CNN's reporting of population growth in China

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just saw Sanjay Gupta report that China’s population has grown %1000 (“One thousand percent”) in the last thirty years.

:rolleyes:

http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/data/pop/pop_21_m.htm

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I mean, I know I shouldn’t believe what I hear on TV but this is my first time spotting something so incredibly blatant. What can I say, I don’t watch that much TV.

-FrL-

2

Well, the world’s population of elephants tripled a few years ago, so 1000% more chinese sounds do-able.

3

1000% probably sounded much cooler than, say – 200%. At least they’re not mentioning the jumping up and down thing.

4

Well, given that one could reasonably say the population has grown 100% in the last thirty years, we may charitably assume he simply misread a prompt and inserted an extra zero by mistake. Of course, 1000% is such a ridiculous number that one should normally be able to realize it can’t possibly be correct, but in the thick of the studio, I can see losing track of what you’re saying. Not that this excuses the mistake, as such, but it may be symptomatic more of a minor flub than deep-rooted innumeracy.

Though, I didn’t see the broadcast, so for all I know, my interpretation is completely untenable for some reason.

5

You may well be right. I didn’t see it with my own two eyes–my wife saw it while I was in the same room and immediately remarked on it. So I can’t say for sure whether the possiblilities you mention in fact obtain.

-FrL-