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Data Vis Dispatch
May 10th, 2022

Data Vis Dispatch, May 10

The best of last week’s big and small data visualizations

Lisa Charlotte Muth
Lisa Charlotte Muth

Welcome back to the 44th edition of Data Vis Dispatch! Every week, we’ll be publishing a collection of the best small and large data visualizations we find, especially from news organizations — to celebrate data journalism, data visualization, simple charts, elaborate maps, and their creators.

Recurring topics this week include the plans to abolish abortion rights in the U.S., smaller elections, and drought in many parts of the world.

The biggest topic of last week in the U.S. was the possible overturning of abortion rights through the Supreme Court. Newsrooms used visualizations to show many aspects of that political change:

Bloomberg: Supreme Court Could Jeopardize Abortion Access for 36 Million People, May 4
The Economist: A Supreme Court leak portends tighter abortion laws in America, May 3
The Wall Street Journal: Where State Abortion Laws Stand if Roe v. Wade Is Overturned, May 4
Univision: Mapa: en estos estados quedaría prohibido el aborto si la Corte Suprema anula el fallo de Roe vs. Wade, May 4
The Washington Post: Majority of women ages 15 to 44 would face new post-Roe abortion limits, May 4
Bloomberg: After the Supreme Court Breaks Roe, Who Picks Up the Pieces?, May 5
The New York Times: Half of U.S. Women Risk Losing Abortion Access Without Roe, May 7

Bloomberg: America Wants to Keep Roe—the Supreme Court May Overturn It Anyway, May 4
The Economist: Religion, not gender, is the best predictor of views on abortion, May 7
Financial Times: Repeal of Roe risks exacerbating the US’s most shameful statistic, May 5
Reuters: How access to abortion changes if Roe v. Wade is overturned, May 4
The Washington Post: What it’s like to have a baby in the states most likely to ban abortion, May 6

Every week, we’re seeing fewer maps and charts on the Russia-Ukraine war and its consequences. This week, with its big focus on abortion rights, was no exception:

Le Monde: Le grenier à céréales ukrainien cadenassé par la guerre, May 6
El Confidencial: Ucrania, arrasada: 10 datos para comprender la magnitud de la invasión rusa, May 9
The Economist: How companies exiting Russia are faring, May 9
Les Echos: Comment les entreprises européennes gèrent la volatilité du rouble, May 9

Related to the war is the increasing inflation rate. The New York Times published an interactive experiment that shows how different inflation is depending on your life situation:

The New York Times: What’s Your Rate of Inflation?, May 8
elDiario.es: Más del 60% de las gasolineras ha subido precios que diluyen la bonificación del Gobierno, May 8
Berliner Morgenpost: Eigentumswohnung in Berlin: Wo die Preise stark stiegen, May 4

This was also a major week for minor elections. There were three: First, the primary elections for U.S. Senate in Ohio:

The New York Times: Ohio U.S. Senate Primary Election Results, May 3
The Washington Post: 2022 Ohio Primaries, May 3
The Washington Post: Trump’s endorsements in the 2022 Republican primaries, May 3

Local elections in Britain and Northern Ireland were happening last week, too, with a clear loser: The Conservative party lost hundreds of seats.

The New Statesman: Our local election forecast for 2022, May 4
The Guardian: Elections 2022: live council results for England, Scotland and Wales, May 7
The Telegraph: Local Election Results 2022, May 6
The New Statesman: The 2022 UK election results, May 5
The Guardian: Northern Ireland election 2022 live results: assembly seats and votes, May 6

The opposite happened in the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost region. Here, the conservative party CDU won by a big margin:

ZEIT Online: Alle Ergebnisse der Landtagswahl – live, May 8
SPIEGEL: Schwarz mit einem Hauch von Großstadt-Grün, May 9
Süddeutsche Zeitung: Wem die CDU den Wahlerfolg verdankt, May 8
SPIEGEL: Wie der CDU-Triumph zustande kam, May 9
ZEIT Online: Selbst AfD-Wähler loben ihn, May 8

Le Monde is also still busy analyzing the French election — and South Korean SBS News focuses on the importance of local elections:

Le Monde: Législatives : les enseignements de l’élection présidentielle, May 4
Le Monde: Election présidentielle 2022 : le RN progresse en Nouvelle-Aquitaine, May 6
SBS News: [사실은X마부작침] 역대 초인접선거, 대선 표심 그대로라면 결과는?, May 8

This wouldn’t be a Data Vis Dispatch without some COVID-19 charts. This month, the U.S. passes the grim milestone of 1,000,000 total COVID deaths, as Axios reminds us with this powerful article:

Axios: 1 million deaths – Remembering the lives lost to COVID-19 in America, May 9
SPIEGEL: Der schleichende Abschied von den täglichen Coronazahlen, May 7
Financial Times: UK accused of leaving Covid immunocompromised ‘out to dry’, May 4

In better news, the economy is doing well — at least in some parts. The April jobs report in the U.S. shows some industries making strong gains:

Bloomberg: U.S. Jobs Numbers: Energy, Performing Arts, and Sports Industries Led Gains in Strong April Report, May 6
elDiario.es: La mitad de los contratos en abril fueron indefinidos y España supera por primera vez los 20 millones de afiliados, May 4
Bloomberg: Everything That Could Go Wrong in Markets as Free-Money Era Ends, May 9
El Confidencial: El miedo a la recesión y a los tipos eleva la apuesta por la liquidez en los fondos, May 8
Bloomberg: Big Money Backs Tiny Loans That Lead to Debt, Despair and Even Suicide, May 3
Bloomberg: China’s Climate-Focused Funds Surpass U.S. With $47 Billion in Assets, May 9

What else? The climate. Temperatures in India are still extreme, while some regions in the U.S. are starting to experience problems with drought:

Stats of India: Close to a billion people in India experienced ≥ 40°C temperature in India last month., May 5 (Tweet)
NASA Earth Observatory: Taking Stock of Rocky Mountain Snowpack, May 6
Los Angeles Times: With water running out, California faces grim summer of dangerous heat, extreme drought, May 4
Reuters: California fires threaten unbuilt housing, May 3

A beautiful visualization on Formula One races, a waning interest in NFTs, and an explanation of why there are fewer big mammals these days than they could be — find all this and more in our miscellaneous section:

Joey Cherdarchuk: Thunder Roads: Lightning Races, Finish Traces, & Championship Places in the 2021 Formula One Season, May 4
Wall Street Journal: NFT Sales Are Flatlining, May 3 XXX
Vía Tres: México refrenda mala calificación en ranking sobre libertad de prensa, May 7 (Tweet)
El Confidencial: Menos granjas, pero con más animales: así ha cambiado el campo en una década, May 4
Our World in Data: The largest mammals have always been at the greatest risk of extinction – this is still the case today, May 9

What else we found interesting

The New York Times: How Formula 1’s Car Redesign Is Changing Racing, May 8
The Straits Times: How the Russia-Ukraine war is making your plate of orh luak more expensive, May 8

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Lisa Charlotte Muth
Lisa Charlotte Muth
(she/her, @lisacmuth, @lisacmuth@vis.social) is Datawrapper’s head of communications. She writes about best practices in data visualization and thinks of new ways to excite you about charts and maps. Lisa lives in Berlin.

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