People might associate democracy with having the right to vote. But meaningful democracy is much more than that.

In 2022, nearly every country granted its citizens the right to vote. 85% of them had an elected parliament and government. In 82%, elections were multi-party, meaning that people had more than one option on the ballot. You can see this in the chart.

But, fewer than two-thirds of these elections were genuinely competitive. In others, voters were systematically pressured or intimidated, the timing of elections was violated, or election fraud influenced the results.

Even more concerning, in only 39% of countries were people able to express their political opinions and associate freely.

As a result, just over one-third of countries recently held elections that met all of these democratic criteria and can be considered truly free and fair.

Find out which countries have all democratic criteria and which don't →

In 1978, Louise Brown became the first baby born through in vitro fertilization (IVF). In this technique, eggs are fertilized with sperm in a lab before the resulting embryos are transferred to the uterus.

Assisted reproductive technologies have advanced further and now become widely available.

These innovations have helped many people who might otherwise struggle to conceive — supporting individuals and couples facing infertility, allowing older parents to preserve fertility, and enabling same-sex couples to have children.

The chart shows the share of births in 2019 that involved assisted reproductive technologies across various European countries. This can include cross-border treatment.

Spain had the highest share, with nearly 9% of births resulting from assisted reproductive technology, followed by Greece, Denmark, and Czechia. In contrast, countries like Ireland, Lithuania, Serbia, and Turkey had much lower rates, with less than 2% of all births.

Explore more data on fertility rates and reproductive technology →

Since 2000, fewer couples in England and Wales have divorced within the first ten years of marriage, reversing the trend of the late 20th century.

The chart shows the percentage of marriages ending in divorce within a decade, based on the year of marriage. For those married in 1965, one in ten divorced within ten years.

By 1975, this had nearly doubled to 18% as legal reforms made separation easier and less stigmatized. Divorce rates peaked for couples married in 1995, with one in four divorcing by their tenth anniversary.

But, as you can see, this trend has started to reverse. Of the couples that married in 2012, only 17% had divorced by 2022. That’s well below the peak in the 1990s.

Explore our data on marriages and divorces in other countries →

The biggest migration story of the past few centuries has not been from country to country but from rural areas to cities.

In 1960, one-third of the world’s population lived in urban areas. This share is now closing in on 60%. By contrast, less than 4% of the global population are international migrants.

But some countries are urbanizing much more quickly than others. Bangladesh is one example of a country that has experienced much faster internal migration than its South Asian neighbors. You can see this on the chart.

In 1972, just 8% of people in Bangladesh lived in towns and cities. This share has more than quadrupled to 40%.

Explore more data on the global movement of populations from rural areas to cities →

The Ipsos Housing Monitor 2025 surveyed people across 30 countries, asking: “In general, do you think that your country is on the right track or the wrong track when it comes to housing?”.

The chart shows results for European countries, where housing prices dipped after the 2008 global financial crisis, before starting to rise again around 2013, with particularly large increases since 2015.

The Netherlands and Spain stand out, with nearly 80% believing their country is on the wrong track.

People in Poland and Sweden are less concerned than in other countries. But even in these nations, the majority feels like their country is on the wrong track.

Explore more data on optimism and pessimism about the future →

This chart focuses on the share of women who had no births by the end of their childbearing years. The horizontal axis shows the woman’s birth year.

Around 18% of those born in the 1910s in the United States had no children. For the following generations who grew up during the “baby boom”, the share with no children dropped to 5%. Since then, this figure has risen and fallen again.

In Sweden, the share of women without any children has remained relatively stable at around 12% for women born between the 1950s and 1970s.

The trend in Japan and Spain has been different: the share of women with no children has grown steeply over recent generations. In Spain, the figure nearly doubled in a decade: from 10% for women born in 1960 to almost 20% for those born in 1970. In Japan, it almost tripled in twenty years.

Explore this data for twenty more countries →

Households in the United States have changed significantly over the last 60 years. In 1960, 43% of households were couples with children, but this had dropped to 24% by 2015.

Once a minority, single individuals living alone are now the most common composition, making up 28% of households in 2015.

Several factors may explain this shift. Since 2000, most population growth has occurred among those over 60, who are more likely to live alone after widowhood or once children leave home. Declining birth rates have further reduced the share of households with children.

At the same time, rising incomes among women, in particular, have made independent living more accessible, likely contributing to the increase in single-person households alongside the trend of marrying later or not at all.

Explore how household types compare across different countries →