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Which Countries Use the Most Electricity?

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Electricity demand reveals how countries power their economies, industries, and daily life. But the countries that use the most electricity overall are not always the biggest users per person.

This visualization compares the world’s 10 largest electricity consumers in 2025 using data from Ember, showing both total electricity demand in terawatt-hours (TWh) and per capita usage in megawatt-hours (MWh).

China dominates global electricity demand by a wide margin, accounting for roughly one-third of worldwide consumption. Meanwhile, Canada and the U.S. lead in electricity use per person, highlighting how climate, housing, and energy-intensive lifestyles shape demand.

China Leads Global Electricity Demand by a Wide Margin

China is by far the world’s largest electricity consumer, reaching 10,573 TWh in 2025. This accounts for roughly one-third of global electricity demand, up sharply from less than 10% in the early 2000s.

China now consumes more electricity than the U.S., India, Russia, and Japan combined.

Rank	Country	Electricity Demand (TWh)
1	China	10,573
2	United States	4,536
3	India	2,083
4	Russia	1,176
5	Japan	1,030
6	Brazil	762
7	Canada	646
8	South Korea	625
9	Germany	520
10	France	477

The surge in Chinese electricity use reflects rapid industrialization, urbanization, and the expansion of manufacturing sectors. As China continues to electrify its economy, its share of global demand is likely to remain dominant.

Canada and the U.S. Use the Most Electricity Per Person

While China leads in total electricity demand, the ranking changes significantly when adjusted for population size.

Rank	Country	Electricity Demand Per Capita (MWh, 2025)
1	Canada	16.1
2	United States	13.1
3	South Korea	12.1
4	Japan	8.4
5	Russia	8.2
6	China	7.5
7	France	7.2
8	Germany	6.2
9	Brazil	3.6
10	India	1.4
--	World	3.9

Canada consumes 16.1 MWh per capita, followed by the U.S. at 13.1 MWh. Factors like larger homes, colder climates, and more energy-intensive lifestyles contribute to elevated consumption.

Electricity Demand Reflects Economic Scale

The world’s largest economies dominate electricity consumption because industrial production, transportation, digital infrastructure, and household energy use all require massive amounts of power.

However, the chart also shows that population size matters. India ranks third globally in total electricity demand, yet remains far below other major economies in per capita consumption.

As countries electrify transportation, manufacturing, heating, and AI infrastructure, global electricity demand is expected to rise significantly in the coming decades.

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Ranked: America’s Most Reliable Companies

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Reliability has become one of the most valuable assets in modern business.

This graphic ranks America’s most reliable companies based on a Newsweek and Statista survey of more than 2,400 corporate decision-makers. Respondents evaluated firms across factors such as dependability, consistency, value, and ease of doing business.

Microsoft ranked first overall, while IBM, Amazon, and Google also placed near the top. Tech companies dominated the list, reflecting how heavily businesses now rely on cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and enterprise software platforms.

One surprising result: Nvidia barely made the top 30 despite its dominance in AI chips and surging market value. The ranking highlights how enterprise reliability can differ from growth, hype, or stock market performance.

Microsoft Takes the Top Spot

Microsoft earned the highest reliability score in the ranking at 91.5. Its products have become deeply integrated into business operations, from Azure cloud infrastructure to Microsoft 365 and AI-powered workplace tools.

