In this section: Public services
Merseyrail: subsidy, passengers and punctuality
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
£150m for Merseyrail in 2024-25, −4.8% on a year earlier after inflation. That is £5.21 per passenger journey in 2024-25 (2025-26 prices); a negative figure is a premium paid to the government. 69.0% of its trains arrived on time in 2025-26.
Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road, Office of Rail and Road.
Key figures
- £150m2024-25, cash −1.0% on a year earlier
- £5.21Government subsidy per passenger journey, 2024-25 England and Wales operators: £2.13
- 69.0%Trains on time, 2025-26 England and Wales operators: 66.5%
- 2.7%Cancellations, 2025-26 England and Wales operators: 3.7%
- 25.2%Fares as a share of operating costs, 2024-25
Source: Office of Rail and Road.
Over time: cash, real terms and per resident
Real terms use HM Treasury’s GDP deflator, 2025-26 prices. Breaks in the series: 2015-16: Network Rail was reclassified to central government in September 2014; its spending counts in the railway line and the Department for Transport’s budget from 2015-16, which is why rail spending jumps that year. ORR’s operator subsidy also changes source that year. 2016-17: HM Treasury’s figures from 2016-17 (PESA 2021 onwards) include the local-government part of Transport for London’s Transport Trading Limited, including Crossrail; earlier years, from older editions, do not. 2020-21: From March 2020 emergency agreements moved train operators’ revenue risk to the government, and bus operators received pandemic grants: support rose sharply in 2020-21 and 2021-22 while fares fell.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Cash |
|---|---|---|
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £115.1m | £83.0m |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £110.6m | £81.3m |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £111.6m | £83.1m |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £117.8m | £89.7m |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £136.2m | £106.5m |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £137.1m | £112.8m |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £134.0m | £110.5m |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £136.9m | £120.8m |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £163.5m | £151.9m |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £155.6m | £150.4m |
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Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road, Office of Rail and Road.
Source: Office of Rail and Road, Table 7226: franchised passenger train operator finances by franchise, published 25 November 2025; Office of Rail and Road, Table 7273: government subsidy by franchised passenger operator (up to 2018-19), published 14 November 2019.
Who runs it and who pays
Merseyrail is funded through Merseytravel (Liverpool City Region). It was run under a franchise and, since 2020, under emergency and then national rail contracts, with the government taking the fares.
Changes of ownership and the 2020 emergency agreements are marked as breaks on the charts on this page. Every operator’s changes.
Income and costs
From the operator’s accounts as ORR publishes them (table 7226), rebased with HM Treasury’s GDP deflator. The gap between costs and income is met mostly by government; from 2020-21 the government took the fares and paid the operator’s costs. ORR notes that operators divide costs between categories differently.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Fare income | Operating expenditure | Staff costs |
|---|---|---|---|
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £66m | £186m | £77m |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £63m | £173m | £79m |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £65m | £175m | £77m |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £66m | £183m | £73m |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £64m | £205m | £76m |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £19m | £194m | £75m |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £44m | £202m | £64m |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £44m | £199m | £67m |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £48m | £191m | £72m |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £49m | £194m | £74m |
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Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
Where it sits, and what is below it
- UK total
- Nation
- Department or service body
- Local body (this level)
- Spending category not published
- Line or transaction not published
Merseyrail
Net government subsidy to the operator (Merseytravel (Liverpool City Region)); negative figures are premiums it paid to the government. From 2015-16 this is ORR’s net franchise subsidy from the operator’s accounts, published in April 2024 to March 2025 and converted back to cash here; before that, the government’s payments to the franchise holder in cash.
£150m in 2024-25 (cash); £156m in 2025-26 prices; −1.0% on a year earlier in cash, −4.8% in real terms.
Spending category: not published. Government payments are not broken down further. The operator’s income and costs (fares, staff, rolling stock, track access) are published by ORR and shown on its page; they are the operator’s own accounts, not a breakdown of the subsidy.
Cash is as published. Real terms are in 2025-26 prices, using HM Treasury’s GDP deflator. Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population for the area the body serves. Changes compare the same body in consecutive years.
