Prism · Public Health & Environment America's Health Rankings / USEPA · 2022–2024 AIR QUALITY BY STATE: WHO PASSES? The WHO sets a PM2.5 air quality guideline of 5 μg/m³. Every single U.S. state exceeds it. Wyoming comes closest at 4.1 — actually below the guideline. California,

Prism · Earth & Atmosphere NASA / AMS Bulletin ⚡ LIGHTNING HOTSPOTS Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela records 233 lightning flashes per square kilometre per year — the most electrically active place on Earth. Across Africa's Congo Basin, South Asia, and the tropics, the atmosphere crackles with electricity that shapes climate, agriculture, and

Prism · Geography & World Order World Population Review · 2025 195 COUNTRIES. 6 CONTINENTS. ONE PLANET. Africa has 54 countries. Asia has 49. Europe has 43. Yet Asia holds 60% of humanity, Africa holds the fastest-growing populations, and Oceania's 14 nations include some of the world's smallest

Prism · Real Estate & Rates FRED / NAREIT · 2016–2025 HOW INTEREST RATES MOVE REAL ESTATE Zero rates drove the greatest real estate boom in a generation. The fastest rate hike cycle in forty years sent REITs crashing. Now cuts have resumed — and the next chapter for real estate investors may

Prism · Education & Human Capital OECD PISA 2022 · Latest Available WHICH COUNTRY SCORES BEST AT SCIENCE? Singapore's 15-year-olds scored 561 — 62 points above the OECD average and nearly two years of schooling ahead of the median. East Asia dominates the top of the global science table, and the

Prism · Brands & Globalisation McDonald's · 2024 McDONALD'S 40,000 LOCATIONS There are 40,000 McDonald's worldwide — and over half of them are in just three countries: the United States, China, and Japan. The geography of the world's most recognised brand tells a

Prism · Consumer Culture CandyStore.com · 2025 FAVORITE VALENTINE'S CANDY BY STATE The heart-shaped box of chocolates dominates 15 states. Hershey's Kisses rules Texas. M&Ms claim the Northern Plains. And somewhere in Alabama, Candy Necklaces are having their moment. Valentine's candy is a

Prism · Climate & Sport Current Issues in Tourism · 2022 WILL CLIMATE CHANGE END THE WINTER GAMES? Under a high-emissions scenario, only 5% of past Winter Olympics host locations would reliably ensure safe and fair snow conditions by 2071–2100. The future of the world's most demanding outdoor sporting

Prism · Energy Transition IEA / Ember · 2025 EV SALES: THE GLOBAL TIPPING POINT Norway: 97% of new cars sold are electric. China: 53%. The United States: 10%. In six years, the electric vehicle revolution has moved from Scandinavian experiment to global structural shift — but the gaps between leaders and laggards are

Prism · Personal Finance NY Fed / BEA · 2025 Q3 AMERICA'S GROWING MOUNTAIN OF DEBT Auto loans: $1.66 trillion. Student loans: $1.65 trillion. Credit cards: $1.23 trillion. The average American household paid $4,214 in non-mortgage interest in Q1 2025. Twenty years of consumer debt data reveal

Prism · Personal Finance Federal Reserve / Census Bureau · Q1 2025 WHERE AMERICANS ARE MOST BURDENED BY DEBT A debt-to-income ratio of 2.51 means debt is more than 2.5× annual income — and monthly payments alone absorb 20–25% of take-home pay before a dollar is spent on food, rent, or

Prism · Labour History & Economics 5,000 Years of Wages From Mesopotamian beer rations to earned-wage access apps — five millennia of how humanity has compensated work, when it has paid, and which forces have shifted the balance between employer and worker. All Eras Antiquity Middle Ages Early Modern Modern Era

Prism · Mining & Critical Resources Critical Minerals in U.S. Mining Waste U.S. hard-rock mines sent 229,430 kilotonnes of aluminium to tailings piles in 2023 — while importing 5,540 kilotonnes. Millions of tonnes of critical minerals sit unrecovered in waste heaps across federal land, as the nation pays

Prism · Property Insurance & Climate Risk 6 Trends Reshaping U.S. Property Insurance Material inflation, expanding climate hazard zones, aging buildings, population migration into risk corridors, and the emergence of new technology-linked risks are converging to produce the most challenging property insurance pricing environment in a generation. Source: INIGO · Industry

Prism · Defense Policy & Federal Spending U.S. Military Budget 1997–2027P Three decades of U.S. defense appropriations — adjusted to constant 2025 dollars. From Clinton's post-Cold War drawdown through 9/11, Iraq, the Afghanistan surge, the Obama plateau, and Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion by

Prism · Demography & Population Global Births Per 1,000 People Estimated births per 1,000 population in 2025. The Central African Republic leads at 46.9 — nearly ten times South Korea's 4.8. The global average of 16.1 conceals a profound geographic split between rapidly reproducing Sub-Saharan

Prism · Central Banking & Monetary Policy Central Bank Gold Reserves Biggest Changes 2020–2025 China added 357 tonnes. Poland added 315. The Philippines sold 65. Since 2020 gold's price has risen 265% — and the world's central banks have been repositioning dramatically, accelerating a de-dollarisation trend that

Prism · Immigration & Demography · United States Foreign-Born Population by State 14.8% of the U.S. population — 50.2 million people — was born abroad. California leads at 27.7%; Montana and West Virginia trail at 2.1%. The geographic distribution of America's immigrant population is a map of

Prism · Sustainability & Trade · Hinrich Foundation / IMD STI 2025 Economies with the Largest Ecological Footprints Singapore consumes 10.07 global hectares per person — Bangladesh just 0.68. The Ecological Footprint of Consumption measures how much productive land and water a population's lifestyle requires. This is the environmental dimension

Prism · Labour Economics & Income · United States States with the Fastest-Rising Incomes 2019–2024 Nominal change in median household income. Colorado surged +47% — driven by tech employment growth. North Carolina and Oklahoma saw just +10%. The US overall rose +22%. The gap between fastest and slowest is a map of

Prism · Urban Demography · UN World Urbanization Prospects Most Populous Cities in 2050 Dhaka reaches 52.1 million. Jakarta, 51.8 million. New Delhi, 33.9 million. By 2050 the top ten most populous cities will be dominated by South and Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa — a geographic shift in the

Prism · Healthcare & Hospital Rankings Countries with the Most Top-Rated Hospitals The United States places 25 hospitals in Brand Finance's Global Top 100 — more than the next five countries combined. The Gulf states' surprising presence and Asia's underrepresentation relative to population tell important stories about

Prism · Defense & Geopolitics · SIPRI / World Bank Defense Spending Per Person Israel spends $5,000 per person per year on defense — more than the United States ($2,900) and nearly ten times Germany ($1,000). The per-capita lens reveals the security calculus of states under existential threat, wealthy city-states, and

Prism · Consumer Economics · Numbeo 2026 Cost of Living Index 2026 New York City = 100. Bermuda scores 123.5 — the world's most expensive country. Libya scores 12.3 — the world's cheapest. The global median is 30.9. The index measures everyday expenses including rent. Methodology: Using NYC