Hans Rosling's 200 countries, 200 years, 4 minutes

Authored by:John Converse Townsend

Comments

Posted December 21st, 2010


When statistics go stale, Hans Rosling finds a way to make them sing.

So, I'm certain Rosling couldn't resist participating in the operatic ode to the "glorious nerdiness of statistics": 'The Joy of Stats.'

"I kid you not, statistics is now the sexiest subject on the planet."

'The Joy of Stats' is a BBC production in which the effervescent Rosling explains that statistics allow us to "make sense of the world and harness the data deluge to serve us rather than drown in its confusion." In the clip below, he tells the story of 200 countries in 200 years using augmented reality animation. Using 120,00 data points, Rosling plots life expectancy against income for every country since 1810. Check it out.

[H/T Alex Beyard]

Comments

Wed, 12/22/2010 - 02:41
simon russel

John, it's kinds of amazing work you did here in explaining about the 200 countries in 200 years. For normal human being it's not possible, but you done your job beautifully.

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John Converse Townsend profile img
Wed, 12/22/2010 - 02:56
John Converse Townsend

Hi Simon, thanks for your comment and I'm glad you enjoyed the clip. With health and wealth increasing steadily, and with more people living longer than ever before, the challenge will be creating a collaborative global community.

I would love to get my hands on the full copy of 'The Joy of Stats.'