Use the live research desk
Filter the cause map by text and proposed upstream source, then start a census observation. Record a primary source, coverage, unit, reference year and uncertainty. A blank value stays unknown; a reported zero stays zero. The map counts entries in this Record, not global need or funding.
Your workspace stays in this browser. Save records, edit them or fork frozen versions, export JSON, a research memo or CSV, and import a backup with an explicit replacement step. Deleting or clearing offers an undo while the page remains open. No notes are submitted to Charitology. The institutional goals below remain the program’s longer-term charter.
What it is
The Cause Census maps every cause area Charitology tracks, from global health to arts and culture. For each cause it aims to answer the three questions that 80,000 Hours sets out in its framework for comparing global problems: how big is the problem, how neglected is it and how much would more effort solve? The census adds a fourth question of its own: where on the depth scale does the money already going to this cause act?
How it works
The census starts from the Cause Atlas, which places 17 cause areas on five dimensions, such as whom a cause protects and how certain its results are. Those positions are editorial judgments, and the data file says so. The census would add sourced estimates on top: how many people or beings a problem affects, how much money already goes to it and what the evidence says about progress per dollar.
Every estimate would carry its assumptions, and scale needs the most care. A problem’s size depends on what you count: lives, rights, species, future people or the health of a community. So the census would report scale through more than one moral framework and show where the ranking changes.
Why it matters for the system
The Story Bias asks how faces and headlines might pull attention away from the scale of a need. That mechanism is debated; it should be tested rather than assumed. A public census would put the size of each problem next to the attention it gets, so a giver can see the gap for themselves.
The depth question treats the Symptom Trap. Within each cause, the census would ask how much money goes to relief and how much to work on sources. That is the Depth Census carried out one cause at a time. Charitology has not established that mix; the census would provide a baseline.
Risks and limits
Numbers can hide value judgments. Neglectedness can only be measured for resources someone tracks, such as grants, so informal giving and volunteer time are easy to miss. The census would label each number with its source, its year and the judgment behind it.
What success looks like
Within five years, every cause area has sourced estimates with stated assumptions and the depth mix is estimated for at least five causes. Funders cite the census when they explain where their money goes.
Explore the census starting frame
The 17 cause areas below link to interventions already in the Record. These are a map of this project’s coverage, not estimates of global funding or proof that a missing intervention does not exist.
Global health
Preventing and treating disease where health systems are weakest.
- Community health workers — moderate , depth 2, draft
- Mass deworming — mixed , depth 2, draft
- Insecticide-treated bed nets — strong , depth 2, draft
- Lead exposure elimination — moderate , depth 3, draft
- Oral rehydration therapy — strong , depth 0, draft
- Seasonal malaria chemoprevention — strong , depth 2, draft
- Tobacco taxation advocacy — moderate , depth 3, draft
- Incentives for childhood vaccination — moderate , depth 2, draft
- Vitamin A supplementation — moderate , depth 2, draft
Extreme poverty
Raising the incomes and security of people living on the least.
- Unconditional cash transfers — strong , depth 1, draft
- Microcredit — strong , depth 1, draft
Hunger and food security
Making sure people have enough to eat, today and through bad years.
- Food banks and food pantries — moderate , depth 0, draft
Climate change
Cutting emissions and helping people adapt to a warming world.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Nature and biodiversity
Protecting species, ecosystems, water and land.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Animal welfare
Reducing the suffering of animals, wild and farmed.
- Corporate animal welfare campaigns — weak , depth 3, draft
Education
Helping people learn, from early childhood to adult skills.
Read the Afghanistan Education case for 2024. It shows how one plan reports estimated need, planned reach and funding as separate measures.
- Mass deworming — mixed , depth 2, draft
- Teaching at the Right Level — strong , depth 2, draft
Mental health
Treating and preventing mental illness, loneliness and addiction.
- Housing First — strong , depth 1, draft
Housing and homelessness
Keeping people housed and making homes affordable.
- Housing First — strong , depth 1, draft
Democracy and good government
Fair elections, honest institutions, a healthy information ecosystem.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Peace and security
Preventing war and violence and helping people recover from them.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Catastrophic risks
Reducing the chance of pandemics, nuclear war and other disasters that could set civilization back.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Science and knowledge
Research, open data and the public understanding of what is true.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Local community
The neighborhood institutions that make a place work.
- Food banks and food pantries — moderate , depth 0, draft
Arts and culture
The stories, art and shared culture a society uses to understand itself.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
Faith and spiritual life
Religious communities and the care they provide.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
The charity system itself
Research, infrastructure and incentives that change where all the other money goes.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
No cause matches these filters. Clear the search or choose all sources.
The existing Atlas’s numeric dimensions are editorial sketches, so they are not used as census measurements here. Add a source, unit, year, coverage and uncertainty for each estimate below.
Inspect sourced observations and explicit coverage. The national statistics and two selected financial panels do not measure funding by cause, unmet need or tractability. They are context, not substitutes for a cause census.
Read the separate 2025 humanitarian plan-funding reference. Reported USD funding and plan requirements are retained by country and source plan. They do not assign cause/depth labels or measure worldwide unmet need.
Census evidence capture
New recordBuild a source-linked set of estimates with explicit units and boundaries. Different causes, years, currencies and denominators are kept separate rather than added into an unsupported global total.
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