Welcome

World Development Indicators (2022)
An overview of global economic and social trends

GDP per Capita

Overview - Large differences across countries
- High skewness toward wealthy nations
- Commonly analyzed on a log scale

Observation: Income distribution is highly skewed — most countries earn below $20,000 per capita, while a few advanced economies pull the upper tail.

Life Expectancy and Income

• Strong positive relationship between income and health
• Diminishing returns at high income levels

Observation: We see a clear positive relationship, but life expectancy increases at a slower rate among wealthier nations.

Inflation and Growth

• Weak negative correlation between inflation and growth
• High outliers cause instability

Observation: Cross-sectional data shows no strong link between inflation and growth — temporal or panel data would provide better insights.

Conclusion

Key Takeaways

• Income disparities remain vast across nations.

• Life expectancy rises with income, but plateaus at the top.

• Inflation-growth relationships are weak cross-sectionally.

Thank you!

WDI 2022 Analysis — Jinhao Tian