The story of a humble 86-year-old home in Vancouver’s Point Grey neighbourhood was widely circulated by national media outlets and became a lightning rod for local frustration with skyrocketing property values. The “knockdown”, with its rotting walls and $2.4 million asking price, perfectly underscored how crazy the region’s overheated housing market had gotten. A month later, the house was sold for $80,000 above its asking price, rekindling public outrage. How did Vancouver reach this point?...

As more people and wealth translate into the demand for global goods, the prices of commodities—such as energy, agriculture, livestock, and metals—have often followed in sync. This cycle, which tends to coincide with extended periods of industrialization and modernization, helps in telling a story of human development. Why are Commodity Prices Cyclical? Commodity prices go through extended periods during which prices are well above or below their long-term price trend....

While economic growth and record-low interest rates have made it easy to service existing government debt, it’s also created a situation where government debt has grown in to over $63 trillion in absolute terms. The global economic tide can change fast, and in the event of a recession or rapidly rising interest rates, debt levels could come back into the spotlight very quickly. The Debt Snowball Today’s visualization comes to us from HowMuch....

Why the Cayman Islands Are Better For Business Presented by Cayman Enterprise City On February 8, 1794, the people of the Cayman Islands rescued the crews of a group of ten merchant ships. The ships had struck a reef and run aground during rough seas. Legend has it that King George III of the United Kingdom rewarded the Caymanians with a promise never to introduce taxes as compensation for their generosity, as one of the ships carried a member of the King’s own family....

Ultimately, it depends on where you live, since the average cost of living varies across the country. This graphic, using data compiled by GOBankingRates.com shows how many years $1 million in retirement savings lasts in the top 50 most populated U.S. cities. Editor’s note: As one user rightly pointed out, this analysis doesn’t take into account interest earned on the $1 million. With that in consideration, the above calculations could be seen as very conservative figures....

In this day and age, this base instinct takes the form of a nation’s expenditures on armies and armaments, towards an end goal of global security and peacekeeping. This graphic from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) delves into the top military spenders as of 2019. Top 10 Biggest Military Spenders Let’s first take a look at the overall growth trends. The world’s military spending grew by 3.6% year-over-year (YoY)—currently the highest rate this decade—to surpass $1....

Milk production in the U.S. has increased by a whopping 50% over that time frame—yet, the total number of dairy farms has dropped by three-quarters. Fewer and larger farms now have the lion’s share of all U.S milk cow inventory. While they have the ability to produce more competitively priced dairy products and provide more value to consumers, it is causing financial devastation for small farmers. The graphic above uses data from the USDA to chart the rapid consolidation of the American dairy industry between 1992 and 2017....

In the modern era, data and media are the new magic 8-ball. The jury is still out on whether we’ve gotten any better at anticipating the forces that will shape the coming year, but that certainly hasn’t stopped people from trying. Of the hundreds of forward-looking pieces of content published in the lead-up to 2020, how many of the expert predictions lined up? Was there a consensus on any particular trend, or were predictions all over the map?...

Which U.S. cities are leading this growth? Here are the fastest growing urban areas in the U.S. with over 300,000 residents, based on their projected annual growth rate from 2020 to 2025. Coming in as America’s fastest growing city is The Woodlands, Texas. This Houston-adjacent community is projecting an extreme population increase, reflecting the rapid population growth of the state of Texas. According to 2020 Census data, Texas is America’s third fastest growing state, with a population of over 29 million—that’s more than the entire population of Australia....

That’s Elon Musk’s philosophy, anyways – and just days ago he revealed new details on his ambitions to colonize the Red Planet, including sending two cargo rockets by 2022 and four rockets (two manned, two cargo) by 2024. In 40 to 100 years, Musk suggested that up to a million people could live there. Change of Seasons As Elton John wisely noted, “Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids”....

After all, the region is tightly integrated in terms of trade. It alone accounts for more than 50% of all U.S./Canadian bilateral border trade and sees over 200 million tons of cargo shipped annually. If it were its own country, it would have a GDP of US$6 trillion – making it the third biggest economy in the world. An Economic Powerhouse Today’s infographic comes from the Council of the Great Lakes Region, and it breaks down the massive economic impact and trade partnerships that stem from the region’s prolific waterways, and the people living around them....

Here’s the companies on the 2016 edition mapped based on the location of their headquarters. The size of each circle is equivalent to the most recent revenue number: As you can see, companies are mostly concentrated in the United States, China, Japan, and the EU. Here’s the exact breakdown: United States: 134 China: 103 Japan: 52 France: 29 Germany: 28 United Kingdom: 28 South Korea: 26 Switzerland: 15 Netherlands: 12 Canada: 11 Other: 75...

President-elect Donald Trump has consistently called to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act throughout his campaign, but many pundits see this as being a catch-22 for the incoming administration. America’s healthcare system is already a global outlier (in a bad way), with disproportionate amounts of money being spent for very little return on life expectancy. For that reason, many people see the additional coverage of 20 million new people through Obamacare as a crucial step forward....

With sweeping data covering half a million surveys in 152 languages, Valuegraphics identifies 56 values that influence human behavior. It uncovers what people care most about around the world, through a contextualized dataset. The 10 Most Important Values Individual motivations and values are universally organized. That said, research shows that the hierarchy of these values varies significantly. According to Valuegraphics, here are the top 10 values we share across cultures....

Then vs. Now: What does $1 Buy You? Keynesians and Austrian economists will disagree on many points on inflation. However, a conclusion which is universal is the great power of inflation over time. While the measurement of CPI may be up to debate, the cold hard facts don’t lie. In 1960, one dollar bought an ounce of silver. Today, it buys closer to 1/20 of an ounce. If you go all the way back to 1810, one dollar bought 3 gallons of whiskey....

When you log on to Twitter or LinkedIn, it feels like you are connected to everyone on Earth. Whether you want to get a taste of culture from other continents, or you want to stay on top of the latest opportunities and events in far flung places – social media allows you to connect with anyone with similar interests, no matter where they are located. But how representative is the social media world of the real population, exactly?...

With many of these companies experiencing record breaking quarters, how much revenue do the big tech stocks generate per minute? Data as of March 2021. Revenue per minute figures based off SEC filings, and market caps from Seeking Alpha. Milestones Across The Board Facebook Facebook continues to face considerable headwinds as privacy matters garner more political attention. But this is yet to have any material effect on the business. Their most recent quarter was a company best, generating $27 billion in revenue, and hosting an average of 2....

Based on data presented by the Aqal Group and the IEA, here we visualize the countries and regions with the highest per capita carbon emissions from around the world. Let’s dive into the highest per capita carbon emitters and how they are trying to reduce their carbon contributions. Leaders in Per Capita CO2 Emissions Oil-producing countries in the Middle East are the highest emitters of CO2 on a per capita basis, but developed countries like the U....

Elements in the Earth’s crust provide all the basic building blocks for mankind. But even though the crust is the source of everything we find, mine, refine, and build, it really is just scratching the surface of our planet. After all, the innermost layer of the Earth, the core, represents 15% of the planet’s volume, whereas the mantle occupies 84%. Representing the remaining 1% is the crust, a thin layer that ranges in depth from approximately 5-70 km (~3-44 miles)....

Forests are wellsprings of biodiversity and an essential buffer against climate change, absorbing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. Yet, forest loss continues to grow. The above infographic sponsored by Carbon Streaming Corporation highlights the five primary drivers behind forest loss. Deforestation vs. Degradation ‘Forest loss’ is a broad term that captures the impacts of both permanent deforestation and forest degradation. There is an important distinction between the two:...