DATA & LICENSE
Data sources and terms
We publish sources, licenses and limitations so that the numbers and colors can be interpreted responsibly. This page explains our data practices and is not legal advice.
World rankings
- Source
- World Bank World Development Indicators and cited original providers
- Terms
- World Bank data is used with attribution under CC BY 4.0. Additional terms from original providers may apply to individual indicators.
- How to read it
- The latest available non-empty observation is used for each country, so years may differ within one ranking.
Religion map
- Source
- CIA World Factbook 2025 Archive / factbook.json
- Terms
- CIA information is generally public domain unless separately copyrighted. The downloaded snapshot is CC0 1.0.
- How to read it
- Survey years, questions and categories differ by country. Published figures are grouped into eight common categories.
Sports-facility map
- Source
- OpenStreetMap contributors / QLever OSM Planet
- Terms
- Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0.
- How to read it
- This map counts tagged facilities. It does not measure popularity or participation and is affected by mapping density.
Health, food, agriculture and staple-food data
- Source
- FAOSTAT, WHO, UN, ILO/PWT, Global Carbon Project and Our World in Data
- Terms
- Source-specific licenses apply; FAOSTAT statistics follow CC BY 4.0 and its database terms.
- How to read it
- Adult obesity uses WHO estimates processed by Our World in Data. Food supply is not the same as actual consumption. Definitions, years and country coverage differ by dataset.
Climate, geography, energy and waste rankings
- Source
- WMO, World Bank CCKP / WDI / What a Waste, NOAA IBTrACS, JRC INFORM, CIA World Factbook, Köppen–Geiger, USGS, Our World in Data / Ember / Energy Institute and Wikidata
- Terms
- Dataset-specific terms apply. World Bank sources state their applicable licenses, Wikidata is CC0 1.0, and United States government material is generally public domain unless a separate notice applies. Original-provider terms also apply to WMO, JRC, Köppen–Geiger and Ember data.
- How to read it
- Several values are transparent derivatives: gridded climate or terrain cells are aggregated within country borders, and sunshine is the reporting-country median of stations with at least 24 years. The desert-climate input is a SHA-256-pinned NatCap COG whose source was last updated on 2025-02-26, before the January 2026 corrected release. Hazard scores measure exposure and waste values are 2022 estimates. Each ranking states its narrower operational definition.
Prices, housing, income, work and payment rankings
- Source
- World Bank ICP / WDI / Entrepreneurship Database / Global Findex / Global Fuel Prices, BIS, OECD, ILOSTAT and English Wikipedia
- Terms
- The applicable World Bank dataset, BIS statistical, OECD and ILO terms govern their respective data. Global Fuel Prices is ODbL and its derivative is kept separate from other statistics. Fixed English Wikipedia tables are attributed under CC BY-SA 4.0, with extraction and ISO3 mapping identified as modifications.
- How to read it
- Broad ideas such as cost of living, rent, house prices, startup counts and cashless share use comparable public proxies: price-level indices, a housing-and-utilities index, five-year real house-price growth, new-business density and adults' use of digital payments. We do not blend sources into invented estimates. Fuel grades are normalized and anomalous observations rejected; unicorn and passport values are non-official fixed-reference snapshots.
Education, culture and social-participation rankings
- Source
- WHO / Our World in Data, UNESCO UIS, WIPO, Wikidata, Nager.Date, ILOSTAT / DBnomics and the Global Preferences Survey
- Terms
- Our World in Data's processed data is generally CC BY while original-provider terms may also apply. Wikidata is CC0 1.0; Nager.Date, UNESCO, WIPO and ILO data follow their respective licenses and terms.
- How to read it
- Library values count Wikidata items, holiday values use a community-maintained calendar API, and book-title coverage is limited to 36 reporting countries. The 2012 altruism measure covers 76 countries and combines a hypothetical donation amount with stated willingness to give; it is not actual donation spending or a judgment of cultures.
Heritage, currencies, driving side and name origins
- Source
- UNESCO DataHub, ISO 4217 / SIX Group and Wikidata
- Terms
- UNESCO World Heritage data is CC BY-SA 4.0 and Intangible Heritage data is published as UNESCO Open Access. Wikidata structured data is CC0 1.0. ISO 4217 codes are shown with attribution.
- How to read it
- Transnational heritage is counted for every participating country. These comparative summaries do not establish legal status, value or a single definitive etymology.
Other thematic maps
- Source
- Our World in Data / Ember, CEPII BACI / OEC and Unicode CLDR
- Terms
- The terms of each provider apply. Direct source links are shown on each map.
- How to read it
- Years, definitions and missing coverage vary. A country’s displayed category is a representative summary.
Google Analytics 4
- Purpose
- We use aggregated page and navigation data to improve content and usability.
- Recipient
- Page URLs, device information and usage data may be sent to Google LLC.
- Handling
- Google tags may use cookies or similar technologies. Analytics is disabled on the protected preview site.