Recency Bias
Across language editions, the data show bias towards recent dates, having a large proportion of dates (between 60 and 80 percent) in the more recent decades (since 1800), and very low date counts before 1500. This is partly due to the chosen subject (nation states), but also points to a more general recency bias.
Wikipedia readers can find a more detailed documentation of historic events of the past 200 years, compared to earlier centuries. Apart from intense coverage of the most recent events (2000s), we also observe peaks of date mentions that correspond to some of the most violent recent conflicts: Napoleonic war (1800-10s) and the First (1910s) and the Second (1940s) World Wars.
Distribution of collected dates in 30 language editions. Across editions of all sizes we observe the same strong bias towards dates within the last 100 years, while dates from before 1500 are rarely mentioned.
Distribution of collected dates in top 10 countries according to the number of collected dates. Across countries we observe the same strong bias towards dates within the last 100 years, while dates from before 1500 are rarely mentioned.