In fact, there is so much data out there, that the quantity of it is doubling every two years⁠—and by 2025, there will be 175,000 exabytes of data in existence. This is an unprecedented figure, and it’s hard to put into perspective. To give you some sense, a single exabyte is equal to 1,000,000,000 GB of data, and five exabytes has been said to be roughly equal to “all of the words ever spoken by mankind”....

Sometimes this risk flies under the radar and isn’t as pronounced as it probably should be. However, in other cases, the topic of risk can catapult to the forefront of discussion. There can be specific events or signals unfolding that give investors the jitters – and during these times, investors will make adjustments to their portfolios to avoid getting caught off guard. How Billionaires are Hedging In the following infographic from Sprott Physical Bullion Trusts, we explain the particular geopolitical risks that have the world’s most elite investors concerned today – and what moves they are making to protect themselves from black swans....

Over 80% of the world’s economic output is derived from activities in cities – and more specifically, it’s estimated that 60% of GDP growth occurs in just the top 600 urban centers. Given the above, it’s fair to say that the destiny of humankind is directly linked to what happens in major cities. Further, how urbanization plays out over time could end up having a significant ripple effect on the economy, and we should pay close attention to such trends....

The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns, which comes to us annually from our friends at U.S. Global Investors, shows the returns of commodities over each year of the past decade. As you may have guessed, commodities are a volatile asset class – and as a result, their respective rankings fluctuate wildly each year, making things really interesting for any observer. The Year in Review In 2017, we experienced the second full year of recovery from the collapse of commodities that plagued the dreaded stretch from 2011 to 2015....

Iron Road (ASX: IRD) has a vision to become a trusted and reliable supplier of premium iron concentrates to the Asian marketplace. The flagship project in achieving this vision is the Central Eyre Iron Project (or CEIP) in South Australia. CEIP is a large scale development expected to produce 20Mtpa of iron concentrate. CEIP will require an industry partner to finance and develop associated rail and port infrastructure. Iron Road is in the final stage of Definitive Feasibility Study for the CEIP....

Inflation is surging nearly everywhere in 2022. Geopolitical tensions are triggering high energy costs, while supply-side disruptions are also distorting consumer prices. The end result is that almost half of countries worldwide are seeing double-digit inflation rates or higher. With new macroeconomic forces shaping the global economy, the above infographic shows countries with the highest inflation rates, using data from Trading Economics. Double-Digit Inflation in 2022 As the table below shows, countless countries are navigating record-high levels of inflation....

The World’s Most Famous Case of Hyperinflation (Part 2) The Money Project is an ongoing collaboration between Visual Capitalist and Texas Precious Metals that seeks to use intuitive visualizations to explore the origins, nature, and use of money. For the first infographic in this series, which summarizes the circumstances leading up to hyperinflation in Germany in 1921-1924, it can be found here: Hyperinflation (Part 1 of 2) Slippery Slope “Inflation took the basic law-and-order principles of loyalty and trust to the extreme....

The Petrostate Hex: How Plunging Oil Prices Affect Currencies Every day, the world consumes 93 million barrels of oil, which is worth $4.2 billion. Oil is one of the world’s most basic necessities. At least for now, all modern countries rely on oil and its derivatives as the backbone of their economies. However, the price of oil can have significant swings. These changes in price can have profound implications depending on whether an economy is a net importer or net exporter of crude....

This map uses annual rankings from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to show the world’s most livable cities, measuring different categories including: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. A Quick Note on Methodology The ranking attempts to assess which cities across the globe provide the best living conditions, by assigning a score on 30 quantitative and qualitative measures across the five categories with the following weightings: Of the 30 factors within these categories, the qualitative ones are assigned as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable, or intolerable by a team of expert analysts....

McDonald’s is still the most popular fast food brand in America today—with $46 billion in systemwide sales last year. This graphic uses data from a report on America’s top 50 fast food chains by Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Magazine. The popular brands are sized by their 2021 systemwide sales and broken down into six broad categories: Burger, Chicken, Snack, Pizza, Sandwich, and Global. Note: a number of these figures are estimates....

This might be why Brand Finance’s annual Nation Brands report—which ranks the strongest nation brands across the globe—looks a little bit different this year. Each year, Brand Finance measures the value and strength of nation brands. Using a number of metrics and data, nations are given a score out of 100. Here’s a look at the top 10 strongest nations, and how they scored: Since 2015, Singapore has held first place as the strongest nation brand because of its world-class education, low crime, and prosperous economy....

The Silver Series: A Perfect Storm for Silver (Part 2 of 3) In Part 1 of the Silver Series we showed how precious metals can be a safe haven during times of volatility in a debt-laden era. Today’s infographic is Part Two of the Silver Series, and it comes to us from Endeavour Silver, outlining some of the key supply and demand indicators that precede a coming gold-silver cycle in which the price of silver could move upwards....

Tech Cold War: Facebook vs. Google A war rages on as we speak, and it’s more intense than any war in Game of Thrones. The war I speak of is the battle between Facebook and Google for online supremacy. Both companies have transcended their original purpose and mission, and a huge driving force of that change has been acquisitions. Google and Facebook are perennial newsmakers, due to their ever-expanding product and service offerings....

The Evolution of America’s Energy Supply (1776 – 2014) The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released data on the history of America’s energy supply, sorted by the share of each energy source. We’ve taken that data to create the chart associated with today’s post. Related Topic: Mapping Every Power Plant in the United States The early settlers to North America relied on organic materials on the surface of land for the vast majority of their energy needs....

The Gold Series Part 5: 2014 Trends and Beyond This infographic, the finale of our five part 2014 Gold Series, covers gold trends that investors should be watching through the rest of the year and beyond. With input from some of the most important names in gold such as Brent Cook, Doug Casey, Frank Holmes, Bob Moriarty, and James Fraser, we aim to cover the broadest and most important signals for investors to watch....

The Industrial Internet of Things as the Next Big Growth Driver? The Internet of Things (IoT) is often marketed as a consumer-based technology phenomenon that will combine the potential of low-cost sensors and big data with wide-scale internet connectivity. The promise of this consumer-focused vision of IoT is to change how we interact with daily objects in our lives. When people talk about the IoT, they often bring up ideas such as the connected home, automobiles, or health – concepts that will change how we live on a personal level....

on Did you know that nearly one-fifth of all the gold ever mined is held by central banks? Besides investors and jewelry consumers, central banks are a major source of gold demand. In fact, in 2022, central banks snapped up gold at the fastest pace since 1967. However, the record gold purchases of 2022 are in stark contrast to the 1990s and early 2000s, when central banks were net sellers of gold....

Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics highlights rising costs across the board, and shows that specific sectors are experiencing rapid price increases this year. Where is Inflation Hitting the Hardest? Since 1996, the Federal Reserve has oriented its monetary policy around maintaining 2% inflation annually. For the most part, U.S. inflation over the past couple of decades has typically hovered within a percentage point or two of that target....

Video: A New Vision of the Mining Company of the Future Note: this is the video version of a this previous infographic. In 2012, a diverse group of global leaders met at the KIN Catalyst conference in Brazil. With representation from business, academia, nonprofits and government, the group convened and collaborated to discuss the look of the Mining Company of the Future. Participation in the discussions came from a range of stakeholders....

Every year, the World Economic Forum analyzes the top risks in the world in its Global Risks Report. Risks were identified based on 800+ responses of surveyed leaders across various levels of expertise, organizations, and regional distribution. Which risks are top of mind in 2021? The World’s Top Risks by Likelihood and Impact According to WEF’s risk assessment methodology, all the global risks in 2021 fall into the following broad categories:...