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NumberReels

Topic

Everyday data

The statistics that affect daily life are usually reported as a single national average, which is the least useful form they could take. An average rent is a number almost nobody pays; an average commute describes a journey almost nobody makes.

These clips show the distribution instead of the summary — what the spread looks like, where you sit in it, and how much of the headline figure is driven by the tail.

reels
2
minutes to watch them all
1

Every clip here states its source and the period it covers, and carries the underlying numbers on its page as a table you can copy.

In this topic

What it covers

  1. 1Why the average salary is well above what most people earn
  2. 2How inflation figures are built, and why your basket is not the official one
  3. 3What the spread of rents, commutes and sleep hours actually looks like
  4. 4Where a typical household's money goes once housing is taken out
  5. 5How to place yourself in a distribution rather than against its mean

2 reels on everyday data

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