This table shows the most reliable B2B companies in the U.S., based on a survey of more than 2,400 corporate decision-makers conducted from April to May 2025:

Rank	Name	Score	Sector
1	Microsoft	91.5	Tech
2	IBM	89.6	Tech
3	Amazon	89.2	Tech
4	Google	88.8	Tech
5	McAfee	88.7	Tech
6	Apple	87.7	Tech
7	Capital One	87.2	Finance
8	AT&T	86.8	Telecom
9	Bank of America	86.7	Finance
10	Oracle	86.7	Tech
11	Toptal	86.5	Tech
12	Adobe	86.4	Tech
13	Salesforce	86.3	Tech
14	Charles Schwab	86.2	Finance
15	Cisco	86.1	Tech
16	Fortinet	85.8	Tech
17	Grainger	85.8	Industrial
18	Dell Technologies	85.6	Tech
19	American Express	85.6	Finance
20	BASF	85.5	Industrial
21	AppleOne Employment Services	85.5	Professional Services
22	CWT	85.4	Professional Services
23	Digital Silk	85.4	Professional Services
24	Boston Consulting Group	85.4	Professional Services
25	JPMorgan Chase	85.2	Finance
26	Sysco	85.1	Other
27	Goodwin	85.0	Professional Services
28	Vistaprint	84.9	Professional Services
29	Staples	84.9	Professional Services
30	Nvidia	84.9	Tech

IBM, Amazon, Google, and McAfee round out the top five. As companies move more operations online, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and enterprise IT services have become mission-critical, making reliability and uptime increasingly important competitive advantages.

Nvidia Barely Made the Top 30

Despite leading the AI boom and becoming one of the world’s most valuable companies, Nvidia ranked 30th for reliability with a score of 84.9.

The ranking highlights a key distinction between market dominance and operational reliability. While Nvidia dominates AI hardware demand, the survey measured factors such as consistency, dependability, ease of doing business, and customer recommendation.

By comparison, many higher-ranked firms have spent decades building reputations for enterprise stability and customer support across large corporate client bases. Nvidia’s inclusion still reflects how rapidly AI infrastructure has become essential to business operations worldwide.

Finance Firms Also Ranked Highly

Financial services firms were the second-most represented sector in the rankings, underscoring how trust and operational stability remain core advantages in banking and payments.

Capital One led the group at seventh place overall with a score of 87.2, followed by Bank of America (#9), Charles Schwab (#14), American Express (#19), and JPMorgan Chase (#25). The results suggest established financial institutions continue to benefit from scale, brand familiarity, and long-standing client relationships.

Why Reliability Matters More Than Ever

As companies become more dependent on cloud computing, cybersecurity, and AI systems, operational reliability is emerging as a major competitive advantage. The rankings suggest businesses increasingly value stability and consistency alongside innovation and growth.

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To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on America’s best places to work, based on employee reviews.

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Mapped: The States Banning Phones in Schools

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Since Florida enacted a statewide classroom phone ban in 2023, restrictions on student phone use have spread rapidly across America.

This map shows which U.S. states now ban phones in classrooms, require districts to limit phone use, or still leave policies entirely up to local schools, based on data from Ballotpedia.

The shift reflects growing concern among educators and lawmakers that smartphones reduce classroom focus, increase cyberbullying, and contribute to declining student mental health.

The Rapid Spread of School Phone Bans

Just two years ago, statewide classroom phone bans were relatively uncommon in the U.S.

Today, most states have enacted some form of restriction, making school phone limits one of the fastest-spreading education policy trends in America.

In total, 31 states have laws that ban phones in classrooms, while another three have imposed classroom-use limits. Recently, Virginia expanded its policy to ban phones from bell to bell, highlighting growing political momentum toward stricter school phone rules.

This table breaks down the states with phone-free classrooms, those with limits during instruction, and the few remaining with no statewide policy. State policies are as of April 6, 2026.