What is recorded alongside the money
These figures are published beside the funding, not as its result. Demand, geography, recording practice and many other things differ between areas and change over time; none of these charts shows cause and effect.
| Measure | Merseyrail | England and Wales operators | All franchised operators, Great Britain | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Government subsidy per passenger journeyDetails for Government subsidy per passenger journey | £5.21 | £2.13 | £2.52 | 2024-25 |
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Trains on timeDetails for Trains on time | 69.0% | 66.5% | 66.7% | 2025-26 |
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CancellationsDetails for Cancellations | 2.7% | 3.7% | 3.5% | 2025-26 |
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Fares as a share of operating costsDetails for Fares as a share of operating costs | 25.2% | not published | 71.4% | 2024-25 |
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Government subsidy per passenger kilometreDetails for Government subsidy per passenger kilometre | 28.7 pence | not published | 6.9 pence | 2024-25 |
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Passenger journeysDetails for Passenger journeys | 31.5 million | not published | not published | 2025-26 |
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Staff costsDetails for Staff costs | 73.9 £ million | not published | 4,603.9 £ million | 2024-25 |
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The operator’s net government subsidy (negative where it paid the government a premium) divided by its passenger journeys, in 2025-26 prices. Subsidy is ORR’s net franchise subsidy from 2015-16 and, before that, the government’s payments to the franchise holder (ORR table 7273, without its estimated share of the network grant), so there is a break at 2015-16. Worked out here from ORR’s figures. Breaks in the series: 2015-16: Subsidy before 2015-16 is from the government’s payment records (ORR table 7273); from 2015-16 from the operator’s own accounts (table 7226). 2020-21: From March 2020 emergency agreements moved revenue risk to the government: subsidy rose as fares fell, and later contracts pay a fee to run services for the government.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail | England and Wales operators | All franchised operators, Great Britain |
|---|---|---|---|
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £3.50 | £-0.78 | £-0.49 |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £3.37 | £-0.81 | £-0.55 |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £3.64 | £-0.61 | £-0.31 |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £3.82 | £0.05 | £0.39 |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £4.45 | £0.52 | £0.89 |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £15.20 | £32.02 | £33.80 |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £6.37 | £7.78 | £8.40 |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £5.37 | £3.10 | £3.55 |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £5.78 | £2.27 | £2.68 |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £5.21 | £2.13 | £2.52 |
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Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
Share of recorded station stops where the train arrived early or less than a minute late, over the financial year (ORR table 3133).
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail | England and Wales operators | All franchised operators, Great Britain |
|---|---|---|---|
2014-15Details for 2014-15 | 71.3% | 64.6% | 64.5% |
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2015-16Details for 2015-16 | 68.0% | 63.3% | 63.2% |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | 67.6% | 62.0% | 62.0% |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | 64.7% | 62.8% | 62.8% |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | 69.0% | 63.6% | 63.5% |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | 72.6% | 64.8% | 65.0% |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | 85.3% | 80.1% | 79.8% |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | 78.9% | 73.4% | 73.1% |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | 73.8% | 67.6% | 67.8% |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | 70.7% | 67.3% | 67.6% |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | 70.7% | 66.8% | 67.0% |
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2025-26Details for 2025-26 | 69.0% | 66.5% | 66.7% |
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Figure as of 17 September 2026. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
The cancellations score (a full cancellation counts one, a part cancellation a half) as a share of trains planned, over the financial year (ORR table 3123).
