Comments on: Shanghai, New York, Mumbai

By: Hans Rosling: Global health expert and data visionary | OBRA MAESTRA

Hans Rosling: Global health expert and data visionary | OBRA MAESTRA — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:03:15 +0000

[...] this Video Shanghai, New York, Mumbai Posted April 2, 2009 Is Shanghai healthier than New York?And how do Washington D.C. and Mumbai [...]

By: Aixer

Aixer — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:01:50 +0000

“From a statistics point of view the scale on the bottom of that chart shows the jump from 400-1000 as the same distance as 40k-100k! I understand that most of these charts are designed to make the western world look weaker but that is a dirty tactic to make the progress of the US seem very slow compared to China and India.”

The scale for money is logarithmic. It is done mostly because economic growth is almost always measured as a percentage rather than nominally. This way, from 400-1000 is a 250% growth and 40k-100k is also a 250% growth. It is not really a “dirty tactic” because although the difference between 400 and 1000 dollars is significantly less than the difference between 100k and 40k, getting from 400 to 1000 is roughly just as easy (or difficult in this case) as getting from 40k to 1000k. The rich usually get rich much faster than the poor. This is because the rich have more money to invest than the poor. This is no different when comparing countries.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:11:42 +0000

As a dual major in statistics and political science I just want to point out a few things about this video. First I want to say how great gapminder is in bringing an alternative mostly objective view to highly covered news stories.
From a statistics point of view the scale on the bottom of that chart shows the jump from 400-1000 as the same distance as 40k-100k! I understand that most of these charts are designed to make the western world look weaker but that is a dirty tactic to make the progress of the US seem very slow compared to China and India.
Politically speaking he artfully dodges the fact that India has a state run health care system and is worse than both China and the US but still says the US healthcare system structure is the cause. While this may be true, he uses false evidence to back up his claim. On top of that he uses wealthy Chinese cities as a comparison where wealthy Chinese cities have some of the best IFM rates in the world. Why not include a European country like France if he wants to comment on health care systems and their effects on IFM?
It is nice to see someone who doesn’t view the world as western dominated in every way, but I don’t agree with finding information to prove that point, he should should information first then make conclusions.

By: Staffan

Staffan — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:21:58 +0000

Babu, the video is a youtube-video, what you need to watch youtube is flash installed and an Internet connection. There shouldn’t be any problem with the video, please contact us directly if you continue to have problems.

By: Babu

Babu — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:42:01 +0000

Hi,

I’m not able to see this video. I do have ADOBE players but still the video doesn’t show up. Is everyone having the same issue?

Please help.

By: Patricia Thompson-Reid

Patricia Thompson-Reid — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:44:56 +0000

There is also a high levels of social inequality among various ethnics groups in Washington D.C., most notably between whites and blacks.

By: Sanjay Kher

Sanjay Kher — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:39:31 +0000

Sir,

I understand that the software you use to display data is proprietary. However, is it available to Professors lke me who would like to use it for presentation to students.

I am a lawyer by profession who immensely loves to teach. I teach at about 8-10 colleges – including the Mumbai University.

Sanjay Kher