State	Policy Category
Alabama	Ban
Florida	Ban
Georgia	Ban
Hawaii	Ban
Indiana	Ban
Iowa	Ban
Kansas	Ban
Kentucky	Ban
Louisiana	Ban
Maine	Ban
Michigan	Ban
Missouri	Ban
Nebraska	Ban
Nevada	Ban
New Hampshire	Ban
New Jersey	Ban
New York	Ban
North Carolina	Ban
North Dakota	Ban
Ohio	Ban
Oklahoma	Ban
Oregon	Ban
Rhode Island	Ban
South Carolina	Ban
Tennessee	Ban
Texas	Ban
Utah	Ban
Vermont	Ban
Virginia	Ban
West Virginia	Ban
Wisconsin	Ban
Arizona	Classroom Limits
Arkansas	Classroom Limits
California	Classroom Limits
Connecticut	Limits Encouraged
Idaho	Limits Encouraged
Montana	Limits Encouraged
Washington	Limits Encouraged
Delaware	None
Illinois	None
Massachusetts	None
Mississippi	None
Pennsylvania	None
South Dakota	None
Wyoming	None
Alaska	Policy Required by District
Colorado	Policy Required by District
Maryland	Policy Required by District
Minnesota	Policy Required by District
New Mexico	Policy Required by District

While phone bans are most concentrated in the South and Northeast, these policies have emerged as one of the few bipartisan education trends in America.

Only seven states, including Wyoming, Montana, and Massachusetts, have not enacted statewide classroom phone bans. However, Massachusetts lawmakers recently passed legislation requiring school districts to implement phone-use policies. The bill also prohibits social media use for children under 14.

Several other states require school districts to adopt phone-use policies or encourage schools to limit classroom cellphone access, signaling that even many holdout states are moving toward tighter restrictions.

Do School Phone Bans Actually Work?

Early evidence suggests classroom phone bans may improve academic performance, especially among lower-performing students.

Florida student test scores improved by 2-3 percentile points within two years of the ban. Meanwhile, phone bans in Norway and the UK led to stronger performance among lower-achieving high school students. In India, university students subject to classroom phone bans also experienced better academic outcomes.

While these studies suggest potential benefits, student support remains mixed. In 2025, 41% of U.S. teens supported phone bans in classrooms, with significantly lower support for bell-to-bell restrictions.

Ultimately, what began as a single-state experiment has rapidly evolved into a nationwide movement toward phone-free learning, mirroring a broader shift taking place in schools around the world.

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To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the world’s most educated countries.

Nearly 90,000 American troops are stationed across Europe today, with Germany serving as the backbone of U.S. military operations on the continent.

The map below, created by The European Correspondent, shows where U.S. troops are concentrated across Europe using data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance 2024. Additional figures from World Population Review were used to cross-check deployment estimates.

As NATO strengthens its eastern flank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, troop positioning across Europe has taken on renewed geopolitical importance. At the same time, Washington is weighing whether parts of its long-standing European footprint should eventually be reduced.

The European Countries With the Most U.S. Troops

Germany remains the centerpiece of America’s military presence in Europe, supporting command operations, logistics, training, and rapid deployment capabilities across multiple regions.

Rank	Country	Number of U.S. Troops
1	Germany	35,989
2	Italy	12,571
3	United Kingdom	10,071
4	Spain	3,700
5	Turkey	1,717
6	Belgium	1,122
7	Netherlands	420
8	Greece	407
9	Poland	342
10	Portugal	236
11	Romania	149
12	Hungary	88
13	Norway	84
14	France	78
15	Austria	24
15	Bulgaria	24
17	Estonia	23
18	Ukraine	20
19	Finland	19
20	Switzerland	18
21	Denmark	18
22	Sweden	17
22	Slovakia	17
22	Lithuania	17
22	Latvia	17
26	Bosnia and Herzegovina	16
27	Czechia	14
27	Serbia	14
27	North Macedonia	14
30	Croatia	13
30	Moldova	13
32	Ireland	12
32	Malta	12
34	Albania	10
34	Slovenia	10
34	Cyprus	10
37	Luxembourg	8
38	Montenegro	6
39	Iceland	2

Why the U.S. Military Is Concentrated in Certain Countries

American troop deployments across Europe are closely tied to geography, logistics, and alliance commitments.

Germany’s central location makes it a key staging point for operations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The country also hosts extensive U.S. military infrastructure, including major bases, training grounds, and medical facilities.

