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.
- 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
- Tobacco taxation advocacy — moderate , depth 3, draft
- Vitamin A supplementation — moderate , depth 2, draft
- Seasonal malaria chemoprevention — strong , depth 2, draft
- Incentives for childhood vaccination — moderate , depth 2, draft
- Unconditional cash transfers — strong , depth 1, draft
- Microcredit — strong , depth 1, draft
- Food banks and food pantries — moderate , depth 0, draft
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
- Corporate animal welfare campaigns — weak , depth 3, draft
- Mass deworming — mixed , depth 2, draft
- Teaching at the Right Level — strong , depth 2, draft
- Housing First — strong , depth 1, draft
- Housing First — strong , depth 1, draft
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
- Food banks and food pantries — moderate , depth 0, draft
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
No intervention entry is linked here yet. This is a coverage gap in the Record.
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.
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.
Your work stays in this browser. Export a backup to move it elsewhere. Entries are your research notes, not verified findings or ratings.