Apparently, we know less about the world than chimpanzees. Since chimps are not biased by old news and assumptions about the state of the world, at least they have a 50/50 shot at the right answers…

Professor Hans Rosling is a statistics guru, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life. He has now become quite famous as the man who debunks myths about the ‘developing world’ with the most amazing statistics, and with the same drama and urgency of a sportcaster. At TED last year he used some excellent visualisation software to make his points. Some of the ones that struck me most:

1. There is no clear distinction between the ‘First World’ and ‘Third World’; there is a split in wealth and health, but it is quite complex.
2. Within each country, the splits between haves and have nots is extremely wide, but improvements have been made almost everywhere.
3. There is a burgeoning middle class that is growing everywhere, and particularly in the developing world.
4. Improving health almost always increases wealth, but improving wealth doesn’t necessarily correlate with an improvement of health.
5. Better access to technology improves many things, from health to education.

Google is working with Gapminder to develop some clever tools that make statistics like those Hans uses in his presentation, even more powerful. Speaking of which, a few weeks ago at the Skoll World Forum, I watched Dr. Larry Brilliant, the Chief Exec of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, masterfully adapt a Google Earth animation to help us make sense of climate change’s potential impact in Bangladesh.

There’s no doubt in my mind about the importance of gathering data and bringing it to life. It’s an arduous job that often goes unrecognized, and yet so important, not least to stay ahead of them chimps.