Italy and Spain provide important naval and air capabilities in the Mediterranean, while the UK remains one of Washington’s closest military partners. Meanwhile, Poland and other Eastern European countries have seen increased deployments in recent years as NATO strengthened its eastern flank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Pentagon Is Reconsidering Troop Levels in Germany

Recent reports suggest the U.S. may begin reducing its troop footprint in Germany as part of a broader review of overseas military deployments.

According to Reuters, U.S. officials are evaluating whether some forces stationed in Germany could be redeployed elsewhere or brought back to the United States.

Any reduction in troop levels would reflect a broader U.S. strategic shift toward the Indo-Pacific, where policymakers increasingly view China as America’s primary long-term military challenge.

Coverage from the BBC and CNN noted that any significant reduction could raise concerns among European allies about NATO readiness and regional deterrence.

Europe’s Security Landscape Is Changing

The future of America’s military footprint in Europe comes at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has reinforced NATO’s importance, leading several European countries to increase defense spending and modernize military capabilities. At the same time, Washington is balancing commitments in Europe with expanding strategic demands in Asia and the Middle East.

For many NATO members, the presence of U.S. troops serves not only as a military asset, but also as a political signal of long-term American commitment to European security.

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The world’s largest social media platforms now rival countries in scale, with several apps serving more than one billion monthly users.

This graphic highlights the world’s most popular social media platforms using 2026 data from Salesforce, which counts the number of monthly active users for each platform.

Facebook remains the world’s biggest social media platform with more than 3.1 billion monthly users, reflecting roughly 40% of the global population.

Meta Controls the World’s Largest Social Platforms

Facebook, created in 2004, is owned by Meta (formerly Facebook Inc.), one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.

Yet Meta’s dominance extends well beyond Facebook, as it also owns runners-up Instagram and WhatsApp (both 3 billion). Meta acquired Instagram for just $1 billion in 2012, and acquired WhatsApp two years later for nearly $20 billion.

The table below lists the 15 most popular social media platforms worldwide alongside their owners and monthly active users.

Rank	Platform	Owner	Label
1	Facebook	Meta	3.1B
2	Instagram	Meta	3B
3	WhatsApp	Meta	3B
4	YouTube	Google	2.5B
5	TikTok	ByteDance	2B
6	WeChat	Tencent	1.4B
7	Messenger	Meta	1B
8	Telegram	Telegram	1B
9	Snapchat	Snap Inc.	900M
10	Reddit	Reddit Inc.	850M
11	Douyin	ByteDance	755M
12	X (Twitter)	X Corp.	650M
13	Pinterest	Pinterest Inc.	578M
14	Threads	Meta	400M
15	LinkedIn	Microsoft	310M

While Facebook is popular with people of all ages, Instagram has become especially popular among young adults and millennials. Meanwhile, WhatsApp has become the world’s most widely used messaging app and is essential for communication in countries like Brazil and India.

Beyond the Big 3, Meta also owns Messenger (1 billion), another popular messaging app integrated with Facebook, as well as Threads (400 million), an Instagram offshoot designed to compete with X and its roughly 650 million users.

China’s Emergence in Social Media

While most of the world’s top social media platforms have historically been American, Chinese companies have rapidly expanded their influence in recent years.

Within China itself, Tencent’s WeChat (1.4 billion) has become the country’s primary digital platform, extending beyond messaging to include payments, shopping, and gaming.

Then there’s ByteDance, which has reshaped the global social media landscape. The company created Douyin (755 million) for the Chinese market and its international counterpart TikTok (2 billion), which has become one of the world’s fastest-growing social platforms.

TikTok’s widespread popularity, especially among younger users, has also triggered regulatory scrutiny and restrictions in countries including India and the United States.

Following growing U.S. restrictions on TikTok, ByteDance agreed to enter a joint venture with American companies in 2025.

