Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch!
In this week’s newsletter we have charts on population growth and decline, Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, squid fishing near Argentina, political violence in Nigeria, and yet more about the strait of Hormuz.
But first … not happy Jan?
Last week was huge for Australian politics nerds, with a byelection over the weekend and the federal budget released last Tuesday.
We created this cartoon explainer going through the announced capital gains tax changes, and what it would mean for “Jan”:
Scroll to the end for an interactive tax calculator, to get a better idea how this may affect you.
Josh also drew this One Big Chart showing who (the rich) benefits from the capital gains tax and negative gearing:
Earlier in the week we mapped how One Nation flipped Farrer, a seat the Coalition parties had held since it was established in 1949. And our colleagues in the US looked at how the stock market keeps going up despite war, inflation and tariffs.
Four charts from the fortnight
***
1. Down down?
Our World in Data has released a neat interactive population simulation tool. You can use it to project the population in 2100 for a bunch of countries, tweaking things like fertility rates and net immigration:
The site simultaneously published this story about South Korea – a country of more than 50 million people that the UN projects to dwindle to just 22 million by 2100. One of the story’s scariest charts shows what population change means for the country’s age profile.
***
2. Step by step
This story from our colleagues in the UK shows how, step by step, Israel displaced more than 1.2 million people from their homes in southern Lebanon, where the bombing campaign was focused:
More than two months after fighting began, most residents of south Lebanon remain displaced. Many of their homes lie in ruins, destroyed in airstrikes or controlled demolitions. Return is impossible for those from areas under the “yellow line”, an area established by Israel after the 17 April ceasefire along the Lebanon-Israel border comprising more than 50 villages occupied by Israeli soldiers.
***
3. How rampant violence made Nigeria an insecurity hotspot in the Sahel
Another impressive piece of mapping from our UK colleagues, this visual feature lays bare the extent and geographical spread of attacks in Africa’s most populous country.
A large number of different, but sometimes linked, armed groups operate in Nigeria or cross into the country from its neighbours. While the worst episodes of violence frequently involve encounters between armed groups and state forces, the victims are often civilians or members of rival groups.
***
4. China’s squid-fishing fleet raises concerns off Argentina
This is yet another beautifully illustrated visual feature from Reuters, which looks at the rise in China’s fishing fleet, and the concerns countries like Argentina have around overfishing.
Chinese fleets expanded across the world largely after Beijing overfished and depleted stocks in its own coastal waters.
According to the Reuters article, such fleets include militia units in the South China Sea whose members are full-time fishers but can also be called upon by Beijing to support security tasks.
Bookmarks
-
A searchable, centralised archive of Australian FoI releases
-
The ABC’s Eurovision quiz
-
A look at 70 years of Eurovision lyrics
-
The number of Firefox security bug fixes has exploded this year
-
How Australians make money and what it means for tax
Off the Charts
The strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since the beginning of March. But for many countries the real disruption didn’t start until weeks later – after the last boats finally reached their destinations.
The New York Times has visualised this journey with a top-down, almost-isometric (we were struggling with the description) illustrated scrolly. It follows a tanker from the Middle East through to Tokyo Bay:
Sign up
If you would like to receive The Crunch to your email inbox every fortnight, sign up here.
