Mission: To inform people around the world about population, health, and the environment and empower them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations.

Background: Every year, the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) provides the latest demographic data on more than two hundred countries, including indicators on the status of women in key areas such as education, employment, and government. In the Web presentation of its most recent report, the 2015 World Population Data Sheet, PRB focused on a special set of indicators and analytical graphics aimed at assessing the state of women’s empowerment globally. It also upgraded the presentation’s user interface with innovative data visualizations designed to provide mobile visitors to the site with easy access to key data points for all the countries and regions included in survey. Key takeaways from the year’s analysis include the fact that, globally, women’s life expectancy in 2015 averaged 73 years, compared to 69 for men; that maternal deaths averaged 136 per 100,000 births in 2013 (the latest year for which data is available), down from 269 in 1990; and that, in the least developed countries, 66 females are enrolled in tertiary education for every 100 males enrolled (the ratio of female to male enrollees in more developed countries is 125 to 100).

Outstanding Web Features: PRB’s Web presentation of its most recent data sheet highlights the progress women are making globally toward full equality with men in a series of interactive charts and graphics. A dashboard with a clever toggle feature, for example, displays 2015 country population data next to 2050 population projections for the same countries, while the site’s data gallery provides additional perspectives on women’s empowerment through a variety of lenses, including early marriage trends, use of contraceptives, financial inclusion, and household decision-making. Visitors to the site are also invited to dive deeper into the theme of women’s empowerment in the key areas of education, employment, and government; check out an interactive map that highlights key demographic variables by country and region; and/or watch a video that further develops the narrative around the women’s empowerment theme. There’s also a lesson plan for teachers that can be sourced with data located in PRB’s DataFinder database.