← 19 Jan Wednesday 20 January 2021 · to 23:59 UTC 21 Jan →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
25,977 stories about harm· Trends· Every past day

We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.

How to read these numbers →

Gas explosion in Spain, people affected in Libya and violence in Darfur drew the news. Tunisia's coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's. Language across the world's news ran much softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 58 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostRomania 46 in 100 of its 116 stories, usually 28
RegionCentral Asia 40 in 100 of its stories, usually 36
Tone of the words Much softer than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Displacement

Spain

213 of its 571 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Madrid accounted for 140 of Spain's 213 stories about harm, carried by 226 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (56 stories). Gas explosion was named in 32 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Disasters & accidents

Libya

37 of its 77 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Reports of people affected ran at about 4 times the usual rate (19 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Sudan

35 of its 55 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Darfur accounted for 20 of Sudan's 35 stories about harm, carried by 33 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Rights & justice

Iran

Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (57 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

UK

Flooding was named in 243 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with heavy rain. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

Kabul accounted for 36 of Afghanistan's 67 stories about harm, carried by 62 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

India

Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Road crashes were named in 24 of its stories about harm, about three times usual.

Health

Ghana

157 of its 469 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%.

Also named far more than usual: flooding in UK (243 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); road crashes in India (24 of its stories, about three times its usual).

26 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 28; 27 the day before
31 in 10026 in 10022 Dec29 Dec5 Jan12 Jan20 Jan22 Dec: 27 in 10023 Dec: 27 in 10024 Dec: 27 in 10025 Dec: 28 in 10026 Dec: 30 in 10027 Dec: 31 in 10028 Dec: 29 in 10029 Dec: 29 in 10030 Dec: 29 in 10031 Dec: 29 in 1001 Jan: 28 in 1002 Jan: 29 in 1003 Jan: 30 in 1004 Jan: 27 in 1005 Jan: 27 in 1006 Jan: 27 in 1007 Jan: 28 in 1008 Jan: 29 in 1009 Jan: 31 in 10010 Jan: 31 in 10011 Jan: 27 in 10012 Jan: 27 in 10013 Jan: 27 in 10014 Jan: 27 in 10015 Jan: 27 in 10016 Jan: 29 in 10017 Jan: 29 in 10018 Jan: 27 in 10019 Jan: 27 in 10020 Jan: 26 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 Jan. The big dot is this day; the shaded band is a normal day (the 30 days before it). Click a day to open it. Based on 25,977 stories about harm among 100,594 counted on 20 Jan.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 18 December 2020. Mentions of gas explosion ran more than ten times their usual in Spain's news. A year earlier, on 21 January 2020, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 26 today. Stories about people being harmed made up 26 in every 100 of the day's 100,594 stories, below the usual 28.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Verbier, Switzerland -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bamako, Mali -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baku, Azerbaijan -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Sanaa, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tashkent, Uzbekistan -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Cabo Delgado, Mozambique -- people displaced: 17 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Herat, Afghanistan -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tigray, Ethiopia -- people displaced: 27 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100El Florido, Guatemala -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Prince Edward Island, Canada -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 20 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Jalpaiguri, India -- accidents & disasters: 31 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Yorkshire, UK -- accidents & disasters: 41 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Manchester, UK -- accidents & disasters: 148 stories, carried by 65 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Dayton, US -- protests & strikes: 24 stories, carried by 67 outlets; harsh wording in 79 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 53 stories, carried by 66 outlets; harsh wording in 81 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 36 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Mamuju, Indonesia -- accidents & disasters: 8 stories, carried by 49 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Fort Stewart, US -- accidents & disasters: 24 stories, carried by 80 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Tunis, Tunisia -- protests & strikes: 34 stories, carried by 96 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Madrid, Spain -- people displaced: 140 stories, carried by 226 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Xinjiang, China -- attacks & violence: 142 stories, carried by 336 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100
Attacks & violenceAccidents & disastersPeople displacedDeaths, cause not givenProtests & strikesDisease & outbreaks

The day's biggest events: attacks, accidents and disasters, people displaced, protests, outbreaks. Bigger dot: more stories. Ranked by the share of the day's outlets that reported it and how clearly it was about one thing, the same way for every place and year; the news data does not say who attacked whom, so both sides of a war appear where the news put them. Click a dot for its stories.

The day in three measures

How it felt 30 days →

harshwarm

The words in the day's stories were much softer than usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.

● Angerabout as usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefa little less than usual
● Fearabout as usual

From the words reporters used across the whole day, never one story. Fear is the weakest of the four measures. How?

The weekly briefing · 19 Oct – 25 Oct

The week in human impact

Read the week →

Unlock a year of trends, free. Follow up to 5 countries, with a bell when their news changes, and 👍 vote for Pro — ten years of the archive, any period, daily alerts.

Create a free account

Sign in · a username, an email and a password.

How to read these numbers →

These are counts of stories, not counts of suffering. Most of what happens to people is never reported at all.