World Suffering Index (WSI)
Annual country‑by‑category overview in USU (experienced burden) and LPY (lost flourishing).
USU in one minute
USU (Universal Suffering Units) measures the experienced burden of suffering. It scales with how intense suffering is, how long it lasts, and how many people are affected. USUs are additive across people and time, so totals can be summed for events, countries, or years.
- 0.001 USU → needle prick (blood draw)
- 0.01 USU → stubbed toe / paper cut
- 0.1 USU → fingertip burn (hours of throbbing)
- 1.0 USU → renal colic (kidney‑stone) episode (or unmedicated active labor)
We publish medians with 90% uncertainty intervals and avoid double counting overlapping harms with a documented overlap rule.
LPY (Lost Potential Years)
LPY complements USU. While USU captures the felt experience, LPY captures the time of flourishing erased by suffering—years not lived or lived far below potential. We publish both so decision‑makers see experience and time loss.
Read methods →Methods in brief
- Additive unit: USU sums across people and time.
- Kidney‑stone anchor: 1.0 USU = peak renal colic episode (or unmedicated active labor).
- Uncertainty: we report medians with 90% uncertainty intervals.
- No double counting: overlapping harms are combined with a documented diminishing‑returns rule.
Full methods and open files are available at sufferingunits.org.
Governance
USU methods, anchors, and mappings are versioned and open. We welcome external review and advisory participation.
WSI Preview (coming soon)
Initial release with 5 countries × 3 categories, showing USU + LPY with 90% uncertainty intervals and a brief methods box.
USU = experienced burdenLPY = lost flourishing
Press & Media
For inquiries and resources, visit the Press page or email press@worldsufferingindex.org.
Contact
General: contact@worldsufferingindex.org
Research: research@sufferingunits.org
Methods Hub
For methods, anchors, calibration files, and templates, visit the USU hub.
sufferingunits.org →