Death rates for cervical cancer in the United Kingdom have fallen by 80% since 1950— Cervical cancer death rates among women in the United Kingdom have fallen by around 80% since 1950. You can see this reduction in the chart. This progress happened for a couple of key reasons. The first was the introduction of population-level screening programs in 1988. Across the UK, women are invited to get a regular smear test to detect precancerous changes or cervical cancer cases early, when treatment has much better odds of success. Another, and more recent innovation, which could put the UK on the path to eradicating cervical cancer completely, is the rollout of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. This protects someone from the HPV infection, which can later develop into cervical cancer. In schools across the country, girls in their early teens are offered the HPV vaccine, effectively offering them long-lasting protection. I was one of the first cohorts of girls in the UK to receive this, and it’s something I’m incredibly grateful for. The UK is not alone in its progress: a number of countries have managed to reduce cervical cancer death rates in recent decades. (This Data Insight was written by @_HannahRitchie.)

📊 How much do governments spend, and what do they spend it on? In the chart, we see total government spending broken down by purpose, such as health, education, and defense, relative to the size of the economy (as measured by GDP). This is shown for a selection of OECD countries. How much governments spend varies quite a lot across OECD countries: in France it’s 57% of GDP, while in Chile it’s less than half that (28%). Keep in mind that these are relative shares, not absolute amounts. GDP itself varies considerably across countries, so the same percentage can represent very different sums depending on the size of a country’s economy. For some categories, such as social protection — which includes things like pensions, unemployment benefits, disability support, and other benefits — the difference across countries is relatively large. For example, it’s 26% in Finland compared to 7.9% in the US. In other categories, such as public services — which include things like paying interest on government debt, the running of core government functions, and foreign aid — the share is more similar across countries. This data comes from the OECD’s Government at a Glance dataset, which covers 47 countries. Our colleague @parriagadap recently updated our charts with the latest release.

On any average day, 165,000 people die globally. That’s 60 million a year. What do they die from? 🔧📊 Our colleagues Sophia Mersmann and Fiona Spooner built a new interactive tool that lets you answer this question, with data for every country. Globally, 75% of deaths are from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Heart disease alone is one in three.