Hans Rosling, founder and director of Gapminder, is one of the world’s “100 most important global thinkers” of 2009, according to Foreign Policy Magazine.
Hans Rosling comments the list on his Twitter-feed: “One of 100 top global thinker, Honored, but instead of #96 I had rather been placed after Valerie Hudson (#97).
Rosling is honored at #96 on the list for “boggling our minds with paradigm-shattering data“. The list is topped by (1) Ben Bernanke, the chairman of US federal reserve for his actions to turn the US-depression and (2) Barack Obama for “for reimagining America’s role in the world.”
Here is what Foreign Policy writes about Hans Rosling:
Rosling, a doctor and global-health professor, has become famous for his energetic lectures, in which he narrates mind-blowing statistics on development and public health — as they literally move across a screen. Imagine x-y axes filled with data points, each representing a country. As time passes, the dots move, realigning to show changes in child mortality, percentage of paved roads, unemployment rates, or pretty much any other metric you can imagine. Rosling’s quest to use numbers to shatter stereotypes of rich and poor countries has brought him global prominence.
At TEDIndia, the first ever TED-conference in Asia, Hans Rosling spoke about the rise of Asia and showed how the region has developed over the last 150 years.
There are large differences across the world in the age at the first marriage for girls. Some regions have experienced a dramatic increase. This can be seen in the new dataset compiled by Gapminder.
Which country has the largest grain production? Who produces the most fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee beans or other crops? And who brings up the most sheeps, cows, or other livestock?
Can the population growth be stopped? Is Brazil, Egypt and Bangladesh now improving faster than Sweden ever did? And can everyone live on the same level as the rich countries?