Social Media Has Expanded Beyond Networking

When social media first originated in the 2000s, it was designed for young adults to stay connected. Facebook famously wanted to put the entire college experience online. However, since then social media has extended far beyond its initial purpose.

YouTube (2.5 billion) is the largest video-sharing site in the world, while Reddit (850 million) has become a massive online forum for people to congregate around shared interests.

Finally, there’s LinkedIn (310 million). The social networking platform was acquired by Microsoft for over $26 billion in 2016 and is today a central hub for working professionals in various sectors to connect, network, and find or advertise jobs.

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In 2025, the world’s busiest airport was not in Dubai, London, or Tokyo. It was Atlanta.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport handled 106.3 million passengers, making it the only airport in the world to cross the 100 million mark.

This graphic ranks the world’s busiest airports by total passengers boarded and deplaned in 2025, using new data from the Airports Council International. Transit passengers are counted once.

Why Atlanta Still Ranks #1

The Atlanta airport, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026, has been the world’s busiest airport every year since 1998, except for 2020 during pandemic-era travel restrictions.

This table lists the world’s busiest airports by 2025 passenger count.

Rank	Airport	Code	2025 Passenger Count
1	Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta	ATL	106.3M
2	Dubai	DXB	95.2M
3	Tokyo Haneda	HND	91.7M
4	Dallas Fort Worth	DFW	85.7M
5	Shanghai Pudong	PVG	85M
6	Chicago O'Hare	ORD	84.8M
7	London Heathrow	LHR	84.5M
8	Istanbul	IST	84.4M
9	Guangzhou Baiyun	CAN	83.6M
10	Denver	DEN	82.4M

Named after two former mayors, Hartsfield-Jackson serves as the main hub and headquarters for Delta Air Lines, the world’s top airline by both revenue and brand value.

Smaller airlines like Frontier and Southwest also maintain operating bases at the airport. Consequently, more than 1,000 flights depart from Hartsfield-Jackson each day.

The U.S. Big Four Airports

Atlanta is not the only U.S. airport near the top. The U.S. accounts for four of the 10 busiest airports worldwide, more than any other country in the ranking.

Dallas Fort Worth (85.7 million), which anchors two of the country’s largest cities, ranks fourth worldwide in passenger traffic, while Denver’s sprawling airport lands in the 10th position with 82.4 million passengers in 2025.

Sixth-ranked Chicago O’Hare (84.8 million) held the title of world’s busiest airport for a quarter-century before losing it to Atlanta in 1998. It continues to be the airport with the most takeoffs and landings, recording more than 860,000 aircraft movements in 2025.

Eurasia’s Biggest Airports

No African or South American airport cracks the world’s 10 busiest airports, which are instead dominated by East Asian and Middle Eastern hubs like Tokyo Haneda (91.7 million), Shanghai Pudong (85 million), and Istanbul (84.4 million).

London Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport, handling 84.5 million passengers in 2025.

Meanwhile, Dubai (95.2 million) has become the world’s second-busiest airport, while remaining the busiest for international passengers. This reflects the United Arab Emirates’ strategy of positioning Dubai as a global aviation hub connecting Asia, Europe, and the West.

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Mapped: Where the Gender Pay Gap Is Widest

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The gap in median earnings between men and women varies far more across the U.S. than the national average alone suggests.

Nationwide, men working full-time earn about 20% more than women at the median. But the gap ranges from under 10% in New York and Vermont to more than 35% in Louisiana and Utah.

Much of that variation comes down to the types of jobs that dominate each state’s workforce. States with large oil, gas, extraction, and heavy manufacturing sectors tend to show the widest gaps, while states with large public-sector, healthcare, and urban professional workforces generally post smaller ones.

This map uses the latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year 2024 estimates to compare median annual earnings for full-time, year-round workers in every state, adjusted for inflation. This is the latest data available as of May 2026.

