Statistics of the Year 2017
Phones, lawn mowers and how Kim Kardashian helped the public understanding of risk.
How many active phone lines are there in the world? How many people die from lawn mowers on average each year in the US? How does this compare to terrorism deaths? Plus, is England densely populated compared to the rest of the world? We speak to Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter about the winners of the Royal Statistical Society’s competition to find numbers reported in the news that surprise us.
Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producers: Charlotte McDonald and Lizzy McNeill
(Photo: US reality TV star Kim Kardashian looks at her iPhone. Credit: Karen Minasyan/Getty Images.)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Sun 31 Dec 201719:50GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- New Year's Day 201813:50GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Tue 2 Jan 201802:50GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
Unlock the history and truth behind the data with The OU
Explore how numbers shape, and sometimes mislead us, with The Open University.
When can you trust statistics?
BBC Ideas discovers three easy ways to help make sense of statistics.
Podcast
![]()
More or Less
Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life
