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2026-04-24 00:48:35

Ranked: AI Models U.S. Businesses Pay For

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Anthropic is rapidly closing the gap with OpenAI in the race for paid AI adoption among U.S. businesses.

As of March 2026, 35% of companies pay for OpenAI’s models, compared to 30% for Anthropic—a sharp shift from early 2025, when the gap was nearly three times wider. The change highlights how quickly enterprise demand is consolidating around a small number of AI providers.

This chart, a part of Visual Capitalist’s AI Week sponsored by Terzo, uses anonymized spend data from over 50,000 U.S. businesses on the Ramp platform, capturing only paid subscriptions and excluding free-tier usage.

OpenAI Leads, But Anthropic Is Closing In Fast

OpenAI remains the most widely paid-for AI provider among U.S. businesses, reaching 35.2% of companies in March 2026. Anthropic sits just behind at 30.6%—a gap of only 4.5 percentage points.

The data table below shows the share of U.S. businesses paying for AI models from different providers from January 2023 to March of 2026:

That gap looked very different a year ago. In January 2025, OpenAI was used by 16.8% of U.S. businesses while Anthropic sat at 4.1%, a spread of nearly 13 points. Anthropic has since grown more than sevenfold in 14 months, while OpenAI roughly doubled over the same period.

The remaining providers remain distant in paid business adoption. Google’s AI products—spanning Gemini, Vertex AI, and Workspace add-ons—have hovered between 3% and 4.5% of U.S. businesses for most of the past three years, barely moving despite heavy investment.

xAI has climbed from effectively zero in early 2024 to 1.9% in March 2026, a meaningful but still small footprint.

Claude Code and Cowork Drove the Anthropic Surge

Anthropic’s rapid rise in business adoption tracks its push into enterprise developer and knowledge-work tools.

Claude Code, the company’s coding assistant, and Cowork, its workflow collaboration platform, were both scaled aggressively across late 2025 and 2026—the period that coincides with the steepest part of Anthropic’s curve.

The pattern suggests that enterprise-native tooling, rather than general chatbot access, is now the key driver of paid seat growth. OpenAI has responded with its own developer coding tool, Codex, but Anthropic’s focus on developer workflows has clearly found traction in corporate procurement.

While Codex launched months after Claude Code, it has rapidly gained adoption among developers and knowledge workers, reaching four million active users as of April 21, 2026.

2026-04-23 23:21:44

These Countries Hold Most of the World’s Copper

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Copper is one of the world’s most critical metals, powering everything from construction to electric vehicles and renewable energy systems. As demand rises, where this resource is located is becoming increasingly important.

This visualization shows global copper reserves by country using data from the U.S. Geological Survey (2026), highlighting which nations hold the largest known deposits and how concentrated supply really is.

Demand for copper is expected to surge in the coming decades, driven by electrification, AI infrastructure, and the expansion of power grids. This makes the geographic distribution of reserves more strategically important than ever.

Chile Dominates Global Copper Reserves

Chile dominates global copper reserves with 180 million tonnes—nearly double Australia, the next largest holder, giving it unmatched influence over global copper supply at a time when demand is rapidly rising.

Rank	Country	Reserves (Mt)
1	Chile	180
2	Australia	100
3	Peru	85
4	Congo (DRC)	80
5	Russia	80
6	Mexico	53
7	United States	47
8	China	41
9	Poland	33
10	Indonesia	21
11	Zambia	21
12	Kazakhstan	20
13	Canada	7
14	India	2
--	Other countries	210
--	World total (rounded)	980

Chile’s reserves account for about 18% of the global total, reinforcing its position as the world’s top producer.

These vast deposits, particularly in the Atacama Desert, have made Chile central to global copper supply chains. Australia and Peru also have significant reserves, but are in a distinct second tier behind Chile.

Reserves Are Concentrated in a Few Regions

Copper reserves are highly concentrated: the top five countries—Chile, Australia, Peru, the DRC, and Russia—hold more than half of the world’s known supply.

Australia holds about 100 million tonnes, while Peru, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Russia each have between 80–85 million tonnes. Latin America and resource-rich regions in Africa and Eurasia dominate the list.

