Overlooked Data You May Have Missed in 2018 – Mozenda

Overlooked Data You May Have Missed in 2018

January 01, 2019

Data

The vast majority of data collected every year rarely secures an audience beyond the community of researchers, analysts, policymakers, academics and statisticians responsible for gathering it, or those particularly interested in its significance. It’s a bit of a shame really because there is a ton of data analysis that would otherwise interest those in the “disinterested” category, aka the people falling into the “That’s interesting; I had no idea…” category.

We decided to look at some interesting statistics and notable data, overlooked data you may have missed, that were released or published in 2018. These stats typically appeared and disappeared in anonymity, often failing to penetrate the mass media bubble, and hardly registering in the public consciousness. To correct this injustice, we decided to focus some light on data we found interesting. In many cases, the stats or conclusions are based on the exact kind of freely available web data you can collect from the planet’s largest database (The Internet) using Mozenda. Here’s what caught our attention in 2018:

Technology

Datapoint: Facebook stock drops 19% or $120B on July 26
Source: Cnet
Date: July 2018

Background: The privacy scandals came thick and fast for Facebook during 2018, continuing well into December for the social media giant. The now-infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal was just one of many that coalesced into the worst one-day stock market plunge in history for a single company. On July 25, Facebook announced that daily active user counts had fallen in Europe, and growth had flattened in the US and Canada. On July 26, investors unfriended the stock, vaporizing almost ⅕ of the company’s market capitalization. For a “How was your day?”perspective, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal one-day loss of $15.9 billion exceeded the individual market caps of Molson Coors Brewing Co., Nasdaq Inc., and Ralph Lauren Corp.

 

Economics

Data: The number of unfilled jobs exceeds the number of unemployed Americans by 902,000.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Date: October 2018

Background: Unemployment in America isn’t what it used to be. Thanks to years of growth and entrepreneurial dreams, there are a lot of companies looking for their next employee. In October, the Labor Department announced that there were 7.136 million job openings at the end of August, a figure that exceeded the number of Americans actively seeking work by 902,000. It’s the largest difference on record, good news for the unemployed, but not so good for employers struggling to find workers.

Law Enforcement

Data: There are approx. 2.0 police officers for every 1,000 people in the US.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation  
Date: December 2018
Background: When you think about it, the police officer-to-population ratio isn’t very high for a country with over 320 million inhabitants and 16,655 law enforcement agencies (participants in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program). And with male officers outnumbering female officers 7 to 1, it’s also overwhelmingly masculine.

Mortality & Collusion

Data: 40% of Russian men do not reach age 66
Source: World Health Organization
Date; June 2018

Background: As its citizens were focussing on the FIFA World Cup last summer, the Russian government quietly announced that the national retirement age would rise from 60 to 65 by 2028. (Some who did pay attention were not happy). The new policy also included a rise in the retirement age for women from 55 to 63 by 2034. What does this mean? Well, the World Health Organisation and World Bank both estimate life expectancy for a Russian man as 66. If the policy becomes law and mortality rates don’t improve, 40% of Russian men and 20% of Russian women won’t live long enough to collect their state pension.

Government

Data: Everything you could want to know about living and working in New York and New York City
Source: New York State and New York City

Background: New York—the state and the city—have gone into data access and transparency in a big way. The state website provides access to 1,600 New York State data resources on topics ranging from farmers’ markets and solar projects to public transit usage. New York City’s initiative, Open Data for All New Yorkers, lets viewers dive into a ton of datasets on a ton of topics across broad categories such as business, city government, education, environment, and health. If you’re even a little obsessive compulsive, you can lose yourself for hours in NYC datasets such as Times Square Signage, Filming Locations, and Waiting List for General Vendor Licenses.

Population

Datapoint: The world’s population will reach 9.9 billion by 2050
Source: Population Reference Bureau
Date: August 2018

Background: If you worry about things like resource scarcity, prb.org is not a website you’ll want to frequent. It’s the online presence of the non-profit Population Reference Bureau (PRB) publisher of the World Population Data Sheet. The 2018 edition, which includes demographic and health data from 200 countries, estimated that global population will rise by 2.3 billion by mid-century. That’s a 29 percent increase from our current population. It’s more people to feed, clothe and house, 

and watch pet videos on YouTube (or its successor) with.

Agriculture

Data: Avocados are now the most valuable fruit import in the USA, representing 15% of the 2017 overall market total which was estimated at US$18.1 billion.  
Source: New York Times
Date: February 2018

Background: Not quite in the “Who da thunk it?” category but the “Avocados Overtake Bananas” headlines that appeared in food industry media in February could be linked to a number of culinary and socio-economic trends, including the rising popularity of guacamole and cross-cultural interest in Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The Mexican food category, already well established in the 1980s, has matured way beyond a trend, showing the power and effects of marketing, messaging and immigration. Interestingly, The Super Bowl is the apex of avocado consumption.

Music

Data: With over 1.6 billion streams, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the most streamed song recorded in the 20th-century over services/apps like Pandora & Spotify & Apple Music
Source: Variety
Date: December 2018

Background: With more than two billion, Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” is the most streamed song. But he’s new school, isn’t he? How about something a little older, perhaps released in the 1970s? Universal Music Group announced that Queen’s iconic single had become the most streamed 20th-century music recording across all services, smoothly coinciding with the movie’s pre-award season hype. Is the hype real? Yes, the movie was great and Rami Malek was a deserving Golden Globe winner for so effortlessly channeling Freddie Mercury in white jeans. Galileo, figaro indeed!

Whether it’s collecting, wrangling, analyzing or communicating conclusions, we’re all about data here at Mozenda. Enjoy these examples. Did we miss any underappreciated data reveals in 2018? Let us know.

Free proof of concept

Author: Nigel Ravenhill @nigelravenhill

Need more information?

We'd love to hear from you.

100% Privacy. You are that important to us. Privacy Policy