Overview
Our World in Data is an open-access online publication that publishes empirical data and research on the globe’s most significant long-term challenges. Founded with origins in 2011 and formally established as a project under Global Change Data Lab, it focuses on topics such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war and inequality. The platform aims to make complex global data accessible, understandable and usable for scholars, policymakers and the public. It combines rigorous research with interactive visualisations and explanations to inform evidence-based decision-making.
Mission and focus areas
The mission of Our World in Data is to “publish the research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems”, by breaking down complicated research and datasets into accessible formats. The organisation covers diverse thematic areas including health, economic development, energy and environment, population and demographics, food systems, inequality and human rights. It also offers tools for tracking progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, making it relevant to sustainable development and ESG-aligned analysis. While not exclusively focused on finance or ESG integration, its datasets and insights on climate change, economic development and health inform sustainability-driven value creation and impact measurement.
Structure and governance
Our World in Data is published by Global Change Data Lab, a UK-registered nonprofit charity that owns and maintains the platform. The content is created collaboratively by researchers affiliated with the University of Oxford’s Oxford Martin Programme on Global Development and the OWID team. The governance structure includes a Board of Trustees with diverse academic and research leadership, and executive co-directors who oversee operations and research direction. Funding is sourced through grants and reader donations, supporting free and open access to all content.
Programs and offerings
Our World in Data provides a comprehensive repository of interactive charts, data visualisations, analytical articles and topic pages that span over a hundred global issues. It offers open-source tools such as the OWID Grapher for custom data visualisation and the SDG Tracker for monitoring sustainable development progress. All resources are free, openly licensed and widely used by academics, journalists, NGOs and policymakers for research, reporting and education. The platform’s emphasis on empirical data and transparency distinguishes it as a key global knowledge resource.
Our mission
Poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality: the world faces many great and terrifying problems. It is these large problems that our work at Our World in Data focuses on. Thanks to the work of thousands of researchers around the world who dedicate their lives to it, we often have a good understanding of how it is possible to make progress against the large problems we are facing. The world has the resources to do much better and reduce suffering. We believe that a key reason why we fail to achieve the progress we are capable of is that we do not make enough use of this existing research and data: the important knowledge is often stored in inaccessible databases, locked away behind paywalls, and buried under jargon in academic papers. The goal of our work is to make this knowledge accessible and understandable to empower those working to build a better world. As we say on our homepage, Our World in Data’s mission is to publish the ”research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems.”
