When asked simple questions about global trends – why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty – we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers according to the book's authors.

In their new book Factfulness, Professor of International Health Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling, offer a radical new explanation of why this happens, and reveal the ten insticts that distort our perspective.

Ola Rosling (@OlaRosling) and Anna Rosling Rönnlund (@AnnaGapminder), Hans Rosling’s son and daughter-in-law, were co-founders of the Gapminder Foundation, and Ola its director from 2005 to 2007 and from 2010 to the present day. After Google acquired the bubble-chart tool called Trendalyzer, invented and designed by Anna and Ola, Ola became head of Google's Public Data Team and Anna the team's senior user experience (UX) designer. They have both received international awards for their work.

Tiziana Leone (@tizianaleone) is an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics. Tiziana’s research agenda is focused around maternal and reproductive health, including a lifecourse approach to women’s health. 

The Department of International Development (ID) was established in 1990 as the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) to promote interdisciplinary postgraduate teaching and research on processes of social, political and economic development and change.

The Global Health Initiative is a cross-departmental research platform set up to increase the coherence and visibility of Global Health research activity across the School, both internally and externally. It provides support for interdisciplinary engagement and showcases LSE’s ability to apply rigorous social science research to emerging global health challenges.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEfacts

Podcast 

A podcast of this event is available to download from Factfulness: ten reasons we're wrong about the world and why things are better than you think.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.