# 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 14, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057 "2010-12-14T00:14:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/1 "2010-12-14T00:14:08Z")
This is a quick, neat video presented with modern technology that briefly summarizes the rise of mankind from all over the world from a relatively mundane wealth and life expectancy point 200 years ago to where we are today. Really interesting! > **[200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes](https://www.flixxy.com/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes.htm)** > > Statistics come to life when Swedish academic superstar Hans Rosling graphically illustrates global development over the last 200 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/2 "2010-12-14T00:21:52Z")
Cooool! Notice that even the poorest countries of now are, on average, as well off or better off than the richest of 200 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/3 "2010-12-14T00:30:37Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Cooool! > > Notice that even the poorest countries of now are, on average, as well off or better off than the richest of 200 years ago. I know. That was the first thought that crossed my mind. I guess to me this demonstrates that sometimes no matter how bad things may seem, humanity somehow finds a way to forge forward and evolve as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/4 "2010-12-14T00:32:50Z")
Cool, but I kept being distracted by the two Asian outliers that went crazy high crazy fast. Japan wasn’t one of them…what are they? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/5 "2010-12-14T00:41:39Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Cool, but I kept being distracted by the two Asian outliers that went crazy high crazy fast. Japan wasn’t one of them…what are they? Singapore? Hong Kong? And I noticed that around 1940 there’s a country that drops vertically like a stone, then recovers. I wonder what that was? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/6 "2010-12-14T00:56:28Z")
What surprised me was the huge drop after WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/7 "2010-12-14T02:15:33Z")
If you watch around 1940, you’ll see some small European country (an orange circle) plummet down below the 25 year life expectency line and then jump way back up almost immediately. I assume it’s some country that got caught up in WWII but it seems to have recovered even before the war ended. eta: I see Sunspace asked the same question. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/8 "2010-12-14T03:23:22Z")
Oh, this is the gapminder guy! The most fun website in the world, if you’re a giant nerd. I’m gonna have to send this video to my public health professor, who once claimed that gapminder changed her life. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/9 "2010-12-14T03:33:36Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Oh, this is the gapminder guy! The most fun website in the world, if you’re a giant nerd. I’m gonna have to send this video to my public health professor, who once claimed that gapminder changed her life. Can you elaborate on what “the gapminder guy” is for the naive? ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/10 "2010-12-14T04:13:44Z")
Does anyone know what the orange country is that bounces around a lot at the beginning? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/11 "2010-12-14T04:22:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you watch around 1940, you’ll see some small European country (an orange circle) plummet down below the 25 year life expectency line and then jump way back up almost immediately. I assume it’s some country that got caught up in WWII but it seems to have recovered even before the war ended. > > eta: I see Sunspace asked the same question. That’s the Ukraine. It starts its plummet it '39 then starts up again. I’m starting to think there’s a few countries that God just seems to hate. The Ukraine is one of them. > [@RadicalPi](#): > > Does anyone know what the orange country is that bounces around a lot at the beginning? It’s Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/12 "2010-12-14T04:35:33Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Can you elaborate on what “the gapminder guy” is for the naive? [Gapminder.](http://www.gapminder.org/) Looks like he does this for a lot of things. Never heard of it and now I can look forward to staying up late. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/13 "2010-12-14T04:48:21Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > Does anyone know what the orange country is that bounces around a lot at the beginning? Yeah that was distracting - it went up and down like someone bouncing a rubber ball - I am very curious. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/14 "2010-12-14T04:48:50Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Yeah that was distracting - it went up and down like someone bouncing a rubber ball - I am very curious. Psst: post 11 ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/15 "2010-12-14T04:55:16Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Psst: post 11 Ah, didn’t see that. Thanks. So why was Sweden bouncing around so much? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/16 "2010-12-14T05:00:27Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Ah, didn’t see that. Thanks. > > So why was Sweden bouncing around so much? I’m not really sure but this is what I found in wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The steady decline of death rates in Sweden began about 1810. For men and women of working age the death rate trend diverged, however, leading to increased excess male mortality during the first half of the century. There were very high rates of infant and child mortality before 1800, Among infants and children between the ages of one and four smallpox peaked as a cause of death in the 1770s-1780s and declined afterward. Mortality also peaked during this period due to other air-, food-, and waterborne diseases, but these declined as well during the early 19th century. The decline of several diseases during this time created a more favorable environment that increased children’s resistance to disease and dramatically lowered child mortality ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/17 "2010-12-14T05:31:53Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > What surprised me was the huge drop after WWI. That was the flu pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/18 "2010-12-14T05:51:31Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > It’s Sweden. Ah, thanks. New question: Does he take into account inflation? It seems that everyone has more money now, but how much wealthier have people really gotten over the past two hundred years? The increase in life expectancy, the world over, though, is quite impressive. A nice bit of pride for the species, in my humble opinion, although there’s a bit more to do. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/19 "2010-12-14T05:59:17Z")
China plummets like a stone at around 1960 and bounces right back up by 1963. Kind of chilling when you think about it. Hope you’re having a good time roasting in hell with demon cock up your ass, Chairman Mao. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057/20 "2010-12-14T06:06:35Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > That was the flu pandemic. I knew it was the Spanish Flu, I’ve read that it was devastating, but I never realized just how _bad_ it was. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes/564057.md?page=2)