How Reserves Compare to Historical Production

Humanity has mined over 700 million tonnes of copper throughout history, yet nearly 1 billion tonnes remain in known reserves. This highlights both the scale of remaining resources and the challenge of extracting them economically.

However, much of this remaining copper is harder and more expensive to extract. As demand accelerates, especially from electrification and energy systems, the gap between supply and future needs could become a defining challenge for the global economy.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Visualizing the Growth of Chinese Copper Miners on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

2026-04-23 21:36:05

Ranked: The Companies That Sell the Most AI Chips

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Nvidia’s grip on the AI boom remains overwhelming.

In Q4 2025, the company shipped nearly two-thirds of all measured AI compute capacity—more than its closest competitors combined. While Google, Amazon, and others are scaling up their own chips, the gap between first and second place remains striking.

This visualization, part of Visual Capitalist’s AI Week sponsored by Terzo, ranks the world’s largest AI chip designers using data from Epoch AI’s Chip Sales database, which estimates compute capacity across leading architectures.

The Biggest AI Chip Sellers

Even as more companies entered the AI chip market, one still towered over the rest in Q4 2025: Nvidia.

To make different chips comparable, the data is converted into “H100 equivalents”—a standardized measure based on Nvidia’s flagship AI GPU.

Nvidia didn’t just lead—it dominated. Its 2.96 million H100-equivalent shipments in Q4 2025 exceeded the combined total of every other company in this ranking.

AMD (226k) and Amazon (221k) formed a much smaller second tier, followed by Huawei (132k). Together, the rankings show that while the market is broadening, AI compute shipments remain highly concentrated at the top.

As demand for AI infrastructure accelerates, the key question is whether competitors can meaningfully close this gap or whether Nvidia’s early lead will translate into long-term dominance of the AI stack.

What H100 Equivalent Compute Measures

This chart measures compute capacity, not units sold or revenue. Epoch AI defines H100e as H100-equivalent compute capacity, converting each chip’s peak dense 8-bit operations into the equivalent number of Nvidia H100 GPUs.

Epoch AI uses this measure because it is more intuitive than citing raw operations per second across different chip families.

Still, the firm notes that H100e is an imperfect proxy, since real-world performance also depends on factors like memory bandwidth, software ecosystems, and how chips are networked into servers and clusters.

Inside the Methodology

These figures are estimates rather than exact reported sales. Epoch AI says chipmakers do not consistently disclose precise volumes, and most of its uncertainty ranges span roughly a factor of 2x around the median estimate.

The dataset also does not track all AI chip production. Instead, it focuses on the largest designers of dedicated AI accelerators—Nvidia, Google, Amazon, AMD, and Huawei—which Epoch AI says account for the large majority of global AI compute capacity.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The Global Semiconductor Industry, by Market Cap on Voronoi.

2026-04-23 19:41:38

Mapped: Where Americans Spend the Most on Gas

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Gas prices may grab headlines, but they don’t tell the full story of what Americans actually spend to fuel their cars.

This map estimates monthly gas costs by state using April 15, 2026 fuel prices and average driving distances from the Federal Highway Administration, via FinanceBuzz.

The key pattern: distance drives cost. In lower-density states, longer commutes push monthly spending far above the national average, while dense Northeast states benefit from shorter trips and significantly lower fuel bills.

Ranked: Monthly Gas Cost by State

The table below shows estimated monthly gas costs, based on April 15, 2026 fuel prices by state, average miles driven per driver, and a fuel efficiency of 25.6 miles per gallon.

