Welcome to the third edition of The Crunch for 2024!
In this week’s newsletter, we have the widening ideological divide between young men and women, a beautiful, but depressing, feature about the decline of birds in North America, even more maps and charts about tax cuts in Australia, a cool animation of points over time in a tennis match, and patterns that the words for numbers make in different languages when plotted alphabetically.
But first, on the Guardian …
We have just published a groundbreaking investigation into the deaths of people experiencing homelessness in Australia. These deaths are not counted by the government as they are in other countries, so my colleague Chris Knaus has spent a year trawling through coronial inquest documents and data, and spoken with experts and family members to produce the first national count of homeless deaths.
The series exposes how the system is failing people experiencing homelessness and their families. The data shows a stark divide in the age at death for homeless people compared with the general population:
You read the first part of the series here, and see the full data-heavy breakdown of the report here.
Five charts from the week
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1. An ideological divide is emerging between young men and women in many countries around the world
This chart from John Burn-Murdoch at the Financial Times went big on the Website Formerly Known as Twitter last week. The chart is from John’s latest column ($), in which survey data from four different countries suggests young women in these countries are becoming more liberal (or progressive) while men are becoming more conservative.
A similar pattern can be seen in some other countries, such as China, and here Shaun Ratcliff from Accent Research and the University of Sydney, suggests that there is a similar ideological divide in Australia.
This article by Dr Alice Evans is well worth a read as well, as it digs more into some possible reasons for the split between the genders.
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2. Bird populations are declining in the US. This map shows where
It is no secret that at Guardian Australia we love birds, so it’s not surprising that this beautifully designed feature by Harry Stevens at the Washington Post ($) was one of our favourite pieces in the past two weeks.
The decline in North America’s bird population has been huge – a staggering 30% of the population in the past half a century, according to Harry’s article. His excellent graphics show which species are declining and where, and also which species have increased their numbers.
You can also check out the main map on Observable (and the code used to make it) if you don’t have access to the Washington Post.
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3. In tennis, the finish line is dynamic
The tennis scoring system ❤️
— Andrew Marshall (@AndyMarshall86) January 27, 2024
Many other sports require you to be in front when a timer runs out.
In tennis, the finish line is dynamic and you have to keep winning points to win the match.
The graph shows the 'points from victory' in the Medvedev v Zverev semi final at #AO24 pic.twitter.com/bvA3chg1Ms
I (Nick) do not understand tennis scoring and I refuse to learn. I did, however, find this animated chart by Andrew Marshall very interesting. Apparently tennis matches can go on for a long time, and you can represent the points in this way, which is frankly wild.
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4. One in five Australian’s don’t have “basic” electricity protections
Access to reliable electricity is fundamental to modern life, but new research shows that one in five Australians live in a community that doesn’t have “basic” electricity protections. This includes rules against disconnecting customers on life support or during periods of extreme hot or cold temperatures – something that climate change is making more vital.
Most Australians in eastern states are covered by a national framework. But electricity regulations are state-based, and remote and Indigenous communities are disproportionately unprotected.
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5. Trump’s legal issues are eating in to his campaign finances
This simple but effective chart from The Economist ($) shows how Donald Trump’s legal expenses have become the largest proportion of his expenses overall. While Trump’s campaign is still raising millions of dollars, 50 cents of every dollar donated went towards his legal defence, according to The Economist’s analysis of FEC filings.
Spotlight on … stage-three tax cuts in Australia
This geographic analysis of the stage-three tax cuts shows nearly 90% of areas in Australia will be better off under the new plan, and that working-class communities in Coalition-held remote and regional electorates stand to gain the most. You can see the full interactive map based on analysis from Ben Phillips at ANU here
Our colleague Greg Jericho has some great charts illustrating what this looks like over the income distribution
The ABC’s Digital Story Innovation team produced a similar geographic analysis using ATO data, along with some excellent charts which break down the new tax cut benefits by occupation, and age groups
They have also made a neat tax calculator which shows you how the revised stage-three tax cuts will impact you, based on your income
Off the Charts
I (Nick) have never thought about what it would look like if you wrote out all the words for numbers in each language, sorted the list in alphabetical order, and then plotted the results on a chart. But now I realise that I was a fool, and this is clearly something I should have thought about. Luckily for you, dear reader, the Reddit user Udzu has made this lovely chart which shows exactly this!
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• This article was amended on 8 February 2024 to replace a reference in the introduction to a chart on Singapore’s public housing to a chart on the decline of birds.
