 Here, the authors study the population-level impact of antimicrobial resistance genes, ARGES. By analyzing 8,972 metagenomes and 3,096 gut microbiomes from healthy individuals not taking antibiotics, they demonstrate significant correlations between both the total ARG abundance and diversity and per capita antibiotic usage rates across 10 countries spanning three continents. Using a collection of 154,723 human-associated metagenome-assembled genomes, MAGS, they link these ARGES to microbial taxa and horizontal gene transfer. This article was authored by Kayan Lee, Sebastian Ragado, Kimo Siren, and others.