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Gapminder: A Fact Based World View

By Celeste Hamilton, editor of La Vida Idealist, our blog about volunteering in Latin America.


From Flickr user futureshape I'm trying to make it a habit to watch a Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) video every day. A nonprofit devoted to "ideas worth spreading," they almost always present incredibly interesting speakers, and I usually find myself in a contemplative state after watching one. So when I saw a TED video on a friend's Facebook page the other day featuring Hans Rosling, a Swedish professor of International Health, I immediately pressed play.

Rosling is the founder of Gapminder, a nonprofit that gives statistical context to the world's social, economic, health and environmental issues. Using dynamic graphs full of colorful bubbles and unlikely intersections of axis, Rosling attempts to deepen our understanding about global problems by challenging preconceived notions. Topics range from breast cancer to CO2 emissions, and the data is nothing short of is interesting not to mention useful for everyone from policy makers to volunteers.

The particular video I watched focused on debunking myths about developing countries, delving into topics such as fertility rates and HIV/AIDS. I was riveted. I'm not really into math or graphs at all, but the way the data was presented was clear and simple without comprising the complexity. And beautiful, in a minimalistic way. Even though I work in the nonprofit sector and am expected to be up on the latest trends, it made me realize just how little I know. So I sat there and watched about six more videos, learning about things such as the last 40 years of urban growth and how Bangladesh had rapidly reduced its child mortality rate.

Gapminder makes me think: How can we use this data to make more informed decisions regarding development, both locally and abroad?