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail | England and Wales operators | All franchised operators, Great Britain |
|---|---|---|---|
2019-20Details for 2019-20 | 1.0% | 3.5% | 3.4% |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | 1.2% | 2.1% | 2.1% |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | 1.1% | 3.4% | 3.3% |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | 2.2% | 3.8% | 3.7% |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | 3.1% | 3.9% | 3.7% |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | 3.6% | 4.3% | 4.1% |
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2025-26Details for 2025-26 | 2.7% | 3.7% | 3.5% |
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Figure as of 17 September 2026. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
Fare income as a share of the operator’s operating expenditure (staff, rolling stock, track access and other costs), from its management accounts (ORR table 7226). Breaks in the series: 2015-16: Subsidy before 2015-16 is from the government’s payment records (ORR table 7273); from 2015-16 from the operator’s own accounts (table 7226). 2020-21: From March 2020 emergency agreements moved revenue risk to the government: subsidy rose as fares fell, and later contracts pay a fee to run services for the government.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail | All franchised operators, Great Britain |
|---|---|---|
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | 35.5% | 101.9% |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | 36.6% | 101.9% |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | 37.2% | 97.6% |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | 35.8% | 89.3% |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | 31.1% | 81.9% |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | 9.6% | 14.6% |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | 21.6% | 44.3% |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | 21.9% | 63.7% |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | 25.0% | 69.7% |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | 25.2% | 71.4% |
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Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
Net franchise subsidy divided by passenger kilometres travelled on the operator, in 2025-26 prices, from 2015-16. Long-distance operators carry passengers further, so this is the fairer comparison between them and commuter operators. Breaks in the series: 2015-16: Subsidy before 2015-16 is from the government’s payment records (ORR table 7273); from 2015-16 from the operator’s own accounts (table 7226). 2020-21: From March 2020 emergency agreements moved revenue risk to the government: subsidy rose as fares fell, and later contracts pay a fee to run services for the government.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail | All franchised operators, Great Britain |
|---|---|---|
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | 19.8 | -1.3 |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | 18.5 | -1.5 |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | 20.2 | -0.8 |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | 21.5 | 1.0 |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | 24.5 | 2.3 |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | 83.1 | 105.3 |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | 35.0 | 21.5 |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | 30.3 | 9.4 |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | 32.0 | 7.3 |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | 28.7 | 6.9 |
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Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
Passenger journeys on the operator’s trains in the financial year (ORR table 1223), from ticket sales and estimates for travel cards and passes. Breaks in the series: 2020-21: ORR marks a break in its journey estimates from this year. 2021-22: ORR marks a break in its journey estimates from this year. 2022-23: London and South East operators’ journeys include an estimate for Freedom Pass travel that ORR says is likely to be understated this year.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail |
|---|---|
| 2011-12 | 32.5 |
| 2012-13 | 31.2 |
| 2013-14 | 32.0 |
| 2014-15 | 33.1 |
| 2015-16 | 32.9 |
| 2016-17 | 32.8 |
| 2017-18 | 30.6 |
| 2018-19 | 30.8 |
| 2019-20 | 30.6 |
| 2020-21 | 9.0 |
| 2021-22 | 21.0 |
| 2022-23 | 25.5 |
| 2023-24 | 28.3 |
| 2024-25 | 29.9 |
| 2025-26 | 31.5 |
Figure as of 18 June 2026. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
The operator’s staff costs in 2025-26 prices (ORR table 7226). ORR does not publish the number of staff by operator.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Merseyrail | All franchised operators, Great Britain |
|---|---|---|
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | 76.6 | 3,904.0 |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | 79.3 | 4,048.0 |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | 76.8 | 4,126.5 |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | 73.2 | 4,329.2 |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | 76.3 | 4,604.6 |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | 75.0 | 4,577.6 |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | 64.4 | 4,455.3 |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | 67.0 | 4,172.8 |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | 72.0 | 4,337.3 |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | 73.9 | 4,603.9 |
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Figure as of 25 November 2025. Source: Office of Rail and Road.
What these figures do and don't show
- Subsidy is a net figure. Government payments to the operator less any premium it paid; ORR publishes it from the operator’s accounts from 2015-16, and before that from the government’s payment records, so there is a break in 2015-16.
- From March 2020 the government took the fares. Emergency agreements and then national rail contracts moved revenue risk to the government, so subsidy rose as fares fell; years before and after are not like for like.
- Per journey and per kilometre are worked out here from ORR’s subsidy and usage tables. Long-distance operators carry passengers further, so per kilometre is the fairer comparison between them and commuter operators.
- Punctuality is not only the operator’s doing. Delays caused by Network Rail, other operators and outside events count against the operator whose train was late.
- Nothing here shows cause and effect. Subsidy, punctuality and passenger numbers are shown side by side.
Where this sits: United Kingdom → England → Railways, England → Merseyrail. Figures from data/services/transport.json, generated 29 September 2026.
Use this data
The figures belong to the bodies that published them and are used under their terms, listed in Sources for this page; most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence. Only our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, published under CC BY 4.0: reuse them, including commercially, if you credit Tekstak Ltd and link back to this page.
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Sources for this page
| Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Table 7226: franchised passenger train operator finances by franchise | Office of Rail and Road | 25 November 2025 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Table 7273: government subsidy by franchised passenger operator (up to 2018-19) | Office of Rail and Road | 14 November 2019 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Table 3133: train punctuality at recorded station stops by operator | Office of Rail and Road | 17 September 2026 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Table 3123: trains planned and cancellations by operator | Office of Rail and Road | 17 September 2026 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Table 1223: passenger journeys by operator | Office of Rail and Road | 18 June 2026 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, under CC BY 4.0.