China's debt is about to overtake its entire economy.
2019: 59.8% of GDP
2025: 99.2% of GDP
2026: crosses 100% of GDP, according to the IMF's April 2026 World Economic Outlook
Debt above 100% of GDP isn't automatically a crisis. Japan sits above 200% and keeps functioning. Most of China's debt is held domestically, not by foreign creditors, which is part of why Beijing keeps calling the risk "controllable."
The real story is the speed. China added roughly 40 percentage points of debt to GDP in about six years, the fastest pace of any major economy, while growth slows and the property sector stays weak. That's the part economists are actually watching, not the round number.
Full animated 30 year trend, made with PlotSet: plotset.com/video/6ab517cb05β¦
#DataVisualization #China #PublicDebt #Economy #IMF #PlotSet
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Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country: 60.
China is one behind, at 59.
Five of the top ten are in Western Europe.
If data centres were a country, they'd be the 12th largest electricity consumer on Earth.
415 TWh in 2024 (IEA). More than Iran, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Italy or the UK. By 2030: 945 TWh, which would rank 6th.
For scale, the countries themselves:
2000: US leads, 3,836 TWh. China 1,347.
2010: China passes the US by 54 TWh.
2024: China 10,070 TWh, more than the US, India, Russia and Japan combined.
The US has not led once since 2010.
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In 1964 the average American house cost 4.00 years of the average salary.
Today it costs 9.05.
Adjusted for inflation: houses cost 2.4x what they did, wages buy 5% more.
Wages kept up with inflation. Housing left the building.
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On 2 March 2026, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly 20% of the world's oil normally moves through a two-mile-wide shipping lane there.
America's emergency oil reserve then sat flat for 25 days.
Then it started draining and never stopped.
20 Mar: 415.4M barrels
7 Aug: 298.7M barrels
Lowest since January 1983.
Desert Storm, Katrina and Libya used about 68M barrels combined. This has used 116.7M in 22 weeks.
You can even see the June 17 ceasefire in the data. The drain slowed from 9.1M/week to 3.0M. Then it collapsed on July 8 and sped back up.
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January 2009: Internet Explorer loads 65.41% of all desktop web pages on Earth.
July 2026: 0.02%.
Chrome went from 1.38% to 70.67% and killed two empires on the way, first
Firefox's, then IE's.
No product is safe. Not even one with two thirds of the internet.
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Britain was the world's biggest air polluter in 1850.
Today it emits 97.8% less.
The US led for 105 years. China peaked at 38.1 Mt in 2006, the highest ever.
Now India is number one, only because everyone else cleaned up faster.
172 years of acid rain gas
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Prices in Switzerland have basically stopped moving. They literally have. Headline inflation is 0%. Core is flat. Monthly consumer prices are hugging the zero line. While people in the UK, Europe and the US are still watching food, fuel and rent climb, Switzerland is living in a different inflation cycle entirely. Not a lot of people know that. I do because I live here.
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Public patience with chancellors tends to ebb and flow yet it rarely collapses. This chart shows something different. Only 11% of those surveyed by Ipsos Political Monitor are satisfied with Rachel Reeves. That is the lowest reading for any chancellor in nearly 50 years of Ipsos data.
Created by PlotSet
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This looks like another tech rout, but this chart tells a more interesting story. Returns over the past month are not moving in one direction, they are spreading out.
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China has surpassed the United States in monthly downloads of artificial intelligence models, marking a major turning point in the global AI race. Have a look at the chart. It did this in less than two years.
Nvidia has hit $5 trillion in market value. It's the first company in history to do that. It announced a $1 billion investment in Nokia to help build AI powered telecommunications infrastructure. The partnership aims to digitalize the global network backbone, embedding AI into 5G and 6G systems that connect the world. If Nvidia supplies the data centers and the network gear in this deal, it gets paid in both places. Nvidia gets paid twice! That's why markets are excited.
Microsoft crossed $4trn in market cap. But Nvidia is already at $4.7trn. These are different stories. Nvidia's trajectory is vertical after 2022 due to its chips that power AI. Microsoft's path is steadier, providing the infrastructure for AI. Made with plotset.com/
Measured at purchasing power parity, Chinaβs economy has overtaken the US and continues to widen the gap. From just over $1 trillion in 1990, Chinaβs PPP-adjusted GDP has surged past $37 trillion, compared with around $30 trillion for the US.
PPP adjusts for price differences across countries, giving a clearer picture of the real size of economies. By this measure, China became the worldβs largest economy in 2016 and has since pulled further ahead. Its expansion reflects decades of rapid industrialisation, export-led growth and infrastructure investment, while the US has grown more steadily from a higher base.
Chinaβs economic dominance in PPP terms doesnβt necessarily translate into financial or geopolitical dominance. Much of its wealth is concentrated domestically, and per capita income still lags far behind advanced economies. But it does underline a profound shift in the balance of global economic weight.
Do you think PPP is the best way to measure economic power in todayβs world? There are some critics as well as fans of this measure.
π The true human cost of warβ¦
This chart reveals which regions have suffered the most deaths from conflict since 1989.
β¬οΈ Get this chart for FREE: plot.st/tdHkGd
#War #Conflict #GlobalTrends #DataViz #PlotSet
π₯ Which countries spend the largest share of their economy on the military?
β¬οΈGet this chart for FREE: plot.st/WPFFG6
One nationβs number will leave you stunned π
#MilitarySpending #Geopolitics #DataViz #PlotSet
π° Which countries are truly the richest in the world by GDP per capita?
β¬οΈGet this chart for FREE: plot.st/tWJHFC
The results may surprise you π
#Economy #GDP #DataViz #GlobalProsperity #PlotSet
π Did you know millions of people still live on less than $3 a day?
Here are the countries where extreme poverty is alarmingly high.
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π Watch the full chart π
#GlobalPoverty #DataViz #PlotSet #Economy #Inequality
π° How much does your country really spend on healthcare?
Some nations are investing way more than you might expect.
Watch the full breakdown π
Get this chart for for FREE: plot.st/tBwTgz
#HealthCare #DataViz #PlotSet #Economy #PublicHealth

