Gapminder Screencast & Analysis

Variable Set #1

Variable Set #2

Part 1-

Variable Set #1:

a. Income per person, GDP/capita, PPP$ inflation adjusted: shows money made per person per year

Life expectancy, measured in years: shows expected age one is to live to 

b. A high rate of income per person in a country shows that that country is centered in the tertiary sector where jobs are better paying, this would also mean that this country is highly developed if a majority of their jobs take part of the tertiary sector. A high life expectancy shows that a country is developed because a high life expectancy shows that the country has good health care and education opportunities needed to obtain a good job.

Variable Set #2

a. Ratio of girls to boys in primary & secondary education, measured in percentage enrolled: shows the number of girls in comparison to the number of boys registered for school.

Children per woman (total fertility rate): measures number of children born to each woman on average

b. An equal ratio of girls to boys in primary & secondary education shows that a country is well developed because girls have been given the opportunity to go to school instead of being forced to work or stay home to help with chores. A low total fertility rate shows that a country has a developed economic system because it shows the country is developed to the point where girls can go to school and not only gain sex-education but also be in school and begin a career where in a less developed country they may already have had children at that point. 

Part 2-

Variable Set #1

a. The more developed countries started and continued consistently towards the top of the data, countries such a the U.S., Japan, and Switzerland included in this. The African and middle-eastern countries stayed primarily near the bottom with low life expectancies and low income/person. After the 1940's the lower remaining countries took off, shifting at relatively the same pace as the countries higher up in the statistics.

b. Generally, the more developed countries industrialized sooner and have stronger economic developments. Perhaps the jump in life expectancy and income/person is explained partially by the end of WWII in 1945 because of the fact the fighting is over, people are living longer afterwards and governments are stabilized after the war. 

Variable Set #2

a. After the 1980's most all countries, with the exception of several African states, shift substantially towards 100% equality of genders in schools, along with dropping in their total fertility rates. Most countries in Europe & central Asia, East Asia and the Americas focus around 2 children per woman, while a lot of African and middle-eastern countries are anywhere from 4 to 8 children.

b. African and middle-eastern countries typically have more children simply because they need help with taking care of family, farming, etc. This also correlates with their slightly lower percentage of women in school because they need help around the home or need extra money so they send their girls to work.