Technical publications¶
On this page, we publish technical reports on data projects at Our World in Data. These reports include methodology, replication code, and supplementary data or figures. They often support live articles on our site. You can think of them as the "technical appendices" to our research articles.
This is just a sneak peek into some of our data work. But note that all our code is public, and you can explore our full data processing pipelines in the ETL repository.
Does the news reflect what we die from?¶
This analysis accompanies the article "Does the news reflect what we die from?". It compares the leading causes of death in the United States in 2023 with the amount of media coverage each receives.
Land use for biofuels vs. solar¶
This document is a technical companion to the article "Putting solar panels on land used for biofuels would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks to go electric", that examines how much land is currently used to grow crops for biofuels, and the opportunity cost of that land compared with using it for solar photovoltaic.
Food supply of world regions¶
Analysis of food supply and agricultural land data of world regions.
COVID-19 work¶
Summary of our data work during COVID-19 pandemic, with all the relevant links to data and research. For a less technical, but more narrative summary, refer to our COVID-19 history article.
Population projection tool: How will populations across the world change in the 21st century?¶
This document is a technical companion to the article "Population tool: How will populations across the world change in the 21st century?", explaining the cohort-component model used to project population totals and age structure based on fertility rates, life expectancy, and net migration.
Tracking historical progress against slavery and forced labor: a long-run data view¶
This document is a technical companion to the article "Tracking historical progress against slavery and forced labor: a long-run data view".