What the Pay Gap Actually Measures

The figures compare median annual earnings for men and women working full-time, year-round in each state. The gap reflects differences in industry mix, occupation types, seniority levels, and pay within occupations.

A state with high-paying male-dominated extraction industries alongside lower-paying female-dominated service roles will show a large gap, even if workers in both groups are paid market rates for their specific jobs. That distinction helps explain why the largest gaps cluster in certain regions of the country.

Where Gender Pay Gaps Are Widest in the U.S.

Louisiana leads the country with a 36.7% gap. Median male earnings of $62,340 outpace female earnings of $45,594 by $16,746.

Louisiana’s economy is heavily tied to oil, gas, petrochemicals, and offshore drilling, industries dominated by high-paying male workers. Meanwhile, many women working full-time in the state are concentrated in lower-paying healthcare, education, and service roles.

The data table below shows the gender pay gap between men and women working full-time in every U.S. state:

State	Pay gap (%)	Pay gap ($)	Median full-time salary (men)	Median full-time salary (women)
Louisiana	36.7%	$16,746	$62,340	$45,594
Utah	35.9%	$18,740	$70,917	$52,177
Idaho	32.2%	$16,147	$66,255	$50,108
West Virginia	31.2%	$14,392	$60,488	$46,096
Alabama	30.4%	$14,301	$61,286	$46,985
North Dakota	27.1%	$14,013	$65,646	$51,633
Michigan	26.2%	$13,739	$66,132	$52,393
Ohio	26.1%	$13,524	$65,375	$51,851
Wyoming	24.6%	$12,317	$62,469	$50,152
Iowa	23.9%	$12,227	$63,372	$51,145
Oklahoma	23.8%	$10,923	$56,776	$45,853
Georgia	23.7%	$12,313	$64,177	$51,864
Wisconsin	23.5%	$12,518	$65,829	$53,311
Mississippi	22.7%	$9,914	$53,553	$43,639
New Hampshire	22.7%	$13,955	$75,397	$61,442
Arkansas	22.4%	$10,097	$55,242	$45,145
Indiana	22.0%	$11,257	$62,312	$51,055
Texas	21.7%	$11,148	$62,467	$51,319
New Jersey	21.6%	$14,374	$80,925	$66,551
Missouri	21.6%	$10,927	$61,542	$50,615
Washington	21.6%	$14,534	$81,895	$67,361
Kansas	21.5%	$10,962	$62,003	$51,041
Pennsylvania	21.4%	$11,939	$67,699	$55,760
South Carolina	21.1%	$10,615	$60,917	$50,302
Montana	20.9%	$10,589	$61,245	$50,656
South Dakota	20.8%	$10,558	$61,219	$50,661
Virginia	20.8%	$12,721	$73,833	$61,112
Nevada	20.7%	$10,426	$60,753	$50,327
Tennessee	20.6%	$10,388	$60,714	$50,326
Connecticut	20.6%	$13,605	$79,701	$66,096
Nebraska	20.3%	$10,452	$61,827	$51,375
New Mexico	20.1%	$10,070	$60,234	$50,164
Kentucky	20.1%	$9,888	$59,165	$49,277
Illinois	20.0%	$11,893	$71,395	$59,502
North Carolina	19.6%	$10,159	$61,870	$51,711
Florida	19.1%	$9,638	$60,201	$50,563
Arizona	18.7%	$9,969	$63,294	$53,325
Minnesota	17.9%	$10,913	$71,931	$61,018
Colorado	17.8%	$11,668	$77,210	$65,542
Alaska	17.7%	$10,798	$71,716	$60,918
Rhode Island	17.7%	$10,883	$72,391	$61,508
Oregon	16.7%	$10,095	$70,638	$60,543
Maine	15.5%	$8,712	$65,053	$56,341
Delaware	14.0%	$7,985	$65,194	$57,209
District of Columbia	13.9%	$13,661	$111,603	$97,942
Hawaii	13.8%	$7,608	$62,799	$55,191
Massachusetts	13.5%	$9,784	$82,255	$72,471
California	13.2%	$8,390	$72,043	$63,653
Maryland	11.7%	$8,317	$79,125	$70,808
Vermont	9.9%	$6,048	$67,054	$61,006
New York	9.5%	$6,228	$72,097	$65,869

