200 Hundred Years of Human Health, in 200 Countries, in 4 Minutes

The BBC’s, The Joy of Statistics, produced a very illuminating illustration of how human life expectancy has increased over the last 400 years around the world.  But it does more than that, I  think.  The clip demonstrates several important, and not obscure, points. The obvious first one is that wealth leads to health.  But lets dig a little deeper. Freedom leads to wealth.  And freedom and wealth lead to better education, which leads to better science, which leads to better medicine, which also leads to healthier lifestyles.  Moreover, the benefits of wealth—in a milieu of human exceptionalism that shares the benefits of scientific and medical achievement with those not having the capacity to develop it on their own—lifts all boats, including those still mired in poverty. To me, this means any policy that seeks to suppress wealth, in the long run, suppresses health.

But enough of my advocacy.  Hit the arrow below and watch the show.