The Tokyo Olympics: One thing that can’t be automated

Visual form

Bubble scatter plot with labeled country points.

Layout / body structure

The chart is a single scatter plot read across GDP per capita on the horizontal axis and upward by share of work activities displaced on the vertical axis. After locating the main clusters, use the bubble sizes and country labels to compare how many full-time-equivalent jobs could be displaced by 2030.

What is being compared

The chart compares countries on three dimensions at once: GDP per capita in 2030, the share of current work activities displaced by automation from 2016 to 2030, and the total number of full-time-equivalent jobs displaced by 2030. It also groups countries by age cohort through color.

Measurement system

The horizontal axis is GDP per capita in 2030 in thousands of 2010 dollars, the vertical axis is the share of work activities displaced in percent, and bubble area represents FTE jobs displaced in millions. Colors indicate age group clusters, and the numbered labels map to country names in the key below the chart.

Visible structure inside the graphic

The main field contains dozens of labeled bubbles with a separate bubble-size key in the lower right. A text callout points to Japan near the upper middle of the chart, and a large legend below the plot maps the point numbers to countries grouped by age categories.

Main takeaway from the visual

Japan stands out because it combines one of the highest projected shares of work displaced with a large number of jobs affected, despite not being at the absolute far right of GDP per capita. The chart also shows that displacement is not only a rich-country story: some lower-income countries have large bubbles because their labor forces are large even when their GDP per capita is low.

Key standout values or extremes

Japan is called out around 23 million displaced jobs and roughly 27 percent of work activities displaced. The largest bubble on the chart sits among lower-to-middle GDP-per-capita countries and signals over 100 million displaced jobs, while the size legend marks reference levels of 1, 15, 60, and 120 million. Several high-income countries such as Norway and Switzerland sit far to the right on GDP per capita but with smaller bubbles than the biggest large-labor-force countries.

Controls / sequence, when applicable

This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.

Companion media, when applicable

There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.