Why Expensive

'Why Expensive' is an interactive data visualization created in collaboration with information designer Federica Fragapane, data analyst Pallavi Singhal, and Google Trends' Simon Rogers and Alberto Cairo. The project examines a decade of Google searches for 'why is … so expensive' across every country in the world, uncovering how the things people struggle to afford vary dramatically from place to place and over time.

The visualization tells a powerful story: in 2013, the top 'expensive' search in 61 countries was for appliances and technology. By 2023, food and drink had overtaken everything else, becoming the top search in 68 countries — a stark reflection of the global cost-of-living crisis. The project traces this shift year by year, showing how eggs, for example, went from being the top expensive search in just one country in 2015 to fifteen countries by 2023.

The experience is built as a scroll-driven narrative that guides users through global trends before opening into an interactive explorer where they can compare their own country's searches against the rest of the world. Every data point is drawn from real Google Trends data, translated from local languages into English and manually categorized into eight thematic groups — food and drink, appliances and technology, cars and transport, clothing, fuel, healthcare, housing, and education.

Developed with a strong focus on responsive performance and accessibility, the project handles complex multi-dimensional datasets — spanning 190+ countries, 12 years, and eight categories — while keeping the interface intuitive and the visual storytelling emotionally engaging. The result is a data-driven mirror of global economic anxiety, showing not just what things cost, but what people worry about affording.