The American mathematician John Tukey, a devotee of charts, once wrote that “the greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see”.  There were plenty such surprises among the graphics published by the FT, which brought into focus many of the most important stories of 2018. In between polarised politics, social divisions and environmental degradation — as well as a new race for space — they serve to remind us that the second decade of the 21st century has been anything but predictable.

https://www.ft.com/content/e9503b64-0a9a-11e9-9fe8-acdb36967cfc