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The Incredible Progress of the “Developing World” [video]

18 points by sonabinu 14y ago

RyanZAG 14y ago
What? Stop measuring and go and visit these countries. Progress is still a long, long way from developed countries. EDIT: My point here is that calling the infant care and mortality gap between developed and developing countries a myth papers over so much of the truth of the situations in developing countries that it is actively harmful, in my opinion. I'd go as far as to say that the data collection itself may be flawed if this is the conclusion and I hope nobody is making any actual judgements on the health care positions of African countries from this. The data itself simply follows too smooth a path across the years, even with major political instability and war during these years. The data itself is also self reported by these countries, and they have a lot of reasons to make it appear that their country is improving. Basically - these measurements don't appear to match up with the reality on the ground. Measuring something from across the planet with no direct context does not seem correct to me.
- sonabinu 14y ago
  sure it is ... but they are not stuck in the same place they were 20 or 30 years back.
  - sanoli 14y ago
    But the way the professor is saying makes it look like the countries who move into the developed world 'square' are now, in fact, developed. Ethiopia's capital is far, far from 'developed country' status. I guess you and the parent are right, though.
    - vidarh 14y ago
      It seemed pretty clear to me that he was talking about two specific metrics - child mortality and birth rate -, and using them as an example of how having data lets you destroy common myths about how far the developing world is lagging behind. E.g. we still frequently see the "what do they need the X for, they don't have food and water" lumping all of Africa in one basket whenever someone presents a project to provide something other than pure basics to somewhere in Africa - people are still stuck with the images they got uised to with Live Aid irom 1985. Meanwhile Arica as a whole is about to pass 80% cellphone penetration.
- vidarh 14y ago
  That's the most ridiculous statement I've read in a long time.
- mikeash 14y ago
  Ignore data and go in search of anecdotes? Wha?
- Isamu 14y ago
  Don't confuse Hans Rosling with someone who has never studied health issues on the ground in Africa. He has. What Hans Rosling has been doing for the past few years with these data visualizations is argue that our views of the developing world are outdated, and that we need to develop a more flexible model of appropriate aid for countries depending on where they are now in their development cycle.

18 points by sonabinu 14y ago

What? Stop measuring and go and visit these countries. Progress is still a long, long way from developed countries. EDIT: My point here is that calling the infant care and mortality gap between developed and developing countries a myth papers over so much of the truth of the situations in developing countries that it is actively harmful, in my opinion. I'd go as far as to say that the data collection itself may be flawed if this is the conclusion and I hope nobody is making any actual judgements on the health care positions of African countries from this. The data itself simply follows too smooth a path across the years, even with major political instability and war during these years. The data itself is also self reported by these countries, and they have a lot of reasons to make it appear that their country is improving. Basically - these measurements don't appear to match up with the reality on the ground. Measuring something from across the planet with no direct context does not seem correct to me.

sonabinu 14y ago
sure it is ... but they are not stuck in the same place they were 20 or 30 years back.
- sanoli 14y ago
  But the way the professor is saying makes it look like the countries who move into the developed world 'square' are now, in fact, developed. Ethiopia's capital is far, far from 'developed country' status. I guess you and the parent are right, though.
  - vidarh 14y ago
    It seemed pretty clear to me that he was talking about two specific metrics - child mortality and birth rate -, and using them as an example of how having data lets you destroy common myths about how far the developing world is lagging behind. E.g. we still frequently see the "what do they need the X for, they don't have food and water" lumping all of Africa in one basket whenever someone presents a project to provide something other than pure basics to somewhere in Africa - people are still stuck with the images they got uised to with Live Aid irom 1985. Meanwhile Arica as a whole is about to pass 80% cellphone penetration.
vidarh 14y ago
That's the most ridiculous statement I've read in a long time.
mikeash 14y ago
Ignore data and go in search of anecdotes? Wha?
Isamu 14y ago
Don't confuse Hans Rosling with someone who has never studied health issues on the ground in Africa. He has. What Hans Rosling has been doing for the past few years with these data visualizations is argue that our views of the developing world are outdated, and that we need to develop a more flexible model of appropriate aid for countries depending on where they are now in their development cycle.