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Datawatch: women in parliament
Women make up 21.8 per cent of the world’s members of parliament. Rwanda tops the world rankings with 63.8 per cent female representation. The UK is in 64th place, 22.6 per cent, and the US is 85th...
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Datawatch: the space race
An unmanned privately operated cargo flight to the International Space Station blew up on its US launchpad on Tuesday evening. Most space launches now take place in Russia which overtook the US in the...
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Datawatch: the internet’s population
The number of internet users hit 3bn on Monday, about 40 per cent of the world’s population. The first billion was reached in 2005 and the second in 2010. A fifth of all users live in China, and just...
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Datawatch: turnout in congressional elections
The US went to the polls yesterday for the congressional midterms and the Republicans swept to victory and took control of the senate. Turnout tends to be much lower when there’s no presidential...
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Datawatch: UK armed forces deaths since WWII
Britain observes memorial Sunday this weekend. In total 7,145 armed forces personnel have lost their lives during operations since world war two. The majority in three theatres: the Malayan...
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Datawatch: German economic performance since unification
It was 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall on Sunday. The economy of the east still lags behind that of the former Federal Republic of Germany: gross domestic product per person is about 66...
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Datawatch: US minimum wage laws
Alongside the congressional midterms, four US states had initiatives on the ballot to increase the minimum wage: Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. All four states passed the proposals....
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Datawatch: Extra-planetary destinations
Yesterday the first ever man made object landed on a comet. The robot Philae travelled 6.4bn kilometres before touching down on the surface of comet 67P. So far in human history the moon has been...
View ArticleOpen data and government contracts
In total around $9.5 trillion is estimated to be spent by governments on contracts with various businesses and other organisations worldwide. That’s a lot of money — about 14 per cent of the world’s...
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Datawatch: Deficit reduction 2010-14
In the aftermath of the financial crisis most major developed economies embarked on a programme of austerity, with mixed success. Ireland stands out — it has managed to reduce its deficit from 29...
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Datawatch: deflation in Japan
Ordinarily, nominal gross domestic product grows faster than real GDP, but the deflation that followed Japan’s lost decade reversed this and led to both a fall in private consumption and a rise in...
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Attitudes to migration and where migrants live
Migration from the European Union is a pretty controversial issue in Britain. Particularly in politics: the strength of the anti-EU UK Independence Party and the anxiety it causes for the two major...
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Datawatch: Europe’s favourite drinks
Europe is divided by the manner in which it likes drink alcohol: the north tends to prefer beer, the south, wine. And further east spirits are more popular. Read more
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Datawatch: Opec countries’ reserves
The countries in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rely on their foreign reserves to insulate them from a decline in oil prices. The four-month decline in the price shouldn’t...
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Datawatch: number of microbreweries
The fashion for craft beer and artisan products has led to an explosion in the number of microbreweries. Since 2008 their number has more than doubled in the European Union to 3,616 and almost...
View ArticleThe power of the street
In the aftermath of the financial crisis the world saw an increase in the number of street protests. Many inspired by perceived connections between the political elite and business interests; Occupy...
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Datawatch: Public social expenditure
Countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development spend, on average, 22 per cent of GDP on social expenditure, which includes transfers in cash, such as pensions and in-kind,...
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Using big data to measure the size of Britain’s information economy
The UK’s information technology sector could be about 40 per cent bigger than previously though, with at least 70,000 more ICT companies in operation. That’s according to the National Institute of...
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Datawatch: Black Friday weekend spend
The amount Americans spend during the Black Friday sales that follow Thanksgiving Thursday more than doubled from $26bn in 2005 to $61.4bn in 2013. Read more
View ArticleThe end of the cost of living crisis
What the UK Labour party refers to as a cost of living crisis looks like it might be over. Data released on Wednesday from the British Retail Consortium and Nielsen suggests that food prices are now...
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