People · Planet · The generation, counted
The numbers
behind the transition.
A clearer picture of the world we are in — and the questions it leaves with us. Each marker has a source, a defined scope and limits to what it can tell us.
Places
Possibilities
A higher future
Global population estimate for 2024. The UN medium projection places the population peak near 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s.
UN World Population Prospects 2024Births per woman · Global estimate2.25Global total fertility rate: 2.25 live births per woman, approximately one child fewer than a generation earlier.
United Nations · Global populationYears · Weakest progress35Projected 2024 global HDI growth was the weakest increase since 1990, excluding the exceptional crisis years of 2020 and 2021.
UNDP Human Development Report 2025Humanity online · 2025¾Almost three-quarters of the world is online. 2.2 billion people remain offline, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.
ITU Facts and Figures 2025Experiencing loneliness · 20251 IN 6Around 16% of people worldwide experience loneliness. The latest estimates place the greatest prevalence among adolescents and younger people.
WHO Commission on Social ConnectionChildren and youth out of school · 2024273M273 million children and young people were out of school in 2024. The total has fallen by less than 1% since 2015.
UNESCO · Out-of-school estimatesYoung people not placed · 20231 IN 520.4% of people aged 15–24 were not in employment, education or training in 2023. Two in three were female.
ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024Workers in occupations with GenAI exposure · 20251 IN 4One in four workers is in an occupation with some GenAI exposure. 3.3% of global employment is in the highest exposure category.
ILO · Generative AI and Jobs 2025Forcibly displaced · End of 2025117.8M117.8 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2025. An estimated 45 million were children.
UNHCR Global Trends 2025Countries gaining / losing happiness79 / 41Against the 2006–2010 base period, 79 countries recorded significant gains and 41 significant losses among 136 ranked countries.
World Happiness Report 2026The warmest years on record11 / 11The years 2015–2025 were the eleven warmest years in the instrumental record.
WMO · State of the Global Climate 2025A world in transition.
A shared human reality.
Read each measure in its own terms. Then consider the connections.
Economy
Work, opportunity and the ability to build a secure life.
Explore the evidenceSociety
Population, families, education and the ties between us.
Explore the evidenceHuman wellbeing
Connection, development and the experience of being alive.
Explore the evidenceTechnology
Capability is advancing. Access and agency matter.
Explore the evidencePlanet
The conditions that sustain our shared home.
Explore the evidenceThe data points to
a deeper story.
These figures measure different things across different periods. Explore their sources and limitations before drawing conclusions about the whole.
8.2B
The population explodes.
What do eight billion simultaneous lives require of one another?
Examine this number +
What was measuredGlobal population estimate for 2024. The UN medium projection places the population peak near 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s.
What it cannot provePopulation estimates and projections are revised as censuses, migration records and demographic evidence change.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 20262.25
The fertility implodes.
Is this greater freedom—or declining confidence in the future we are offering?
Examine this number +
What was measuredGlobal total fertility rate: 2.25 live births per woman, approximately one child fewer than a generation earlier.
What it cannot proveA global average conceals major differences between countries, communities and individual choices.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 202635
Our capabilities accelerated. Our progress did not.
If technology is accelerating, why is human development decelerating?
Examine this number +
What was measuredProjected 2024 global HDI growth was the weakest increase since 1990, excluding the exceptional crisis years of 2020 and 2021.
What it cannot proveHDI combines health, education and income. It is an important lens, not a complete account of a life.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 2026¾
We connected the world.
Did access to one another create a genuinely shared world?
Examine this number +
What was measuredAlmost three-quarters of the world is online. 2.2 billion people remain offline, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.
What it cannot proveBeing online does not mean equal speed, affordability, safety, literacy or influence.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 20261 IN 6
Connection did not guarantee belonging.
How can a generation be continuously reachable and still feel alone?
Examine this number +
What was measuredAround 16% of people worldwide experience loneliness. The latest estimates place the greatest prevalence among adolescents and younger people.
What it cannot proveLoneliness is self-reported and culturally mediated; it is not the same as chosen solitude or objective social isolation.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 2026273M
Potential exists before opportunity recognises it.
What future are we building while so many remain outside its first doorway?
Examine this number +
What was measured273 million children and young people were out of school in 2024. The total has fallen by less than 1% since 2015.
What it cannot proveConflict can disrupt enrolment data. UNESCO notes that crisis-affected populations may be underestimated.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 20261 IN 5
The most educated youth cohort waits to be needed.
How much potential must remain unused before exclusion becomes a design failure?
Examine this number +
What was measured20.4% of people aged 15–24 were not in employment, education or training in 2023. Two in three were female.
What it cannot proveNEET status spans very different circumstances and does not measure informal care, informal learning or every form of contribution.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 20261 IN 4
Work is changing before our understanding of human value does.
If tasks change faster than institutions, what will make a human being needed?
Examine this number +
What was measuredOne in four workers is in an occupation with some GenAI exposure. 3.3% of global employment is in the highest exposure category.
What it cannot proveExposure is not equivalent to job loss. The ILO identifies job transformation as the more likely overall effect.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 2026117.8M
For millions, home became a moving target.
Can quality of life be discussed without safety, place and belonging?
Examine this number +
What was measured117.8 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2025. An estimated 45 million were children.
What it cannot proveThe total is a point-in-time estimate across several legal and statistical categories; movements continue between reporting dates.
SourceUNHCR Global Trends 2025
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 202679 / 41
Humanity did not simply become happier or unhappier. It diverged.
Whose experience have you mistaken for the experience of the world?
Examine this number +
What was measuredAgainst the 2006–2010 base period, 79 countries recorded significant gains and 41 significant losses among 136 ranked countries.
What it cannot proveLife evaluation is subjective and shaped by culture and context. National averages also conceal age, gender and regional differences.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 202611 / 11
The physical world remembers what every system tries to forget.
What does one generation owe the people who must live inside its consequences?
Examine this number +
What was measuredThe years 2015–2025 were the eleven warmest years in the instrumental record.
What it cannot proveIndividual years fluctuate. The generational marker is the long-term direction, not one isolated record.
Evidence reviewed · 10 September 2026Every number you have seen is made from individual lives.
Every future number will be made from individual decisions.
Which number refuses to leave you?
Choose the marker that changed the way you see this generation.
The numbers tell us what has been.
Creativity determines what becomes possible.