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Using the most recent data on global trade from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, we take a closer look at the value of American goods imports and visualize them state by state. The Top 10 Importing States, by Total Goods Value The top 10 states by import value account for 64.5% of all U.S. imports, or $1.8 trillion. Overall, the goods trade deficit—the amount by which a country’s imports exceed its exports—was more than $1 trillion in 2021, increasing over 18% from the previous year....

Maybe it’s because a struggling company got bought out and taken private, just as Toys “R” Us did in 2005 for $6.6 billion. Otherwise, it’s likely a mention of a major investment (or payout) that a PE firm scored through venture or growth capital. For example, after Airbnb had to postpone its original plans for a 2020 initial public offering (IPO) in light of the pandemic, the company raised more than $1 billion in PE funding to plan for a new listing later this year....

Not only is carrying physical cash more of a rarity, but we are now able to even make contactless payments for many of the products and services we use on the fly. Our financial transactions are starting to be analyzed and optimized by artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, investments and bills are paid online, and even checks can now be deposited through our phones. Who has the time to visit a physical bank these days, anyways?...

But how much debt does each generational household owe? Gen X are the most indebted Americans followed by the Baby Boomers. The breakdown of debt by age group suggests the typical American’s debts grow with adulthood to a certain age, at which point it begins to taper off. Download the Generational Power Report (.pdf) Digging Deeper The types of debt vary in significance for each generation. For instance, the leading source of debt for Gen Z and Millennials are student loans (20%) and credit card bills (25%), respectively....

This sponsored graphic from The LEAF Coalition looks at the total land lost to deforestation since the 1990s and compares it to the total land in the U.S. as a point of reference. The Rise and Fall of Forests Approximately 4% of the world’s forests have been lost since the 1990s. This is equivalent to 177.5 million hectares or 685,000 square miles, and greater than the total land area of 179 countries in the world....

Photosynthesis is quite the catalyst for life, yet it’s easy to overlook this humble chemical process. But what if you could see its results scaled across the globe? The Pulse of Nature Today’s unique cartogram animation comes from geographer Benjamin Hennig at Worldmapper, and it depicts ongoing cycles in the productivity of ecological systems around the world. Created with Yadvinder Malhi from the University of Oxford, the researchers factored the daily net photosynthesis value over an 8-day interval of satellite observations, and extrapolated the trends for a year....

China’s Debt Bomb [Chart] No One Knows if its a Hand Grenade or a Nuclear Explosion The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays. The ramp up in Chinese debt accumulation has been a leading concern of investors for years. The average total debt of emerging market economies is 175% of GDP, and skyrocketing corporate non-financial debt has launched China far beyond that number. The real question is: by how far?...

In the long-standing psychology debate on nature versus nurture, the question is whether it is our genes or our experiences that hold the keys to our future. The short answer to this question, according to many of today’s scientists and psychologists, is that nature and nurture are always working together. In other words, genes do what they do depending on their context, and nature and nurture work to influence each other constantly....

In the wake of countrywide protests surrounding the killing of George Floyd, questions around the militarization of police forces have taken center stage once again. How did so many police departments across the United States end up with bomb-proof trucks and night vision goggles? Where are departments acquiring this equipment, and at what cost? These questions and more are answered by data from the Defense Logistics Agency, which oversees the 1033 Program....

New technologies and enhancing customer experience are key drivers for companies investing in digital transformation, but the most important reason for prioritizing this shift is that it will allow them to leverage entirely new opportunities for growth. However, with the speed of digital transformation accelerating at a furious pace, companies need to quickly adapt their working environment to keep up. This graphic from mCloud unearths the origins of the connected worker, and explores the potential applications of connected devices across industries....

In this motion graphic video, we break down the full story behind Donald Trump’s wealth. Not only do we examine his major business successes and failures, but we even look back at real estate’s prominent role in the history of the Trump family. To conclude, the video breaks down Trump’s net worth and financial history, while highlighting some of the help he has gotten along the way in building his fortune....

Across the nation, coastal urban centers are adding new citizens, while rural counties are seeing their populations decline. Outside of this general trend, fracking has created some rare pockets of growth in rural areas, while coal mine closures have had the opposite effect. Today’s map comes to us from Reddit user jinkinson, and it maps U.S. population change by county from 2010 to 2018, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau....

In the most common career trajectory, earlier years coincide with a lower salary as skills and experience grow. Then, peak earning years are achieved in late adulthood, and eventually retirement comes onto the horizon. Is this typical earnings arc supported by data? Income and Spending, by Age The data visualizations in today’s post come to us from Engaging Data and they use Sankey diagrams to display data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showing differences in how various age groups in America earn and spend their money....

With wild price swings, massive up-cycles, exciting resource discoveries, and extreme weather events all playing into things, there’s usually never a dull day in the sector. That being said, it’s hard to remember a more lackluster period for commodities than in the last couple of years. For commodity bulls, the good news is that the sector is no longer tanking. The bad news, however, is that all the recent action has been in relatively niche sectors, as metals like cobalt, zinc, and lithium all have their day in the sun....

Beyond impacting some of the factors that determine consumer spend—such as consumer confidence, unemployment levels, or the cost of living—the COVID-19 pandemic has also drastically altered how and where consumers choose to spend their hard-earned cash. Today’s graphic pulls data from a global survey by McKinsey & Company that analyzes how consumers are reining in their spending, causing upheaval across every industry imaginable. While some industries are in a better position to weather the impact of this storm, others could struggle to survive....

Media consumption spiked in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak as Americans actively sought information and entertainment while at home. Whether this changed over the course of 2020 remains unclear, however. To dive deeper into the issue, this infographic explores each generation’s shifts in media consumption habits as the pandemic wore on. Further below, we’ll also examine which media sources Americans deemed to be the most trustworthy, and why consumption habits may have changed for good....

Invest your capital in a jurisdiction that doesn’t respect that investment, or in a place with little geological potential, and it’s possible that it will end up going to waste. That’s why, when there’s a place on the map that has world-class geology and also a plan for working with miners and new explorers, the money begins to flow to take advantage of that potential. Why Investors are Looking at the Yukon Today’s infographic comes to us from the Yukon Mining Alliance and it shows nine reasons on why people are investing in Yukon mining and exploration companies today....

Does America View Its Trade Relationships as Fair? The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays. Understandably, most people are not experts on the subject of trade. But while the average person won’t likely be able to guess the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico, perceptions of trade relationships in the public eye are still a crucial indicator. If the majority of Americans think they are getting the short end of the stick on international trade, this sentiment ultimately affects how politicians campaign, how policy decisions are made, and the success of the wider economy....

Four Different Styles Used for Trading Stocks While many investors try to emulate “buy and hold” investors like Warren Buffett, not everyone has the conviction or the patience to wait out positions over years or decades. For active investors in the market, it’s pretty common to see switching in and out of positions – sometimes over the course of months to years, and sometimes on a much more frequent basis....

How 5 Global Brands Use Renewable Energy According to the Renewable Energy Policy Network, about 22.1% of the world’s energy needs are satisfied by renewable energy. Hydro power accounts for most of this (16.4%) and the remainder (5.7%) comes from solar, wind, biomass, and other renewable sources. While many governments are undertaking initiatives to keep the percentage share of renewable energy sources increasing, there are also some large global brands that are helping lead the charge to a greener economy....