Rank	State	Avg. Monthly Spend	Price of Gas (Apr 15th)	Annual Miles Per Driver
1	Wyoming	$279	$3.89	21,986
2	Indiana	$244	$3.88	19,296
3	Mississippi	$243	$3.74	19,910
4	New Mexico	$236	$3.96	18,321
5	Missouri	$228	$3.67	19,049
6	California	$225	$5.88	11,780
7	Alabama	$221	$3.84	17,728
8	Utah	$216	$4.21	15,725
9	Kentucky	$212	$3.98	16,330
10	Tennessee	$208	$3.86	16,558
11	Idaho	$207	$4.34	14,643
12	North Dakota	$207	$3.62	17,560
13	Nevada	$205	$4.96	12,716
14	Arkansas	$205	$3.65	17,287
15	Arizona	$205	$4.66	13,501
16	Hawaii	$204	$5.65	11,115
17	Oklahoma	$202	$3.44	18,031
18	Georgia	$201	$3.68	16,763
19	Louisiana	$201	$3.75	16,452
20	Montana	$200	$3.90	15,775
21	Vermont	$200	$4.09	15,048
22	Texas	$198	$3.77	16,125
23	Oregon	$195	$5.00	12,016
24	Virginia	$192	$3.97	14,877
25	Wisconsin	$192	$3.78	15,580
26	Florida	$191	$4.15	14,179
27	North Carolina	$191	$3.86	15,198
28	South Carolina	$186	$3.79	15,075
29	Maine	$186	$4.02	14,185
30	South Dakota	$185	$3.68	15,424
31	Kansas	$182	$3.51	15,941
32	West Virginia	$180	$3.93	14,091
33	Nebraska	$179	$3.63	15,157
34	Washington	$178	$5.39	10,125
35	Maryland	$177	$4.10	13,228
36	Illinois	$173	$4.36	12,154
37	Minnesota	$172	$3.71	14,272
38	Alaska	$169	$4.64	11,173
39	Iowa	$167	$3.65	14,077
40	Ohio	$165	$3.80	13,345
41	Michigan	$165	$3.92	12,906
42	New Hampshire	$161	$3.96	12,511
43	Massachusetts	$161	$3.97	12,472
44	Colorado	$160	$3.96	12,426
45	Connecticut	$159	$4.08	11,974
46	Pennsylvania	$151	$4.13	11,189
47	New Jersey	$150	$4.00	11,536
48	Delaware	$140	$3.97	10,854
49	Rhode Island	$135	$3.97	10,411
50	New York	$132	$4.13	9,815
--	U.S. State Average	$190	$4.07	14,558

Drivers in the most expensive states spend more than twice as much per month on gas as those in the cheapest—driven largely by how far they travel, not just fuel prices.

Wyoming drivers face the highest monthly gas costs, at $279. Wyoming drivers log over 1,830 miles per month—more than 50% above the U.S. average—making distance the primary driver of their higher fuel costs.

In contrast, New York drivers spend $132 per month, the least nationwide. Given its high density, drivers average 817 miles per month on the road, the lowest overall. A cluster of Northeast states follow, including Rhode Island ($135), and Delaware ($140), all with low mileage rates.

The gap shows that where you live can matter more than gas prices themselves when it comes to monthly fuel costs.

Why This Matters

Ultimately, gas prices tell only part of the story.

For many Americans, especially in rural states, distance—not price—is the biggest driver of fuel costs. That means even if gas prices fall, millions could still face high monthly bills simply because of how far they need to travel.

From dense Northeast states to wide-open Western regions, where you live can mean paying thousands more per year just to get around. And with gas prices still volatile in 2026, that gap could widen even further.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the most reliable used-car brands in America.

2026-04-23 02:06:33

Where Populations Are Booming and Shrinking by 2050

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The world’s population is projected to grow by 1.4 billion people by 2050—but that growth is becoming increasingly concentrated in a handful of regions.

Using data from the United Nations’ World Population Prospects 2024, this map shows where populations are rising fastest—and where they are entering long-term decline. The contrast is stark: parts of sub-Saharan Africa are set to nearly double in size, while several of the world’s largest economies are projected to shrink significantly.

These shifts will reshape labor markets, economic growth, and global influence over the coming decades.

The Fastest-Growing Countries in the World

The most dramatic population increases are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where several countries are on track to nearly double in size by 2050.

The Democratic Republic of Congo leads globally, with its population projected to surge by over 100 million people (+93%). Close behind are countries like Niger, Angola, and Somalia.

