it is not currently possible to calculate consumption-based emissions for all countries. It is mostly high-income and major economies that are included. Consumption-based emissions also always lag production-based emissions by one year. For example, when production-based emissions for 2020 were released, the latest year for consumption-based emissions was 2019. This is because the required resolution of trade data was not yet available for 2020. ### Are emissions from aviation and shipping included? Emissions from domestic aviation and shipping are included in each country’s total. Emissions from international aviation and shipping are not included in any country or region’s total. This is because there is no international agreement on how these emissions should be allocated: should they, for example, be allocated to the country of origin or destination? In our [related article](https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-flying) we look at a separate dataset on emissions from aviation. They are, however, included in the global total. You also [find it here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co-emissions-by-region) as a separate category. WHO (2015).[ ](https://www.who.int/news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell)[Stunting in a nutshell](https://www.who.int/news/item/19-11-2015-stunting-in-a-nutshell). World Health Organization. Kahneman, D., & Krueger, A. B. (2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. The journal of economic perspectives, 20(1), 3-24.

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