Utah comes in second at 35.9%, with the largest dollar gap in the dataset at $18,740. Utah’s tech and finance sectors remain male-skewed at senior levels, while women working full-time disproportionately fill clerical, healthcare-support, and retail roles that have not kept pace with the state’s broader wage growth.

Idaho (32.2%), West Virginia (31.2%), and Alabama (30.4%) round out the top five. All share a similar pattern: sizable extraction, industrial, or manufacturing sectors alongside female workforces concentrated in lower-paying healthcare, education, and service jobs.

Coastal States Have the Narrowest Pay Gaps

At the other end of the spectrum, New York’s 9.5% gap is the smallest in the country, followed by Vermont at 9.9%. Maryland (11.7%), California (13.2%), Massachusetts (13.5%), and Hawaii (13.8%) also sit below 14%.

These states share several structural traits, including high female college attainment, large public-sector and healthcare workforces, robust urban service economies, and relatively limited extraction or heavy industry employment.

Washington, D.C. (13.9%) follows a similar pattern while also posting the highest absolute earnings in the dataset. Full-time men there earn a median of $111,603 annually, compared with $97,942 for women.

The map shows that gender pay gaps across America are shaped less by geography itself and more by the industries that dominate each state’s workforce.

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If you enjoyed today’s post, check out this map showing where Americans keep the most income after taxes and living expenses on Voronoi.

Ranked: The Animals That Kill the Most Humans

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Most people fear sharks, lions, or wolves. But the animals responsible for the most human deaths are far smaller and far more common.

Using data from Our World in Data, this visualization ranks the world’s deadliest animals by estimated annual human deaths, revealing that small disease-carrying creatures kill far more people than large predators.

The Deadliest Animals by Human Deaths

Mosquitoes are responsible for an estimated 760,000 deaths each year by spreading diseases such as malaria, dengue, and yellow fever.

According to the World Health Organization, malaria alone caused roughly 600,000 deaths in 2022, with the heaviest burden falling on African countries including Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rank	Animal	Estimated Human Deaths per Year	Primary Mechanism
1	Mosquitoes	760,000	Disease (malaria, dengue, yellow fever)
2	Humans	600,000	Homicide
3	Snakes	100,000	Venomous bites
4	Dogs	40,000	Rabies
5	Freshwater snails	14,000	Schistosomiasis
6	Kissing bugs	8,000	Chagas disease
7	Sandflies	5,000	Leishmaniasis
8	Roundworms	4,000	Ascariasis
9	Scorpions	3,000	Venomous stings
10	Tapeworms	2,000	Cysticercosis

Human-caused deaths come in second, driven by hundreds of thousands of homicides each year. Far behind, snakes cause an estimated 100,000 deaths annually from species like the king cobra to Australia’s tiger snake.

Even dogs, among the most familiar animals, are linked to around 40,000 deaths annually due to rabies, a largely preventable disease that persists in regions with limited access to vaccines.

Freshwater snails, sandflies, and kissing bugs also spread deadly diseases, disproportionately affecting lower-income regions with limited healthcare access. These organisms transmit illnesses like schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease, which are often preventable or treatable but still remain deadly without adequate medicine.

Diseases Drive the Deadliest Threats

Contrary to popular perception, larger animals are far less deadly than smaller ones. Even dangerous creatures like scorpions and snakes are overshadowed by pathogens carried by insects and parasites.

The ranking highlights a counterintuitive reality: humanity’s deadliest animals are rarely large predators. Instead, the biggest threats are species that spread infectious disease, especially in regions with limited healthcare access and mosquito control infrastructure.

