NUMBERS
More deaths, less freedom
Researchers see the world differently from the rest of the population, and Nobel laureates are making their discoveries ever later in life. We look at some figures from the world of science.
Illustration: Bodara
37
percent of the world’s population experienced a decline in academic freedom between 2011 and 2022. The Academic Freedom Index fell most sharply in Brazil, Hong Kong, India and Turkey. It rose most in Gambia and Uzbekistan.
15,500
more people died in Switzerland in 2021 and 2022 than the long-term average, according to a study published in The Lancet. That is almost 30 percent more than reported in the official Covid-19 figures.
88
percent of researchers in the USA trust genetically modified crops compared to just 37 percent of the rest of the population, according to findings of the Pew Research Centre. When it comes to belief in man-made climate change, the difference between researchers and the general public is still a huge 37 percentage points.
43.8
years was the average age of Nobel laureates in the natural sciences who made their research breakthroughs in the year 2013. At the earliest such breakthroughs in 1871, the average age was only 33.6 years. It has risen steadily since then, according to a study published in Scientometrics.
