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Max Roser

@maxroser.bsky.social
34K followers 166 following 125 posts

— Founder of Our World in Data — Professor at the University of Oxford Data to understand global problems and research to make progress against them.

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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Just read that Abdullah Ibrahim has sadly died this week. He died at 91 and played wonderful music until his very end. One of my very favourite musicians. If you don't know him, listen to his Blue Bolero — it's the just the first 2 minutes of this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5i4...
youtube.com
Abdullah Ibrahim: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The poorest economies in the world are not achieving economic growth. The consequence is that progress against the very worst poverty is coming to a halt. This is one of the worst problems in the world today, but hardly gets any attention.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
A way to see the amazing history of economic growth and declining poverty over the last two centuries. (from the article 'What is economic growth?' ourworldindata.org/what-is-economic-growth)
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Most career advice is disappointingly shallow. Which is really tragic, given how important a decision it is. It's a decision worth reading a good book about. Ben Todd is the most thoughtful person on career choice I know. He spent 15 years researching it. Now his book is out: 80000hours.org/book/
80000hours.org
Order the 80,000 Hours book | 80,000 Hours
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
How will your country's demographics change this century? At Our World in Data, we built a tool to let you see for yourself. The UN's assumptions are the starting point. But then you can adjust the three drivers of change — births, deaths, and migration — to what you expect.
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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Congratulations to the data wizards at @ourworldindata.org who created this elegant tool so you can adjust fertility, mortality & migration rates for any country to see the impact on population sizes & age structures. This is really, really great!! Check it out!! Excellent tool, terrific write up.
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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Some people say we don’t build beautiful things anymore and, like, lol. Motherfuckers, we built this:
A graph from Our World In Data showing a precipitous drop in child mortality starting in the late 1800s going from an average of 48% to global rate of 27% in 1950 to the 2020 infant mortality rate of 4%, with some countries having a rate as low as 0.3%
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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 15/04/2026
📢 We’re looking for a writer to join our team at Our World in Data! What we’re looking for is quite unique: someone who writes excellent narrative articles on large global problems, finds memorable framings to make hard ideas easier to understand, while being genuinely obsessed w/ technical details
ourworldindata.org
We’re looking for a writer
We’re hiring a writer who can make the world’s largest problems understandable to our large Our World in Data audience.
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Bastian Herre @bastianherre.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Hey Bluesky hivemind! What are the best data sources for the overall death tolls of wars? So not just dead soldiers, but also civilians, and deaths from disease and starvation due to the fighting. Are Necrometrics and Wikipedia as flawed as they seem — or do they actually hold up to some scrutiny?
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
'Four minutes of air conditioning' The new, excellent essay by my colleague @hannahritchie.bsky.social on energy poverty. ourworldindata.org/four-minutes...
ourworldindata.org
Four minutes of air conditioning
Billions of people have access to far less electricity per day than is required to run an air conditioner for just one hour.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
This chart documents one of humanity’s greatest achievements, in my view. We just lived through the fastest population growth in human history. It would have been impressive if food supplies had merely kept pace — but on every continent, they grew even faster than the population.
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Gabriel Zucman @gabrielzucman.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US This view is wrong A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
"The problems are immense, but the solutions are immense too." I loved this short documentary about botanist Hugh Wilson, who spent thirty years protecting and growing a forest in New Zealand. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZS...
youtube.com
Man Spends 30 Years Turning Degraded Land into Massive Forest – Fools & Dreamers (Full Documentary)
YouTube video by Happen Films
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Over the last months, we’ve entirely rebuilt search on Our World in Data — we just launched it: ourworldindata.org/introducing-... Let me know what you think. Does it work for you?
ourworldindata.org
Introducing our new, more powerful search
Finding what you’re looking for, or discovering something new, has never been easier.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
A big shift in technology. The purple bars show the sales of cars powered by combustion engines in China. In green, you see the rise of electric cars in recent years.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
What we die from vs. what we hear in the news. Terrorism and homicides account for less than 1% of deaths, but for more than half of all media stories about death in the US — whether in the New York Times, the Washington Post, or Fox News.
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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 25/09/2025
💡New feature: hovering over links to charts shows a preview! Look out for the little chart icon next to a link to know when you can see a preview. Our colleague Ike Saunders had this idea just a couple days ago and he already built it and made it live on our site — thanks, Ike!