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To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the leading causes of death in America.

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Spotify has reshaped how the world listens to music, but only a small group of songs have reached the platform’s highest streaming tier.

This graphic ranks the 20 most-streamed songs in Spotify history, based on official total stream counts as of the end of April 2026.

At the top is The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” the only song to surpass five billion streams. Further down the list, older hits like Coldplay’s “Yellow” show how catalog tracks can continue finding new audiences decades after release.

The Toronto King of Spotify

Only one song has ever been streamed more than five billion times on Spotify: “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd. Released in late 2019 before surging in popularity throughout 2020, the track has become the platform’s clear all-time leader.

Channeling 1980s-inspired synthpop production and a retro Las Vegas theme in its music video, “Blinding Lights” has amassed over 5.4 billion streams in just over six years since its release. It’s also the best-performing song in Billboard chart history.

The data table below highlights the top-20 most-streamed songs in Spotify history as of April 2026.

Rank	Song	Streams (#)	Year	Artist
1	Blinding Lights	5.38B	2019	The Weeknd
2	Shape of You	4.88B	2017	Ed Sheeran
3	Sweater Weather	4.55B	2013	The Neighbourhood
4	Starboy	4.49B	2016	The Weeknd, Daft Punk
5	As It Was	4.37B	2022	Harry Styles
6	Someone You Loved	4.23B	2019	Lewis Capaldi
7	Sunflower	4.21B	2018	Post Malone, Swae Lee
8	One Dance	4.18B	2016	Drake, Wizkid, Kyla
9	Perfect	3.93B	2017	Ed Sheeran
10	STAY	3.88B	2021	The Kid LAROI, Justin Bieber
11	Believer	3.82B	2017	Imagine Dragons
12	I Wanna Be Yours	3.74B	2013	Arctic Monkeys
13	Heat Waves	3.73B	2020	Glass Animals
14	lovely	3.72B	2018	Billie Eilish, Khalid
15	Yellow	3.71B	2000	Coldplay
16	The Night We Met	3.71B	2015	Lord Huron
17	Closer	3.69B	2016	The Chainsmokers, Halsey
18	BIRDS OF A FEATHER	3.66B	2024	Billie Eilish
19	Riptide	3.62B	2013	Vance Joy
20	Die With A Smile	3.62B	2024	Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars

“Blinding Lights” is not even The Weeknd’s only entry in the top-20 ranking.

“Starboy,” the title track from his third studio album, has been streamed over 4.5 billion times on Spotify, making it the fourth-most streamed song in the platform’s history. The song was a collaboration with famed French electronic music duo Daft Punk.

Anglophone Dominance

Daft Punk is the only representation from a non-Anglophone country among Spotify’s most-streamed songs.

All other songs on the list come from artists in English-speaking countries like Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Anglophone artists have long benefited from the global popularity of English-language music, even among non-English-speaking audiences.

That advantage has continued in the streaming era, though artists outside the U.S. and UK have still achieved global success. Examples include Vance Joy’s “Riptide” (3.6 billion), Drake’s “One Dance” (4.2 billion), and The Kid LAROI’s “STAY” (3.9 billion).

Spotify’s Top Songs By Decade

“Yellow” by Coldplay is the only song from the 2000s to make this list, underscoring the staying power of the British band’s early hit.

Nearly three-quarters of Spotify’s most-streamed songs were released in the 2010s, when streaming became the dominant form of music consumption. This includes the top four songs on the list.

The 2020s have already produced five songs on this list, with Harry Styles’ “As It Was” becoming the most successful (4.44 billion). Meanwhile, “Die With A Smile” (3.6 billion), the 2024 collaboration between Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, is the most recent song to reach this upper echelon of streaming success.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To see what artists earned from these songs, check out What Artists Earn For Music Streams on Voronoi.Use This Visualization