Economy
Where U.S. Inflation Hit the Hardest in March 2024
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Where U.S. Inflation Hit the Hardest (March 2024)
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
The latest U.S. inflation figures were released in early April, revealing that the consumer price index (CPI) had risen by 3.5% in March 2024, on an annual basis. This is unfortunately higher than the 3.2% logged in February, showing once again how stubborn inflation has been post-pandemic.
To add context to these figures, we’ve visualized CPI categories that became significantly more expensive from March 2023 to March 2024. All figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which regularly posts CPI figures.
Data and Highlights
The data we used to create this graphic is listed in the table below.
| Item | YoY Change (%) |
|---|---|
| 📀 Video discs + other media | 30.1 |
| 🥤 Juice + drinks | 27.5 |
| 🚗 Motor vehicle insurance | 22.2 |
| 🔧 Repair of household items | 18 |
| 🏠 Home care of invalids + elderly | 14.2 |
| 🚗 Motor vehicle repair | 11.6 |
| 🥩 Beef roasts | 11.2 |
| 👶 Baby food + formula | 9.9 |
| 🐾 Veterinarian services | 9.6 |
| ⚖️ Legal services | 8.8 |
| 🏥 Outpatient hospital services | 8.3 |
| 📊 All items average | 3.5 |
Prices of “video discs and other media” rose by a substantial 30.1% year-over-year as of March 2024, highlighting rising demand for physical media such as vinyl records.
According to an article from The Guardian, U.S. vinyl sales rose 21.7% in the first half of 2023, driven by artists like Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and Fleetwood Mac. Swift’s latest album, Midnights, sold nearly 500,000 vinyl copies throughout the entire year.
Another category that rose significantly was “juice and drinks”, at 27.5%. This rise in cost has been attributed to numerous factors including sugar shortages, increased transportation costs, and diseases affecting orange trees in Florida.
See more graphics on inflation
If you enjoyed this post, check out this graphic on inflation rates across the G20. For each country, we compared inflation rates in February 2024 to their COVID-19 peak.
Economy
The Most Valuable Companies in Major EU Economies
From semiconductor equipment manufacturers to supercar makers, the EU’s most valuable companies run the gamut of industries.
Most Valuable Companies in the EU, by Country
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
In this graphic, we mapped out the most valuable corporations in 11 major EU economies, based on their market capitalizations as of April 15th, 2024. All figures are in USD, and were sourced from Companiesmarketcap.com.
Novo Nordisk is currently worth more than $550 billion, making it Europe’s most valuable company by a wide margin. The pharmaceutical giant specializes in diabetes and weight-loss drugs. Demand for two of them, Ozempic and Wegovy, has surged due to their weight-loss capabilities, even causing nationwide shortages in the United States.
The following table includes an expanded list of the most valuable publicly-traded company in larger EU economies. Many of these were not included in the graphic due to space limitations.
| Country | Company | Sector | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | 💊 Novo Nordisk | Pharmaceuticals | $562B |
| 🇫🇷 France | 👜 LVMH | Luxury Goods | $422B |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 🔧 ASML | Semiconductor Equipment | $382B |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 💼 SAP | Enterprise Software | $214B |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | 🖥️ Accenture | IT Services | $197B |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 👗 Inditex | Retail | $147B |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 🍻 Anheuser-Busch InBev | Beverages | $116B |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | 🛠️ Atlas Copco | Industrial Equipment | $80B |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | 🏎️ Ferrari | Automotive | $76B |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | 🏦 Nordea Bank | Banking | $40B |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | 🔌 Verbund AG | Energy | $26B |
| 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 🏗️ Tenaris | Oil & Gas Equipment | $22B |
| 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 💡 CEZ Group | Energy | $20B |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | ⛽ PKN Orlen | Energy | $20B |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | 🔌 EDP Group | Energy | $16B |
| 🇬🇷 Greece | 🏦 Eurobank | Banking | $7B |
| 🇭🇺 Hungary | ⛽ MOL Group | Energy | $7B |
| 🇭🇷 Croatia | 🏦 Zagrebacka Banka | Banking | $6B |
| 🇷🇴 Romania | ⛽ Romgaz | Energy | $4B |
| 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 💊 Krka | Pharmaceuticals | $4B |
Note: Figures are rounded and last updated on April 15th, 2024. Countries with top publicly-traded companies worth under $4 billion are excluded.
Luxury supergiant LVMH—which owns brands like Tiffany, Christian Dior, and TAG Heuer to name a few—is Europe’s second largest company by market cap, at $420 billion.
Rounding out the top three is ASML, which produces equipment crucial to chip manufacturers, worth $380 billion.
When looking at the region, there is a vast disparity between EU member states and their most valuable companies.
For example, as mentioned earlier, Denmark’s Novo Nordisk and France’s LVMH are worth between $400-550 billion each. Meanwhile, some countries don’t even have a single publicly-listed company that is worth over $1 billion.
In fact, only 12 EU countries (less than half of the union) are home to the top 100 most valuable companies within the bloc. An additional four countries are represented if you look at the list of the top 200 companies.
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