The table below shows population forecasts across 195 countries worldwide:

Rank	Country	Population 2025 (M)	Population 2050 (M)	Change 2025- 2050	% Change 2025- 2050
1	DR Congo	112.8	218.2	+105.4M	93.4%
2	Central African Republic	5.5	10.6	+5.1M	92.6%
3	Angola	39	74.3	+35.3M	90.3%
4	Somalia	19.7	37.2	+17.6M	89.3%
5	Niger	27.9	52.5	+24.6M	88.1%
6	Chad	21	38.9	+17.9M	85.0%
7	Tanzania	70.5	129.6	+59.1M	83.7%
8	Mali	25.2	46.2	+21.0M	83.2%
9	Mozambique	35.6	63.5	+27.9M	78.3%
10	Mauritania	5.3	9.4	+4.1M	77.1%
11	Afghanistan	43.8	76.9	+33.0M	75.4%
12	Zambia	21.9	38.1	+16.2M	73.8%
13	Cameroon	29.9	51.1	+21.2M	71.0%
14	Cote d'Ivoire	32.7	55.7	+23.0M	70.4%
15	Yemen	41.8	71	+29.2M	69.9%
16	Congo	6.5	11	+4.5M	69.7%
17	Malawi	22.2	37.4	+15.1M	68.2%
18	Burundi	14.4	24.1	+9.7M	67.7%
19	Uganda	51.4	85.4	+34.0M	66.3%
20	Ethiopia	135.5	225	+89.5M	66.1%
21	Sudan	51.7	85.2	+33.5M	64.9%
22	Benin	14.8	24.4	+9.6M	64.9%
23	Madagascar	32.7	53.2	+20.4M	62.4%
24	Equatorial Guinea	1.9	3.1	+1.2M	62.2%
25	Senegal	18.9	30.4	+11.4M	60.4%
26	Togo	9.7	15.6	+5.9M	60.3%
27	Vanuatu	0.3	0.5	+199K	59.4%
28	Eritrea	3.6	5.7	+2.1M	57.9%
29	Gabon	2.6	4.1	+1.5M	57.5%
30	Solomon Islands	0.8	1.3	+470K	56.1%
31	Rwanda	14.6	22.7	+8.1M	55.9%
32	Liberia	5.7	8.9	+3.2M	55.5%
33	Burkina Faso	24.1	37.3	+13.2M	55.0%
34	Guinea	15.1	23.4	+8.3M	55.0%
35	Iraq	47	71.9	+24.9M	53.0%
36	Guinea-Bissau	2.2	3.4	+1.2M	52.9%
37	Zimbabwe	17	25.9	+8.9M	52.6%
38	Gambia	2.8	4.3	+1.5M	52.4%
39	Sao Tome and Principe	0.2	0.4	+125K	52.0%
40	Nigeria	237.5	359.2	+121.7M	51.2%
41	Palestine	5.6	8.5	+2.9M	51.2%
42	South Sudan	12.2	18.3	+6.2M	50.5%
43	Comoros	0.9	1.3	+425K	48.1%
44	Syria	25.6	37.8	+12.2M	47.5%
45	Sierra Leone	8.8	12.9	+4.1M	46.8%
46	Namibia	3.1	4.5	+1.4M	45.9%
47	Pakistan	255.2	371.9	+116.6M	45.7%
48	Kenya	57.5	83.6	+26.1M	45.3%
49	Tajikistan	10.8	15.6	+4.8M	44.4%
50	Ghana	35.1	50.6	+15.5M	44.2%
51	Vatican City	0.001	0.001	213	42.5%
52	Oman	5.5	7.8	+2.3M	42.4%
53	Jordan	11.5	16.4	+4.8M	42.1%
54	Uzbekistan	37.1	52.2	+15.2M	40.9%
55	Papua New Guinea	10.8	14.9	+4.1M	38.5%
56	Saudi Arabia	34.6	47.7	+13.1M	38.0%
57	Israel	9.5	13.1	+3.6M	37.6%
58	Egypt	118.4	161.6	+43.3M	36.6%
59	United Arab Emirates	11.3	15.4	+4.0M	35.4%
60	Honduras	11	14.8	+3.8M	34.9%
61	Botswana	2.6	3.4	+875K	34.2%
62	Kiribati	0.1	0.2	+46.1K	33.8%
