The Numbers That Outlined 2022

What a 12 months 2022 has been. There was so … a lot … information. We noticed record-high inflation, conflict 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, in fact, the midterms. In typical FiveThirtyEight vogue, we’ve been reflecting on 2022 the way in which we do finest: by numbers. Right here, seven of our reporters share a number of the most necessary stats of the 12 months, highlighting huge political choices, emotions of the voters and hints at what’s to come back in 2023.

Poverty

In September, the U.S. Census Bureau launched its annual supplemental poverty price for the earlier 12 months. That’s the poverty price 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 12 months was 7.8 %, the supplemental poverty price for 2021 and lowest price on file. It was the primary concrete measure of how COVID-19 stimulus cash affected poverty in America.

US poverty price hit a file low — however don’t count on it to remain that approach

Abortion

In June, the Supreme Court docket launched its choice in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group, overturning Roe v. Wade because the legislation of the land. Briefly 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 12 months 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 choice | FiveThirtyEight

Endlessly 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 12 months: 4, the variety of PFAS the EPA launched new pointers for, and 4,700, the tough variety of completely different PFAS chemical compounds on the market.

The EPA is lastly addressing 4 harmful ‘ceaselessly 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, however it reached unprecedented ranges within the 2022 midterms. That’s why 47 is the defining variety of the 12 months for politics and tech reporter Kaleigh Rogers. It’s the proportion of Republican candidates who ran for Home, Senate, governor, secretary of state and legal professional normal this 12 months 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, Individuals advised pollsters that one problem was their high precedence: the economic system and inflation. For senior author Monica Potts, the 9.1 % inflation price in June topped her record of most necessary stats of the 12 months. Right here she explores the methods — huge 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 have been worse for Republicans than one may count on, provided that the president’s occasion 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 without doubt one of the most necessary numbers of the 12 months. What Republicans will — and received’t — be capable to do with that majority will outline American politics for at the very 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 number of the most necessary political shifts of the following few years may very well be coming on the state stage. These new insurance policies may lean liberal as a result of, for the primary time in 12 years, extra Individuals 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 12 months. It’s the variety of Individuals who will quickly be residing in a state the place Democrats may have complete management over state authorities.