Our mission is to make the numbers matter.
We easily sense the magnitude of familiar items—the people on our block, the students on a school bus, the population of our city. It is much harder to grasp the scale of a raw count of less familiar things.
Counts Matter communicates these critical numbers by referencing familiar comparators. By combining data, intelligence, and presentation, we help people feel the weight of what is being lost.
Data
We maintain a curated repository of numerical data, sourced from the IUCN Red List and other leading conservation organizations, covering hundreds of endangered species.
Intelligence
Our system intelligently selects the most impactful comparators for each population count, ensuring the scale is immediate and emotionally resonant for any audience.
Presentation
Every visualization uses a simple dot-grid approach where each dot represents one living individual. This editorial clarity removes abstraction and restores the individual to the data.
Data & Methodology
Our population estimates are refreshed annually using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, widely recognized as the most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.
Where subspecies data is unavailable, we collaborate with regional partner organizations to ensure the most accurate visualizations possible.