The World's Most Inclusive Math Competition

Mathematics has quietly become the universal language of our age. Every climate model, every poverty forecast, every demographic projection that World Data Lab publishes is at heart a story written in numbers. Yet for too many young people, the discipline still feels distant — locked behind expensive prep courses, elite academies and competitions designed for a tiny global minority.

The World Insights Competition (WIC) was created to break that pattern. Built in partnership with Jim Gaona Ellis, World Data Lab's education consultant, WIC is the most accessible and inclusive maths competition on the planet. There are no entry fees, no travel requirements and no calculators. The only prerequisite is curiosity.

Students work in small teams to interpret real datasets — youth employment in Africa, internet affordability across South Asia, water stress in the Mediterranean — and translate their findings into a short, evidence-based recommendation. The exercise mirrors the work our own analysts do every day.

By centring the competition on real-world data rather than abstract puzzles, we hope to do two things: show students that the maths they learn in class can change policy and business decisions, and help educators surface a generation of analytical talent that traditional competitions have systematically missed.

Registration for the next cycle is open to schools in any country. If you teach, mentor or simply believe more young people deserve a seat at the data table, we'd love to hear from you.