Our World in Data

Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, war, climate change, population growth, existential risks, and inequality.

It is a project of the Global Change Data Lab, a registered charity in England and Wales, and was founded by Max Roser, a social historian and development economist. The research team is based at the University of Oxford. The organization is chaired by Hetan Shah.

Our World in Data uses interactive charts and maps to illustrate research findings, often taking a long-term view to show how global living conditions have changed over time.

As of April 2024, Our World in Data categorize their charts and articles by the following topics on their website:

Roser began his work on the project in 2011, adding a research team at the University of Oxford later on. In the first years, Roser developed the publication together with inequality researcher Sir Tony Atkinson. Hannah Ritchie joined in 2017 and became Head of Research. Edouard Mathieu joined in 2020 and became Head of Data. The organization began the COVID-19 pandemic with six staff members, and grew to 20 by late 2021.

In 2019, Our World in Data won the Lovie Award, a European web award, and was one of three nonprofit organizations in Y Combinator's Winter 2019 cohort.

Beginning in 2020, Our World in Data added an emphasis on publishing global data and research on the COVID-19 pandemic:

In 2021, the team began campaigning for the International Energy Agency to make the data it collects from national governments publicly available.