63	Qatar	3.1	4.2	+1.0M	33.7%
64	Timor-Leste	1.4	1.9	+471K	33.2%
65	Kyrgyzstan	7.3	9.6	+2.3M	32.2%
66	Guatemala	18.7	24.7	+6.0M	32.0%
67	Nauru	0	0	+3.7K	31.0%
68	Bahrain	1.6	2.1	+496K	30.2%
69	Djibouti	1.2	1.5	+346K	29.3%
70	Bolivia	12.6	16.1	+3.5M	28.0%
71	Mongolia	3.5	4.5	+984K	28.0%
72	Kazakhstan	20.8	26.5	+5.7M	27.3%
73	Kuwait	5	6.4	+1.3M	26.7%
74	Lesotho	2.4	3	+630K	26.6%
75	Turkmenistan	7.6	9.6	+2.0M	26.5%
76	Algeria	47.4	59.6	+12.1M	25.6%
77	Nicaragua	7	8.8	+1.7M	25.0%
78	Samoa	0.2	0.3	+53.4K	24.4%
79	Libya	7.5	9.3	+1.8M	24.2%
80	Laos	7.9	9.8	+1.9M	23.9%
81	Haiti	11.9	14.7	+2.8M	23.6%
82	Paraguay	7	8.6	+1.6M	23.2%
83	Panama	4.6	5.6	+1.1M	23.2%
84	Malaysia	36	44.3	+8.3M	23.1%
85	Cambodia	17.8	21.9	+4.1M	22.9%
86	South Africa	64.7	79.2	+14.4M	22.3%
87	Bangladesh	175.7	214.7	+39.0M	22.2%
88	Belize	0.4	0.5	+93.7K	22.2%
89	Australia	27	32.5	+5.5M	20.5%
90	Eswatini	1.3	1.5	+249K	19.8%
91	Lebanon	5.8	7	+1.1M	19.7%
92	Peru	34.6	40.6	+6.0M	17.4%
93	Nepal	29.6	34.6	+5.0M	17.0%
94	Ecuador	18.3	21.3	+3.0M	16.7%
95	Luxembourg	0.7	0.8	+111K	16.3%
96	Philippines	116.8	134.4	+17.6M	15.1%
97	India	1,463.90	1,679.60	+215.7M	14.7%
98	Suriname	0.6	0.7	+94.1K	14.7%
99	Canada	40.1	45.6	+5.5M	13.7%
100	Morocco	38.4	43.4	+5.0M	13.0%
101	Mexico	131.9	148.9	+17.0M	12.9%
102	Dominican Republic	11.5	13	+1.5M	12.8%
103	Ireland	5.3	6	+662K	12.5%
104	Guyana	0.8	0.9	+105K	12.5%
105	Indonesia	285.7	320.7	+35.0M	12.2%
106	Maldives	0.5	0.6	+60.3K	11.4%
107	Brunei	0.5	0.5	+53.2K	11.4%
108	Colombia	53.4	59.4	+6.0M	11.2%
109	Micronesia	0.1	0.1	+12.7K	11.2%
110	Bhutan	0.8	0.9	+85.7K	10.8%
111	Iran	92.4	101.9	+9.4M	10.2%
112	Cyprus	1.4	1.5	+138K	10.0%
113	United States	347.3	380.8	+33.6M	9.7%
114	New Zealand	5.3	5.8	+503K	9.6%
115	Venezuela	28.5	31.1	+2.6M	9.0%
116	Iceland	0.4	0.4	+34.7K	8.7%
117	United Kingdom	69.6	75.5	+6.0M	8.6%
118	Vietnam	101.6	110	+8.4M	8.3%
119	Azerbaijan	10.4	11.2	+827K	8.0%
120	Cabo Verde	0.5	0.6	+38.8K	7.4%
121	Fiji	0.9	1	+67.1K	7.2%
122	Liechtenstein	0	0	+2.9K	7.2%
123	Myanmar	54.9	58.6	+3.8M	6.9%
124	Sri Lanka	23.2	24.8	+1.6M	6.8%
125	Seychelles	0.1	0.1	+9.0K	6.8%
126	Tunisia	12.3	13.1	+797K	6.5%
127	Sweden	10.7	11.3	+653K	6.1%
128	Argentina	45.9	48.3	+2.5M	5.4%
129	Bahamas	0.4	0.4	+21.2K	5.3%
130	Norway	5.6	5.9	+277K	4.9%
131	El Salvador	6.4	6.7	+298K	4.7%
