Worldometer

Worldometer,[1] formerly Worldometers, is a reference website that provides counters and real-time statistics for diverse topics. It is owned and operated by a data company Dadax[2][3] which generates revenue through online advertising.[4] It is available in 31 languages and covers subjects such as government, world population, economics, society, media, environment, food and water, energy, and health.[5]

Worldometer
A square image with a lime green background, and a curved W shape dominating the logo.
Type of site
Real-time statistics
Founded2004 (2004)
Country of originUnited States of America
Founder(s)Andrey Alimetov
ServicesStatistics counters
ParentDadax Limited
URLwww.worldometers.info

In early 2020, the website attained greater popularity due to hosting statistics relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

History

The website was founded by Andrey Alimetov, a Russian immigrant to the United States, in 2004.[6][7] In 2011, it was voted as one of the best free reference websites by the American Library Association.[5]

This site changed its name from "Worldometers" to "Worldometer" in January 2020 and announced that it would migrate to the singular domain name.[1][6]

COVID-19 pandemic

In early 2020, the website gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. It came under cyber attack in March 2020. The site was hit with a DDoS attack, and was then hacked a few days later, resulting in incorrect information being shown on its COVID-19 statistics page for approximately 20 minutes. The hacked site showed a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases in Vatican City, which caused panic among some users of social media.[8] The Spanish government used its figures to claim that it had carried out more tests than all but four other countries.[6] Worldometers' COVID-19 figures have also been cited by Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and Rede Globo.

Worldometer has faced some criticism over transparency of ownership, lack of citations to data sources, and unreliability of its COVID-19 statistics and live rankings.[6]

In April 2020, editors of the English Wikipedia decided that Worldometer's COVID-19 figures are often unreliable and should not be cited in any pages related to the pandemic.[6][7]

Reception

Edouard Mathieu, the data manager of Our World in Data, stated that "Their main focus seems to be having the latest number [of COVID-19 cases] wherever it comes from, whether it's reliable or not, whether it's well-sourced or not."[6]

Virginia Pitzer, a Yale University epidemiologist, said that the site is "legitimate", but flawed, inconsistent, and containing errors.[6]

According to Axios, at the peak of user interest,[9] the website was the #28 most visited website in the world in April 2020. A plurality (25.8%) of visitors came from the United States, followed by Japan (17.9%), India (8.67%), the United Kingdom (6.6%), South Korea (5.8%), Canada (5.18%), Germany (3.13%), Australia (2.49%), Poland (2.18%), France (1.73%), Turkey (1.66%), Brazil (1.65%) and Argentina (1.52%).[10]

By March 2023, according to traffic data from Similarweb, Worldometer had dropped to the 5,963rd global place.[11]

References
  1. "FAQ: Is it 'Worldometer' or 'Worldometers' (with a final 's')?". Worldometer. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  2. "Worldometer – About us". Worldometer.
  3. "Who is Dadax (Worldometer)". dadax.com. March 30, 2020. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  4. "Site of the week: Worldometers". Toronto Star. July 12, 2014 – via www.pressreader.com.
  5. "Worldometers – real time statistics | Blog | National Library of New Zealand". natlib.govt.nz.
  6. Scott McLean; Laura Perez Maestro; Sergio Hernandez; Gianluca Mezzofiore; Katie Polglase (May 19, 2020). "The Covid-19 pandemic has catapulted one mysterious data website to prominence, sowing confusion in international rankings". CNN. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  7. Dyer, Henry (May 7, 2020). "The story of Worldometer, the quick project that became one of the most popular sites on the internet". New Statesman. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  8. "Updates tracking website Worldometers hit by cyber attack". Euro Weekly News. March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  9. "Google Trends". Google Trends (in French). Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  10. Fischer, Sara (May 12, 2020). "Statistics website Worldometer sees unprecedented online traffic amid coronavirus". Axios. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  11. "worldometers.info Traffic Analysis & Market Share | Similarweb". Similarweb. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
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