Today Wikipedia celebrates its 20th birthday. But how much do you really know about the crowdsourced encyclopedia? Test your knowledge (and no peeking ahead at the answers!) 👇
Wikipedia is the most-read reference work ever. How many page views does the site attract per month?
Read how the site, once treated as a bit of a joke, came to be taken seriously econ.st/2LKm3MT
In which country is Wikipedia most popular?
Find out how the site's readership compares around the world econ.st/2LKm3MT
How many articles does Wikipedia host across all its different languages?
Like any institution Wikipedia has its flaws, but its achievements are vast econ.st/35ERxLj
Finally, roughly how many languages have Wikipedia editions of their own?
Around 80% of Wikipedia's editors are male, and skewed towards North America and Europe. But the site's future lies in poorer countries econ.st/2LKm3MT
The number of people actively editing Wikipedia articles in English, its most-used language, peaked in 2007 at 53,000, before starting a decade-long decline econ.st/38HkRCO
Attracting a steady supply of new editors is vital for Wikipedia’s long-term survival. So is adding new kinds of contributors econ.st/38HkRCO
Wikipedia may have done the bulk of its organisation of the world’s information long ago, but most of the work towards making it universally accessible and useful still lies ahead. Read more here econ.st/38HkRCO
And on “The Economist Asks” podcast with @AnneMcElvoy, we ask Wikipedia’s founder @jimmy_wales about social media's role in society, his mission to increase diversity among Wikipedia’s contributors and his top tips for homeschooling econ.st/2KfJEo4
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📮 As well as laughs—intentional and otherwise—Christmas newsletters provide a rich social history. A festive thread (1/10) economist.com/christmas-spec…
The oldest archived example of a Christmas newsletter was penned by Marie Harris in 1948, detailing her family’s move to a rambling old farmhouse in Oregon (2/10)
After the second world war, Christmas newsletters emerged as a medium on both sides of the Atlantic (3/10)
What will 2021 hold for American politics? There are a few things to watch out for. Thread 👇 #TheWorldIn2021 (1/11) econ.st/33vdX0H
The Biden administration will take rapid steps to rebuild America’s Trump-bruised institutions, its economy and its foreign policy (2/11) econ.st/3nT7e8p
But the 2020 presidential election will not reset America's relations with China. The Biden team wants to see a fitter, smarter America pick fights with China more carefully—then train hard to win each one (3/11) econ.st/33eOFDB
Covid-19 has changed what people value around the world. How has that affected prices in big cities? Thread (1/9)👇 econ.st/3kWDLZs
The index compares prices across nearly 140 items in 133 cities (2/9)
Paris, Hong Kong and Zurich are tied for first place. Living costs there are 3% higher than in New York, the index’s benchmark city (3/9) economist.com/graphic-detail…
Britain’s government isn’t working well. But Boris Johnson’s party has the wrong ideas for how to fix it. Thread 👇 (1/9) econ.st/3kON2mb
A Conservative counter-revolution is underway against restraints imposed on ministers in the past 40 years. Those involved want to unchain Britain's executive, limiting judicial power and reforming Whitehall (2/9) econ.st/2KnHSAZ
Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's ousted chief adviser, was an architect of this transformation. He reckoned the British state was rotten and the only solution was to tear it down and start again. Instead, as @1843mag reports, he lost his job (3/9) econ.st/2UKQsf8
Which races to watch, the role of postal votes and what happens if Donald Trump declares victory prematurely—our overview for election night. THREAD (1/11) econ.st/2HQyJQL
The state that matters most on Tuesday night is Florida. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are neck-and-neck there (2/11) econ.st/3kVjG6y
Other races to watch closely are: North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan (3/11)
The persecution of the Uyghurs is a crime against humanity. The Economist and @1843mag spoke to Uyghurs whose lives have been torn apart. A thread: 👇 econ.trib.al/cozmUki
Documents seen by The Economist show that China’s campaign to crush the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic-minority group, has terrorised hundreds of thousands of children econ.trib.al/PSAQk9E
According to government records, in 2018 more than 9,500 children aged between 7 and 12 in Yarkand, a Uyghur-dominated county, at one point had one or both parents detained by the state econ.trib.al/VQGFPB6