132	Switzerland	9	9.3	+375K	4.2%
133	Turkey	87.7	91.3	+3.6M	4.1%
134	Costa Rica	5.2	5.4	+201K	3.9%
135	Singapore	5.9	6.1	+211K	3.6%
136	Netherlands	18.3	19	+612K	3.3%
137	Tuvalu	0	0.01	289	3.0%
138	France	66.7	68.2	+1.6M	2.4%
139	Chile	19.9	20.3	+460K	2.3%
140	Brazil	212.8	217.5	+4.7M	2.2%
141	Denmark	6	6.1	+122K	2.0%
142	Tonga	0.1	0.1	+1.5K	1.4%
143	Belgium	11.8	11.9	+112K	1.0%
144	Antigua and Barbuda	0.1	0.1	846	0.9%
145	San Marino	0.034	0.034	124	0.4%
146	Andorra	0.083	0.082	-709	-0.9%
147	Malta	0.55	0.54	-9.7K	-1.8%
148	North Korea	26.6	25.8	-784K	-3.0%
149	Grenada	0.12	0.11	-4.1K	-3.5%
150	Georgia	3.8	3.7	-143K	-3.7%
151	Uruguay	3.4	3.3	-130K	-3.9%
152	Monaco	0.04	0	-1.6K	-4.1%
153	Dominica	0.07	0.06	-2.7K	-4.1%
154	Austria	9.1	8.7	-389K	-4.3%
155	Saint Lucia	0.18	0.17	-8.1K	-4.5%
156	Finland	5.6	5.4	-272K	-4.8%
157	Russia	144	136.1	-7.9M	-5.5%
158	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.05	0.04	-2.7K	-5.7%
159	Portugal	10.4	9.8	-642K	-6.2%
160	Spain	47.9	44.9	-3.0M	-6.2%
161	Slovenia	2.1	2	-136K	-6.4%
162	Barbados	0.28	0.26	-18.4K	-6.5%
163	Germany	84.1	78.3	-5.8M	-6.9%
164	Thailand	71.6	66.4	-5.2M	-7.3%
165	Trinidad and Tobago	1.5	1.4	-111K	-7.4%
166	Czechia	10.6	9.8	-784K	-7.4%
167	Hungary	9.6	8.7	-907K	-9.4%
168	Slovakia	5.5	4.9	-538K	-9.8%
169	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0.1	0.09	-11.0K	-11.0%
170	China	1,416.10	1,260.30	-155.8M	-11.0%
171	Greece	9.9	8.8	-1.1M	-11.3%
172	Palau	0.02	0.02	-2.1K	-12.1%
173	Italy	59.1	51.9	-7.3M	-12.3%
174	Estonia	1.3	1.2	-170K	-12.6%
175	South Korea	51.7	45.1	-6.5M	-12.6%
176	Mauritius	1.3	1.1	-161K	-12.7%
177	Jamaica	2.8	2.5	-382K	-13.5%
178	Poland	38.1	32.8	-5.3M	-14.0%
179	Cuba	10.9	9.4	-1.6M	-14.2%
180	Japan	123.1	105.1	-18.0M	-14.6%
181	Romania	18.9	16	-2.9M	-15.2%
182	Armenia	3	2.5	-457K	-15.5%
183	Montenegro	0.63	0.53	-99.4K	-15.7%
184	Croatia	3.8	3.2	-614K	-16.0%
185	North Macedonia	1.8	1.5	-301K	-16.6%
186	Belarus	9	7.5	-1.5M	-17.2%
187	Serbia	6.7	5.5	-1.2M	-17.3%
188	Ukraine	39	32	-7.0M	-17.9%
189	Latvia	1.9	1.5	-340K	-18.3%
190	Albania	2.8	2.2	-531K	-19.2%
191	Bulgaria	6.7	5.4	-1.3M	-19.5%
192	Lithuania	2.8	2.3	-571K	-20.2%
193	Moldova	3	2.4	-644K	-21.5%
194	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3.1	2.5	-685K	-21.8%
195	Marshall Islands	0.04	0.03	-11.1K	-30.6%