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Helge Thomas 🌻 @helgethomas.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Imagine all cars were electric, and then one Volkswagen engineer comes up with another idea … #EMobility
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
It is September 18. Today, @hannahritchie.bsky.social's book is out! www.penguin.co.uk/books/462676...
penguin.co.uk
Clearing the Air
'We urgently need Hannah Ritchie' GUARDIAN 'Essential reading' RUTGER BREGMAN 'Read this book -- now' MARK LYNAS We can’t afford to delay climate action, but with all the shouting and disagreement i...
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
"A refreshingly pragmatic and undoomy book." The Guardian just published a great review of @hannahritchie.bsky.social's new book 'Clearing the Air'. The book will be out in 2 days. If you are unsure whether you want to read it, the review gives a good overview: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
theguardian.com
Clearing the Air by Hannah Ritchie review – practical climate optimism
A data scientist rebuts 50 arguments against green technology with lively pragmatism and authority
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Hannah Ritchie @hannahritchie.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Our @ourworldindata.org we visualise weekly updates of wildfire data from the Global Wildfire Information System. Spain was having a pretty low/average year until the past few weeks when it went roaring past previous years. You can track this data here: ourworldindata.org/wildfires
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
My colleague @hannahritchie.bsky.social wrote a new book! For an author, pre-orders make a huge difference — as they convince bookstores to stock it. If you are interested in Hannah's writing, you can order it here: penguin.co.uk/books/462676...
penguin.co.uk
Clearing the Air
'We urgently need Hannah Ritchie' GUARDIAN 'Essential reading' RUTGER BREGMAN 'Read this book -- now' MARK LYNAS We can’t afford to delay climate action, but with all the shouting and disagreement i...
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
At Our World in Data, we spend much of our time counting deaths. But it’s just as important to know the number of lives saved — even though it is harder to estimate and involves much larger uncertainty. My Data Insight today includes this chart of some estimates.
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Esteban Ortiz-Ospina @eortizospina.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Duolingo came out fully embracing AI in April, and it’s hard not to read their latest revenue growth numbers alongside this new report on the state of formal language learning in the UK
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Most electricity in the Netherlands now comes from renewables. This is today's @ourworldindata.org Data Insight from my colleague @simonvanteutem.bsky.social. All our Data Insights are here: ourworldindata.org/data-insights
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Every third car in Norway is now an electric car.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
At least since the mid-20th century, England has left mass hunger behind. How was this possible? How did English farmers prove Malthus wrong? My 'Data Insight' on @ourworldindata.org today is about rising yields and falling hunger. → ourworldindata.org/data-insights
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
No, it's not the case that only China is responsible for the large decline in extreme poverty over the past decades. We wrote about it recently: ourworldindata.org/data-insights/was-the-global-decline-of-extreme-poverty-only-due-to-china
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
My latest Data Insight is about extreme poverty in South East Africa. In Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, extreme poverty is not declining.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
In 2014, half of Greece's electricity was generated by coal. A decade later, that share has fallen to just 6%.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Two billion people don’t have safe drinking water. I really like the article of my colleague @hannahritchie.bsky.social, in which she shows what this concretely means for these people, by relying on the portraits of families in Gapminder's Dollar Street project. ourworldindata.org/what-no-safe...
ourworldindata.org
Two billion people don’t have safe drinking water: what does this really mean for them?
For billions, it can mean hours spent collecting water. For almost a million, it means dying from disease.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
If you are interested in our work at Our World in Data, you can subscribe to our newsletters — in recent months we made them much better. Here is what we offer and how you can subsribe: ourworldindata.org/newsletters
ourworldindata.org
Want to stay up to date on our work? Subscribe to our two newsletters
We send two regular newsletters so our readers can stay up to date on our work: data insights and a biweekly digest.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
My chart on the history of three infectious diseases — smallpox, polio, and measles — before and after a vaccine was available.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
For the first time ever, China's CO₂ emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, rather than reduced power demand.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
A single dose cuts the chances of measles by about 95% — a second dose reduces the risk further. How effective and safe are measles vaccines? In her new article, my colleague @scientificdiscovery.dev summarized the findings of a Cochrane meta-analysis. ourworldindata.org/measles-vacc...
