It’s often difficult to understand the scale of wildfires globally. That’s because most news coverage focuses on only a few countries.

News headlines might be filled with stories about large fires in Greece, Portugal, the United States, or Canada, but when we look at the data, the global total is no higher than usual.

This is because the global trend is so strongly dictated by the extent of fires in Africa, which we almost never hear about. As you can see in the chart, Africa experiences more than half of the burned area globally every year. In some years, it’s as much as two-thirds of the total.

Whether it’s a “high” or “low” year for wildfires globally largely reflects whether it’s a high or low year for Africa. These global trends don’t tell us much about the extent of wildfires in other regions.

Track global, regional, and country-level data on wildfires, which we update weekly →

Global air travel collapsed in 2020 as lockdowns and travel restrictions took effect. With fewer flights, CO₂ emissions from commercial aviation fell sharply. The chart shows Egypt as an example, where they dropped by more than half.

As air travel rebounded, emissions rose too — in many countries, they’ve now surpassed pre-pandemic levels. These countries are highlighted in red on the chart.

Emissions from flying make up about 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions, but air travel has one of the highest carbon footprints per passenger. As demand grows, reducing its impact will be important for meeting climate goals.

Read my colleague Hannah Ritchie’s article to learn more about aviation’s contribution to global CO₂ emissions →

Many people are interested in how they can eat in a more climate-friendly way. I’m often asked about the most effective way to do so.

While we might intuitively think that “food miles” — how far our food has traveled to reach us — play a big role, transport accounts for just 5% of the global emissions from our food system.

This is because most of the world’s food comes by boat, and shipping is a relatively low-carbon mode of transport. The chart shows that transporting a kilogram of food by boat emits 50 times less carbon than by plane and about 20 times less than trucks on the road.

So, food transport would be a much bigger emitter if all our food were flown across the world — but that’s only the case for highly perishable foods, like asparagus, green beans, some types of fish, and berries.

This means that what you eat and how it is produced usually matters more than how far it’s traveled to reach you.

Read my article “You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local” →

The world is heating up. By the 2010s, the global average temperature of the air above the surface was about 1°C higher than in the 1940s. But some regions are warming much faster.

The chart shows how average surface air temperatures have changed each decade across continents and oceans compared to historical averages.

The Arctic warmed more than any other region — by the 2010s, it was 2.8°C hotter than in the 1940s.

In the Arctic, melting sea ice has amplified this temperature increase: ice reflects sunlight, so having less of it leads to more warming.

Europe was in second. Since land heats up faster than water, its mostly land-based geography has increased its rate of warming. It has also seen a rapid reduction in aerosols from air pollution. These improvements in air quality can inadvertently increase temperatures because there are fewer aerosols to reflect sunlight.

You can explore how temperatures in each continent, ocean, and country have changed over time →

Foreign aid provides millions worldwide with life-saving treatments, emergency food supplies, and humanitarian assistance.

But where does most of this money come from: the governments of rich countries, or wealthy individuals?

95% of foreign aid comes from governments. Less than 5% comes from private philanthropic donors. This data focuses on larger private donations in the form of grants; it does not include the smaller, individual charity donations you or I might make.

This means that those of us living in wealthy democracies — which is many of our readers — play a key role in determining the size of the global foreign aid budget. If we want more aid to reach the world’s poorest, we hold some power through the governments we elect and the priorities we demand of them. Most of our governments — including my own in the United Kingdom — do not meet the UN’s target of giving 0.7% of their gross national income in aid. In fact, the UK has recently announced plans to cut its aid budget significantly.

Explore global data on who gives and receives foreign aid →

Polio is an infectious disease that primarily impacts children, and can cause paralysis and even death. In the first half of the twentieth century, thousands to tens of thousands of people suffered from paralysis from this terrible disease every year.

The first injectable vaccine against polio was introduced in the United States in 1955. Six years later, a second vaccine was introduced, which could be taken orally.

By 1961, over 85% of US children under ten had received at least one vaccination against polio.

As a result, the last wild polio outbreak in the US occurred in 1979, and the disease was officially eliminated from North, Central, and South America in 1994. This means it was not spreading within this region, and any new cases were only seen among individuals infected elsewhere.

Read our colleague Max’s article about the global fight against polio →

Globally, electricity and heating remain the largest sources of carbon emissions, but in some countries, transport has overtaken them.

In Spain and Austria, heating and electricity emissions fell while transport rose. In the UK, both declined.

The trend reflects the decarbonization of electricity, driven by the transition to renewables, while transport emissions remain high due to continued reliance on fossil fuels.

As countries work toward net-zero targets, addressing transport emissions will be critical in the fight against climate change.

Explore more in our data on greenhouse emissions →