Data used in World Health Chart 2021 (pdf-version)

Version 2021.x

This describes the sources used in the World Health Chart interactive tool, and the PDF print out World Health Chart 2021.

— Countries: The graph shows 195 states recognized by the UN, which includes 193 member states and 2 observing states (with few exceptions, where important data is missing for year 2021: Andorra, Dominica, Marshall Islands or the population is too small to result in meaningful bubble size: Nauru, Palau, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Tuvalu, San Marino, St. Kitts and Nevis, Holy See).

— Color: The colors of the bubbles show the four regions, defined and color coded by Gapminder, which we use in all our graphs.

— Size: The area of each bubble corresponds to the number of citizens in the country, using estimates for 2019 from UN Population Division’s World Population Prospects 2019 published in the file with annually interpolated demographic indicators, accessed on October 14, 2019. For the animated chart, data before 1950 comes from many historic sources, documented in our Population indicator version 6.

— Y-axis: Life expectancy is based on estimates from UN Population Division’s World Population Prospects 2019 published in the file with annually interpolated demographic indicators, accessed on October 14, 2019. The animated charts use many historic sources, combined by Gapminder and documented in our Life Expectancy version 12.

— X-axis: Gapminder’s calculations of GDP per capita, in constant PPP dollars with 2017 prices. Based on World Bank’s data published in May 2022 in their World Development Indicators, extended with forecasts from IMF, published in World Economic Outlook 2022, April edition.

— Income Levels: The vertical lines divide the graph into four income levels. Definitions, together with more details, are available here.

Previous versions

Version 2019

This describes the sources used in the World Health Chart interactive tool, and the PDF print out World Health Chart 2019.

— Countries: The graph shows 195 states recognized by the UN, which includes 193 member states and 2 observing states (with few exceptions, where important data is missing for year 2019: Andorra, Dominica, Marshall Islands or the population is too small to result in meaningful bubble size: Nauru, Palau, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Tuvalu, San Marino, St. Kitts and Nevis, Holy See).

— Color: The colors of the bubbles show the four regions, defined and color coded by Gapminder, which we use in all our graphs.

— X-axis: GDP per capita in constant PPP dollars with 2011 prices, based on World Bank’s data published in July 2019 in their World Development Indicators, extended with forecasts from IMF, published in World Economic Outlook 2019, October edition, before the Covid19 Pandemic broke out.

— Income Levels: The vertical lines divide the graph into four income levels. Definitions, together with more details, are here.

Version 2017

Sources used in the print out World Health Chart 2017.

— Size: The area of each bubble corresponds to the number of citizens in the country, using estimates for 2017 from UN Population Division, the World Population Prospects 2017

— Y-axis: Life expectancy is based on the 2016 data from IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) at University of Washington in Seattle, published in September, 2017. The animated charts use many historic sources, combined by Gapminder and documented in our Life Expectancy version 9.

— X-axis: GDP per capita in constant PPP dollars with 2011 prices, based on World Bank’s data for 2016 extended with IMF forecasts, from World Economic Outlook 2017 – October edition. This is part of our GDP series, documented in greater detail here.

Version 2006

Gapminder Documentation 000 – version 1
(Formerly called Gapminder Documentation 2007-1.)

» Download documentation (pdf)
» Go to Gapminder World Chart 2006 (pdf-version)