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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 30/03/2025
I don't doubt that a lot of people are considering leaving, but perhaps someone could tell Nature how to write survey questions
A graphic entitled "so long, farewell". It reads: "Many of the 1608 respondents who answered the question below in a Nature survey said that the election of Donald Trump as president had affected their future plans." It then shows the question: "Are you a US researcher who is considering leaving the country following disruptions to science prompted by the Trump administration?"

An orange bar shows 75.3% respondents said yes. A blue bar shows 24.7% respondents said no.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
In 2004, it took the world a year to add one gigawatt of solar power — now it takes a day.
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Blavatnik School of Government @blavatnikschool.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
"Statistics allows us to tell everyone's story." 📊📖 💡 An insightful lecture yesterday afternoon from Prof @maxroser.bsky.social on why we need good data to make good policy.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
One thing I admired Americans for was they provided efficient and effective aid for people around the world. I thought this made America great. The PEPFAR program saved plausibly about 25 million lives and prevented at least 5.5 million babies from being born with HIV. See: pepfarreport.org
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
I am so very grateful to everyone at KU Leuven and UCLouvain for this extraordinary honour. Receiving an honorary doctorate is something I never would have imagined. A huge thank you to all of the students and faculty at the two universities. I will never forget these days in Leuven.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Earlier this week I did a long interview with the Belgian newspaper DeMorgen. It’s out today. I just arrived in Belgium and found it at the newsstand. They illustrated it really nicely with some Our World in Data charts.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
KU Leuven and UC Louvain are celebrating their 600th anniversary and will award five honorary doctorates as part of this celebration. I still can't quite believe it, but they decided to award one to me. If you want to join the celebration, I'll give a public lecture next Tuesday.
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Oxford Social Sciences Division @socsci.ox.ac.uk · 30/01/2025
📊 Bringing data to life can spark global impact. @maxroser.bsky.social @ourworldindata.org started as a small project - now it reaches 100M+ users annually, empowering policymakers, educators & researchers worldwide. Max shares his story here: 📺 www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/our-world-in... #InnovationStories
socsci.ox.ac.uk
Our World in Data: Transforming data into global impact
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
'We Need a New Global Measure for Poverty' Four months ago, I made this proposal in the New York Times. I think with this 'gift article' link you can read it without being a subscriber: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Need a New Global Measure for Poverty (Gift Article)
Eradicating poverty is at the top of the U.N.’s stated goals. But their measure of poverty is only half the story.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Last year, we did an extensive search for new members of our Board of Trustees. Now we are excited that Claire Melamed (@clairemelamed.bsky.social here) and Michael Blastland have now joined our board. Welcome, Claire & Michael! You can read more about them here ourworldindata.org/new-trustees...
ourworldindata.org
Introducing our new trustees, Claire Melamed and Michael Blastland
We are very excited to share that Claire Melamed and Michael Blastland have joined our Board of Trustees.
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Our Daily Data Insight today — the world has passed “peak child.”
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Who would have won the 'Simon-Ehrlich bet' over different decades — and what do long-term prices tell us about resource scarcity? The new Our World in Data article by my colleague Hannah Ritchie. ourworldindata.org/simon-ehrlic...
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Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
What is an important fact about the world that you wish more people would know? Here is my answer: If we rely on the best data, many of us can save a child's life. And here is my article about it. ourworldindata.org/cost-effecti...
ourworldindata.org
Many of us can save a child’s life, if we rely on the best data
There are many ways to improve the world, but their cost-effectiveness varies immensely. You can achieve a lot more if you rely on the best data on where to donate.
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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 20/12/2024
For most people, international migration means crossing a nearby border, not an ocean
Sankey chart showing that most people who leave their home country stay on the same continent, rather than moving to a new one.
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Martina Pugliese @martinapugliese.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
A highly recommended long read by @maxroser.bsky.social - not everyone has to gift/skill to dispensate knowledge in a factual, precise but also very enjoyable way ourworldindata.org/what-is-econ...
ourworldindata.org
What is economic growth? And why is it so important?
The goods and services that we all need are not just there; they need to be produced. Growth means that their quality and quantity increase.
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