Hans Rosling on global population growth

The world’s population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years — and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth. This is the paradoxical answer that Hans Rosling unveils at TED@Cannes using colorful new data display technology.

Famed for his informal motto: “Let my dataset change your mindset”, Professor Rosling, using unlikely props and eye-popping animations, explains the reasoning (and data) behind his not-so-radical assertion…
Doctor Hans Rosling of Sweden’s renowned Karolinska Institute gave a recent Ted Talk on achieving sustainable, global population growth and puts forth his proscription for avoiding a future population catastrophe.

Using data drawn from UN statistics (on infant mortality, birth rate, education, GDP, etc.), and utilizing a unique visualization software* (which he co-developed with his son and daughter-in-law), Rosling dispels not a few myths that we Westerners have about the developing world.

So, just who is this professor Rosling anyway? Hans Rosling is a professor and researcher at Sweden’s world-respected Karolinka Institute. He established his intrepid physician’s career by tracking a rare paralytic disease (“konzo”) in rural Africa and discovering its cause (hunger and contaminated cassava).

Hans Rosling of the Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Rosling is also the co-founder of Doctors without Borders Sweden and the author of a book on Global Health. Narrating his animations like he was a sportscaster, Rosling’s colorful and entertaining lectures have a serious objective: to change how we think about the ‘developing world’, and so as to motivate us to work towards a sustainable future for everyone.

To do the convincing part (if you needed any), his graphic animations are designed to make global trends clear, while also more playful and intuitive in the way they convey information.

Clinching his colorful reputation, the good doctor is also an accomplished sword-swallower! (not doctor approved).