Interactive Visualizations

Figure 1 — World Carbon Dioxide emissions per capita over time

Figure 1

Figure 1: World choropleth of Carbon Dioxide emissions per capita (metric tons), 1990–2023. Press the play button or drag the year slider below the map to animate through years; hover any country to see its exact value. Grey countries have no value reported for that year.

Summary Across the 34-year window, the high-emitter band shifts visibly. In 1990 the United States, Australia, Russia, and the oil-rich Gulf states dominate the deep-red end (more than 15 metric tons per capita), while most of Asia and Africa sit below 2 metric tons percapita. By the late 2010s Western European nations have lightened as their carbon dioxide emissions per capita declined, China has darkened from yellow to orange, and the Gulf states remain at the top of the scale. The 2020 frame visibly lightens worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic and bounces back partially in 2022–2023.

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Figure 2 — Distribution of Carbon Dioxide emissions per capita by decade

Figure 2

Figure 2: Overlaid probability-density histograms of country-year Carbon Dioxide emissions per capita, one colour per decade. Bars are normalised so each decade integrates to 1, making the four shapes directly comparable despite the 2020s having only four years of data. Click a decade in the legend to toggle it; double-click to isolate.

Summary All four decades share the same long right tail driven by a handful of petro-states (more than 15 metric tons per capita). The bulk of the distribution does shift, however, the 1990s mass is concentrated tightly near 0 to 2 metric tons per capita, while the 2010s mode is noticeably broader and slightly right-shifted. The 2020s curve again leans toward the low end, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but its mid-range density (4–8 metric tons per capita) is also higher than the 1990s, showing that the long-run shift toward higher emissions in middle-income countries has only partially reversed.

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Figure 3 — Carbon Dioxide emissions per capita vs. GDP per capita, by continent

Figure 3

Figure 3: Country-level scatterplot of Carbon Dioxide emissions per capita against GDP per capita (log x-axis), coloured by continent, with one OLS trendline fitted per continent in each year. Drag the year slider to watch how the GDP-to-emissions relationship evolves between 1990 and 2023; hover any point for the country name and exact values. A small number of extreme petro-state outliers above 25 metric tons per capita are excluded so the bulk of the relationship is readable.

Summary Across all years and continents the relationship is clearly positive — richer countries emit more carbon dioxide per capita, and the log-x axis makes the slope roughly linear. Europe’s slope visibly flattens after the early 2000s, evidence of the partial decoupling of growth from emissions through renewable adoption. Asia’s slope stays steep throughout, consistent with the rapid industrialisation of China, India, and South-East Asia pushing the dots cloub up and to the right over the slider. Africa sits to the lower-left with the lowest intercept and a flat slope (limited industrial base even at higher GDP), while Oceania’s small sample is dominated by Australia and New Zealand at the high end.