What a yr 2022 has been. There was so … a lot … information. We noticed record-high inflation, battle in Ukraine, a landmark Supreme Court docket session, persevering with results of the pandemic, the Winter Olympics, the demise of Queen Elizabeth II, the World Cup and, after all, the midterms. In typical FiveThirtyEight style, we’ve been reflecting on 2022 the way in which we do greatest: by way of numbers. Right here, seven of our reporters share a few of the most essential stats of the yr, highlighting massive political choices, emotions of the citizens and hints at what’s to come back in 2023.
Poverty
In September, the U.S. Census Bureau launched its annual supplemental poverty charge for the earlier yr. That’s the poverty charge after accounting for the impression of key authorities packages focused at low-income households, amongst different issues. For reporter and editor Santul Nerkar, the defining variety of the yr was 7.8 p.c, the supplemental poverty charge for 2021 and lowest charge on file. It was the primary concrete measure of how COVID-19 stimulus cash affected poverty in America.
US poverty charge hit a file low — however don’t anticipate it to remain that approach
Abortion
In June, the Supreme Court docket launched its resolution in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group, overturning Roe v. Wade because the legislation of the land. In brief order, many states enacted abortion bans, together with complete bans with out exceptions for rape or incest. For senior author Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, the defining variety of the yr was 10,000 — that’s what number of fewer authorized abortions there have been in simply the primary two months after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The quantity that captures the impression of the Dobbs resolution | FiveThirtyEight
Ceaselessly chemical compounds
Per- and polyfluorinated chemical compounds, or PFAS, are utilized in all kinds of family merchandise, from nonstick pans to dental floss. These pervasive chemical compounds are harmful to human well being, and the federal government and trade are lastly beginning to crack down on them. That brings us to senior science reporter Maggie Koerth’s numbers of the yr: 4, the variety of PFAS the Environmental Safety Company launched new tips for, and 4,700, the tough variety of totally different PFAS chemical compounds on the market.
The EPA is lastly addressing 4 harmful ‘without end chemical compounds’ — out of over 4,000
Election deniers
Denying the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election was the cornerstone of many Republican campaigns this election cycle. Election denial is hardly a brand new factor, but it surely reached unprecedented ranges within the 2022 midterms. That’s why 47 is the defining variety of the yr for politics and tech reporter Kaleigh Rogers. It’s the share of Republican candidates who ran for Home, Senate, governor, secretary of state and legal professional normal this yr and didn’t settle for the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Variety of election-denying Republicans outlined the 2022 midterms | FiveThirtyEight
Inflation
Heading into the midterm elections, People informed pollsters that one situation was their high precedence: the financial system and inflation. For senior author Monica Potts, the 9.1 p.c inflation charge in June topped her listing of most essential stats of the yr. Right here she explores the methods — massive and small — that historic ranges of inflation affected American lives in 2022.
How inflation’s 41-year excessive impacted American life | FiveThirtyEight
The Republican margin within the Home
The outcomes of the 2022 election had been worse for Republicans than one would possibly anticipate, on condition that the president’s get together often loses floor within the midterms. Within the U.S. Home, Republicans gained a majority however solely a slim one. They received by solely 9 seats, which for editor Maya Sweedler is among the most essential numbers of the yr. What Republicans will — and received’t — have the ability to do with that majority will outline American politics for at the least the following two years.
The quantity that can form Republicans’ politics in 2023 | FiveThirtyEight
Democratic trifectas
With Congress divided between Democrats and Republicans after the 2022 midterms, a few of the most essential political shifts of the following few years could possibly be coming on the state degree. These new insurance policies would possibly lean liberal as a result of, for the primary time in 12 years, extra People will stay in states completely managed by Democrats than by Republicans. That’s why senior elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich picked 140 million as his defining stat of the yr. It’s the variety of People who will quickly be dwelling in a state the place Democrats could have complete management over state authorities.
140 million People will stay in states managed by Democrats | FiveThirtyEight
Thanks for watching, studying and listening to FiveThirtyEight this yr. We’ll see you in 2023!