Who holds it, who produces it
What feeds and moves the world
Wheat
Production by country and the world's biggest exporters — the most-traded food crop.
Corn
Production by country and the world's biggest exporters — the highest-volume grain grown anywhere.
Soybean
Production by country and the world's biggest exporters — the most concentrated major food trade on the map.
More items within each category are on the way — this page (and its nav menu) is built to grow, one real, sourced item at a time.
Every category, ranked
The sectors most essential to human life and most influential in the global economy — each with up to 20 of its own items, every item marked sourced (a real tracking institution) or judgment (no such institution ranks it), never fabricated.
1. Energy
All 17 items sourced — crude oil to grid infrastructure, all tracked by the EIA.
2. Food & Agriculture
All 20 top crops and staples, sourced to FAOSTAT production tonnage.
3. Water
14 of 20 items sourced — irrigation to FAO AQUASTAT, sanitation to WHO/UNICEF JMP.
4. Healthcare & Medicine
16 of 20 items sourced — WHO Global Health Observatory, FDA, ClinicalTrials.gov.
5. Finance & Capital Markets
15 of 20 items sourced — BIS, World Bank, IAIS, FSB, IFSWF, IOSCO.
6. Metals & Mining
All 20 major metals, sourced to USGS and World Steel Association.
7. Housing & Construction
16 of 20 items sourced — US Census Bureau, USGS, FAO Forestry, UNEP/GlobalABC.
8. Technology & Semiconductors
11 of 20 items sourced — chips to WSTS/SIA, robotics to IFR, cybersecurity to ITU.
9. Transportation & Logistics
10 of 20 items sourced — shipping to UNCTAD, rail to UIC, airports to ICAO.
10. Supply Chain & Trade Routes
133 real routes plus the 20-item category ranking — chokepoints sourced to IMF PortWatch.
11. Manufacturing & Industrial Goods
17 of 20 items sourced — OICA, WSTS, World Steel, IFR, UN Comtrade trade data.
12. Chemicals & Fertilizers
8 of 20 items sourced — fertilizers to IFA/IFASTAT, plastics to OECD, rubber to IRSG.
13. Telecommunications
11 of 20 items sourced to the ITU, plus undersea cables to the ICPC.
14. Education
16 of 20 items sourced — UNESCO ISCED levels, UN SDG 4 indicators, OECD PISA.
15. Defense & Security
18 of 20 items sourced to SIPRI, plus cybersecurity to ITU and private security to DCAF.
16. Textiles & Apparel
8 of 20 items sourced — cotton to USDA FAS, wool to IWTO, footwear to APICCAPS.
17. Retail & Consumer Goods
8 of 20 items sourced to the US Census Bureau's retail & wholesale trade surveys.
18. Real Estate & Property Markets
17 of 20 items sourced — REITs to Nareit, housing to OECD, land to FAO/UN-Habitat.
19. Entertainment & Media
7 of 20 items sourced — music to IFPI, publishing to IPA, news to Reuters Institute.
20. Space & Aerospace
17 of 20 items sourced — launches to UNOOSA, exploration to NASA, debris to ESA.
Ranking methodology: each of the 20 is scored on how essential it is to human life and how much weight it carries in global trade, GDP, and employment. Every item is marked sourced or judgment, with its citation linked directly on that category's page.