World Data Lab

03/09/2026

Retail plans get made at the country level. Retail growth happens city by city.

The same national trend can mean a decade of category growth in one metro and flat demand in the next.

On 23 September, we're running a free 45-minute webinar on the macro forces redrawing where consumer demand sits over the next decade: emerging-market growth, aging populations, changing household size and income structure, and spending polarization.

Then how city-level modeling of 9,000+ cities turns those shifts into specific places, categories, and years. Two live city cases included.

Register here:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0y1NG20

31/08/2026

Asia overtakes North America in total consumer spending by 2036, but not in affluence.

APAC spends $20.3 trillion in 2026 against North America's $23.3 trillion, and by 2036 the order reverses at $37.1 trillion to $35.3 trillion.

The composition does not converge with the total. Affluent consumers already account for 83% of North American spending and reach 87% by 2036, while APAC moves from 24% to 34%, so two-thirds of Asian spending in 2036 still comes from consumers below $90 a day. Europe crosses the halfway mark over the decade, going from 49% to 58% affluent. Sub-Saharan Africa is the outlier in the other direction, where 40% of spending today comes from people outside the consumer class entirely.

Chart on Voronoi: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xYKzB0

Built on the same dataset as A Tale of Two Consumers, our joint report with NIQ: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xYL4X0

27/08/2026

People aged 60 and over make up 15% of the world's population but account for 27% of global consumer spending. That is $19 trillion of the $70 trillion consumers will spend this year.

By 2036 that figure reaches $34 trillion, when close to one in three consumer dollars worldwide will be spent by someone over 60.

Anna Kiknadze and Regan Leggett on where that growth is concentrated, how spending patterns shift as people age, and what it means for companies still designing primarily for younger buyers.

Read it here:

The 60+ consumer is becoming the fastest-growing consumption engine, requiring a shift in corporate strategy across tech, healthcare and lifestyle sectors.

26/08/2026

The world will add 640 million people between 2026 and 2036, and 367 million of them will be affluent consumers spending above $90 a day.

Check out our newest graphic on Voronoi:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xRYDk0

And download the full report: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xRZNb0

24/08/2026

Two mindsets. One shopper. Little loyalty to the middle.

Consumers upgrade when the premium is earned and trade down when the value is unclear, often in the same trip.

Read the mindset instead of the demographic, and you read the sale.

See what drives the switch:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xCtny0

21/08/2026

Three in four lower-middle consumers already pay digitally.

73% of adults earning US$13–45 a day made a digital payment in 2026, just 22 points behind the richest tier at 95%.

Our Financial Inclusion & Behavior Data breaks digital-payment adoption down by spending power, age and gender across 190+ countries, nowcast to today and forecast to 2036.

See who saves, borrows and pays digitally : https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xM9990

19/08/2026

The “average” consumer isn’t a growth target anymore. It’s a blind spot.

See what replaces the average: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xCfPY0

18/08/2026

124 million people already own a smartphone. They just haven't made their first digital payment.

They've cleared the hardest barrier: infrastructure. What's left is the product barrier, which makes them the lowest-cost expansion pool in payments right now.

The gap is widest in MENA, with 63 million adults who own a phone but don't pay digitally yet.

Our Financial Inclusion & Behavior Data tracks this pool by spending power, age, and gender across 190+ countries, nowcast to today and forecast to 2036, so you can size it before you build.

See who saves, borrows, and pays digitally:

https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xJn7s0

14/08/2026

The 8.1 billion global population is polarizing, and the smaller group is outspending the larger one.

4.1 billion core spenders,
at $7,900 (USD) per person
657 million affluent spenders,
at $54,700 (USD) per person

The bottom line? The “average” consumer is a myth you can't plan around.

See where your buyers land: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xCzfb0

13/08/2026

The money is still there; the question is whether you’re positioned to capture it.

See where the spend is going: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0xCyr-0