All 10 of the fastest-growing sovereign states are in sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility remains high and child mortality has fallen sharply—a demographic lag that East Asia passed through decades ago.

This surge will place increasing pressure on infrastructure, education systems, and job markets, while also creating opportunities for economic expansion.

Where Populations Are Shrinking the Fastest

At the other end of the spectrum, several major economies are entering sustained population decline—driven by low birth rates and aging populations.

China alone is projected to lose more than 150 million people by 2050, while Japan, Italy, and Russia are also facing steep contractions. This shift could have significant implications for economic growth, labor supply, and public finances. Overall, European countries make up 11 of the 20 largest absolute declines.

Even Thailand is projected to shrink by 4.2 million people, highlighting how population decline is spreading beyond traditionally aging regions. Like many countries in East Asia, Thailand faces persistently low fertility rates (around 1.2 births per woman) and a rapidly aging population.

By mid-century, global population trends will be defined less by overall growth and more by divergence.

A small group of countries will account for the vast majority of new people, while many others shrink. This widening gap between fast-growing and shrinking populations is set to reshape migration flows, economic power, and the global workforce over the coming decades.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the countries with the most births per hour.

2026-04-23 00:37:44

Published

1 day ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Julia Wendling

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The following content is sponsored by Adobe

AI Use by Students Across Major Economies

   

Key Takeaways

• Brazil (11.6%) and India (11.5%) lead global student AI adoption.
• India’s young population supports stronger uptake than many developed peers.
• Adoption gaps persist, with the UK (4.6%) and Japan (5.6%) trailing significantly.

Student AI use is becoming increasingly common in classrooms worldwide, reshaping how students complete assignments, conduct research, and manage workloads. New data from Adobe Digital Insights (September 2025) highlights how student AI use for schoolwork varies significantly across major economies.

This visualization, created in partnership with Adobe, highlights global trends in student AI use and marks the third post in our series on AI use in India. While usage rates remain relatively close among top countries, a clear gap is emerging between early adopters and slower-moving markets. This points to broader differences in digital readiness and education systems.

Leaders in Student AI Use: Brazil and India Set the Pace

Brazil leads globally, with 11.6% of students using AI for schoolwork, closely followed by India at 11.5% and Italy at 11.1%. Canada (10.6%) and the United States (9.9%) also rank among the top adopters, showing that AI is gaining traction across both emerging and developed economies.

Country	Student AI Use
Brazil	11.6%
India	11.5%
Italy	11.1%
Canada	10.6%
United States	9.9%
Germany	8.8%
France	7.4%
Japan	5.6%
United Kingdom	4.6%

India is particularly notable in student AI use given its demographic advantage. With a median age of just 30, it has one of the youngest populations among major economies, helping drive faster adoption of AI study tools. School and university students across India are already using AI assistants for homework and revision, turning this youth-driven familiarity with technology into a tangible academic edge.

Lower Adoption Markets: Developed Markets Fall Behind

At the lower end of the spectrum, student AI use is notably weaker in advanced economies such as the United Kingdom (4.6%) and Japan (5.6%). These countries fall well behind the global leaders, highlighting a clear adoption gap.

Even mid-tier adopters like France (7.4%) and Germany (8.8%) lag behind top performers. This disparity may reflect stricter academic policies, slower institutional adoption, or cultural hesitancy toward AI in education. These factors could impact long-term digital competitiveness.

From AI Adoption to AI Study Tools

As student AI use grows globally, tools that bridge casual usage and focused learning will define which students stay ahead. They need purpose-built AI tools for students that turn course materials into real learning outcomes. For students in high-adoption markets like India and Brazil, the next step is turning that AI familiarity into real academic advantage. 

Free AI study tools like Adobe Acrobat Student Spaces let students upload class notes and instantly generate flashcards, quizzes, study guides, and even audio summaries, turning scattered materials into a structured study hub. As AI adoption grows globally, tools that bridge casual usage and focused learning will define which students stay ahead.

Explore AI-powered Document Workflows.

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