Big numbers again, Kash. As you pointed out yesterday, it's hard for our little minds to grasp numbers that size. But it sure sounds like a lot.
30% to 18% represents real improvement, but I have a certain difficulty with graphs that slice the bar right by the lowest number. It fools the brain at some level.
I don't mean you need to show the whole bar, but ideally enough of it so that people get a realistic idea of the steepness of the curve.
Still an impressive result, particularly if you taken in population increases. Speaking of which the relation between gross numbers and percentages is not one to one, you could have held the number steady and still have been making percentage gains. So one side or the other is off here.
Whats the graph if its "Inflation adjusted $1/day"?
Nicholas: These figures are adjusted for inflation already. They use PPP exchange rates to convert income to 1993 dollars. In other words, the numbers show how many people around the world have income equivalent to less than what $1 could buy in 1993.
Is the improvement all China?
Kash, there's an important caveat that this graph hides. As people move from the countryside to the city, the cash costs of living rise substantially. One has to look at much more fine-grained data. Calorie consumption is one of the very basic ones. Charts like these are useful. Life expectancy is another useful statistic. The drop in Russian life expectancy reflected a decline in standard of living that was not captured in economic data.
I'd love to believe we are headed toward a world where people feel secure that they can eat, sleep under a roof, and get basic services like medical care and education. Looking at this country does not make me optimistic. Greed is so very destructive.
interesting on a global analysis. However in economics the important question is the distribution. Here it would be interesting to have this chart by region. No doubt some like China have seen a massive improvement but some like Africa cannot say the same. the reverse side of the coin would be nice to see as well : what about the evolution of the number and proportion of people making more than 10 mios dollar per year ?
I feel fairly secure in saying that the improvement is in China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America (fingers crossed on that one) and so on. Rather than China being the extraordinary case and the rest of the poor world staying largely where it was, it is instead the case that miju points out. Africa has not joined the party.
Thats an excellent graph then. Although it should have said as such on the headline part to prevent confusing poor souls like me.
further details on the distribution questions (China, Africa, etc) are available in a wayyyy-cool format at gapminder.org -- check out the "human development trends 2005" presentation.
PS
PS -- yes, Africa does go backwards...
Seriously this is one of the most important developments in the history of the world. yeah most of it is due to the resergence of China and India. But seriously how many people were directly affected by the Italian Renessance? How many by the Industrial revolution? This clearly ranks up there with that. Historians will look back 100 or 500 years from now, and this worldwide growth will be what they focus on and the most important development of the period (well global warming might also have a promement place)
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