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There are only two cities that have had the distinction of being named the most populous city in the United States. The first city to hold the title was Philadelphia, as the City of Brotherly Love was estimated to be the biggest city in the country at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, by the time of the first U.S. Census in 1790, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia by a few thousand residents – and the Big Apple has stayed the largest in the country ever since....

Since then, instant messaging has revolutionized how we communicate, and today over 2.5 billion people are signed up for at least one messaging app. The present IM experience is seamless, and it intuitively integrates features like video, photos, voice, e-commerce, and gaming with plain-old messaging. However, despite the impressive features of dominant apps like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, and Whatsapp, today’s technology would simply not be possible without the earlier breakthroughs of their more rudimentary predecessors....

Unless you’re a historian or map buff, interpreting a map of the Roman Empire can be a daunting exercise. Place names are unfamiliar and roads meander across the landscape making it difficult to see the connections between specific cities and towns. Today’s visualization, by Sasha Trubetskoy, has mashed-up two enduring obsessions – transit maps and Ancient Rome – to help us understand the connection between Rome and its sprawling empire....

Today’s infographic from Information is Beautiful breaks down the demographics of 23 major tech companies, based on statistics from 2016. It also provides comparisons to the composition of the U.S. population in general, the top 50 U.S. companies, Congress, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Which Companies Employ the Most Women? With just a focus on the major companies on this list, here is a breakdown that shows which companies employ the most women: The above list already illustrates why diversity is such a concern for many observers of the industry: even the companies with the most women on their rosters have proportions lower than U....

Interactive: U.S. Counties by Household Income With over 3,000 counties in the United States, variance is to be expected. Geographically speaking, for example, there a wide spectrum of differences between counties. Some are situated in gorgeous mountain settings, while others may be almost entirely flat. There are urban counties that are major population centers, and others that don’t have a skyscraper within 500 miles of them. Just like with geography, individual counties can also be quite unique when it comes to looking at socioeconomic measurements, such as median household income....

The cornerstones of economic freedom by most measures are personal choice, voluntary exchange, independence to compete in markets, and security of the person and privately-owned property. Simply put, it is about the quality of political and economic institutions in countries. Based on the Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Organization, we mapped the economic freedom of 178 countries worldwide. Measures of Economic Freedom The index uses five broad areas to score economic freedom for each country:...

The map above does just that. For brevity, we’ve excluded regions with a top import value below $1 billion. Top Imports in Asia, by Country Just like the Americas, petroleum is the most popular import in Asia. In fact, it’s the top import in 19 of the 34 countries included on this list, including in China where over $200 billion worth of petroleum was imported in 2018: Vehicles are the second most popular, ranking first in five countries....

Millennials are Buying Their First Homes, and Here’s What They Want Authorities disagree on the exact birth years of the Millennial generation: for example, Pew Research defines Millennials as being born between 1981-1997, the US Census Bureau claims 1982-2000, and the National Association of Realtors says 1980-1995. However, what all these same sources agree upon is that the Millennials are the largest and most powerful demographic force in North America. In the United States specifically, Millennials account for a quarter of the entire population with a total of 83....

Rare earth elements are a group of metals that are critical ingredients for a greener economy, and the location of the reserves for mining are increasingly important and valuable. This infographic features data from the United States Geological Society (USGS) which reveals the countries with the largest known reserves of rare earth elements (REEs). What are Rare Earth Metals? REEs, also called rare earth metals or rare earth oxides, or lanthanides, are a set of 17 silvery-white soft heavy metals....

The New Kid On The Block Tesla will be joining the S&P 500 in December, gaining eligibility for inclusion after posting positive earnings over four consecutive quarters. In Q3’20, the company made $331 million in profits, and delivered 139,300 vehicles. The stock has been on a tear in recent years, and joining the index only furthers the automaker’s momentum – dealing another blow to the increasingly hopeless short sellers along the way....

When you think of the iconic American brands of the 20th century, names like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have to rank pretty highly on any list. Both fizzy beverages became household names nearly 100 years ago and even butted heads in one of the most infamous and long-lasting marketing battles of all-time. In the process, both brands have sold billions of bottles of product, creating powerful foundations for their sprawling beverage empires of today....

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects there will be 11.9 million new jobs created from 2020 to 2030, an overall growth rate of 7.7%. However, some jobs have a growth rate that far exceeds this level. In this graphic, we use BLS data to show the fastest growing jobs—and fastest declining jobs—and how much they each pay. The Top 20 Fastest Growing Jobs We used the dataset that excludes occupations with above average cyclical recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic....

The Largest Hacks and Data Breaches in World History View the awesome interactive version of this infographic at Information is Beautiful. There has always been a fascination with the hacker – it is because the information era gives one person acting alone the capability to breach the security of the biggest corporations, banks, governments, or even celebrities. Movies such as War Games and Hackers brought the hacker to pop culture as far back as 1983, but we haven’t heard too much about hackers and the theft of data in the news until more recently....

For many Americans, the answer to these questions is probably a “no”. Only 22.7% of U.S. high school students are guaranteed to receive a personal finance education. While this is up from 16.4% in 2018, this still represents a small fraction of students. This graphic uses data from Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF) to show the percentage of high school students required to take a personal finance course by state....

That’s more than double the GDP it had when the country first joined the group of emerging economies in 2009 (alongside Brazil, Russia, China and later South Africa), at $1.3 trillion. What are the major industries and companies driving this growth in GDP, and rising alongside it? This time we’re highlighting the top 10 biggest companies in India, the world’s most populous democracy. What Are the Biggest Public Companies in India?...

Given their size and influence, many of these companies are taking climate action quite seriously. For example, 30% of the group have either achieved a climate goal or are publicly committed to doing so by 2030—a significant increase from just 6% in 2016. In this infographic, we’ve used data from Natural Capital Partners to provide a holistic view of when Fortune Global 500 companies plan to meet their stated climate goals....

Though regulations permit specialized knowledge workers from various fields, it is primarily tech jobs that crowd these occupations. For instance, software developers and computer systems engineers/architects collectively cover almost 50% of all roles. Competition Intensifies The H-1B visa is highly competitive. In fiscal 2021, program applications hit 275,000, a 15-year high. The program follows a lottery system where 85,000 applicants are selected at random. Today, that means a given applicant has about a 30% chance of getting in....

For example, one U.S. dollar could buy 10 bottles of beer in 1933. Today, it’s the cost of a small McDonald’s coffee. In other words, the purchasing power of the dollar—its value in terms of what it can buy—has decreased over time as price levels have risen. Tracking the Purchasing Power of the Dollar In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act granted Federal Reserve banks the ability to manage the money supply in order to ensure economic stability....

The following three infographics show: Millionaires by country, millionaires by density (per city), and developing countries with the biggest concentration of millionaires. The United States comes in first place by a wide margin, with 41% of the world’s millionaires. Amazingly, 10,000 of Monaco’s 37,000 residents are millionaires. Monaco is a tiny principality next to the French Riviera that is famous for its beaches. Monaco and Zurich have the two highest concentrations of millionaires per city....

We considered three categories in our quest to quantify power: economics, political, and cultural. And while it turns out Baby Boomers dominate when it comes to economics and political factors—cultural influence is a different story. Here’s a look at which U.S. generation holds the most cultural power, and how this power dynamic is expected to shift in the coming years. Generations and Power, Defined Before we get started, it’s important to clarify which generations we’ve included in our research, along with their age and birth year ranges....