The pandemic’s true death toll
Our daily estimate of excess deaths around the world
How many people have died because of the covid-19 pandemic? The answer depends both on the data available, and on how you define “because”. Many people who die while infected with SARS-CoV-2 are never tested for it, and do not enter the official totals. Conversely, some people whose deaths have been attributed to covid-19 had other ailments that might have ended their lives on a similar timeframe anyway. And what about people who died of preventable causes during the pandemic, because hospitals full of covid-19 patients could not treat them? If such cases count, they must be offset by deaths that did not occur but would have in normal times, such as those caused by flu or air pollution.

Searching for the Catholic church’s centre of gravity
How has its influence changed over time?

Tracking Donald Trump’s immigration policy in charts
And why that is increasingly hard to do

Which countries would benefit most from an American brain drain?
Our footloose index ranks the most attractive countries for graduates
What your boss makes of your apology
Does it win you favours or hold you back?
How “bloated” are governments really?
Elon Musk’s DOGE should worry about more than just size
Schooled by Trump, Americans are learning to dislike their allies
Our polling shows that Americans’ and Europeans’ attitudes towards each other are changing quickly