Hans talks about how astonished his teacher was when he told him the world population had reached three million people in 1960. Rosling explained that he would rather use digital technology than IKEA boxes in order to represent one hundred million people. He starts by explaining what the situation was in 1960. The blue IKEA Box represented the industrialized countries. The green boxes represented the developing nations. Hans continued to explain the huge gap between industrialized and developing worlds. One example he gave was how those in the west were saving for cars while people in the developing nations were saving to buy shoes. Hans observes the enormous gap in income between the developed and industrialized worlds. He concludes that the west must be viewed differently from the rest of the world. Rosling explains that the 2010 situation is similar to the 1960s. The population has more than doubled since Rosling was in school. Although the west saw economic growth, the best-off developing countries also made progress.
But, the situation is the same as 50 years ago in very poor countries. The gap between the richest and poorest has widened as there is a greater middle class. Rosling says that the lower half will rise by 2050 if they invest in green technology. This will allow them to move up to higher levels of energy. The population growth will lead to an increase in the size of the poorest two-billion. Rosling says that education is the only way to stop an exponentially growing population. Rosling illustrates a graph that shows the growth of the population from 1960 to 2008. In 1960, there was a 60%-70% chance of a child surviving and a mother can have 6-8 children in developing countries. The odds of a child living in the majority countries around the globe are 90-100% by 2008. Family planning is growing and we now see an increase of 90%-100%. However, there are still 60-70% chance that a child will survive in a family without family planning. Rosling concluded that we must take steps to ensure the survival of our children.
