Thursday, March 14, 2019

Mapping Global Life Expectancy


Mapipedia's Average Life Expectancy by Country since 1800 is an interesting data visualization of life expectancy around the world from 1800 to 2018. The visualization shows how life expectancy has changed around the globe since the beginning of the Nineteenth Century and also attempts to explain the reasons behind some of the most significant changes in life expectancy during this period of history.

Using the map timeline you can explore the average life expectancy in countries around the world by date. If you press play on this timeline you can watch an animation of the map, showing how life expectancy has changed in each country over time. As the timeline plays the visualization also identifies significant global historical events which may have had an impact on life expectancy in different countries across the world.

If you select a country on the map you can view a list of historical events that have probably effected the average life expectancy of the population in the chosen country. For example if you click on Russia the 'Description' column will include information about World War I, Spanish Flu, the Soviet Famine, World War II and Russian Alcohol Consumption (1990-2001).

Selecting a country on the map will also change the graph view to show the average life expectancy only of your chosen country from 1800-2018. This graph is interactive. You can therefore hover over dates showing significant falls in life expectancy to find out why these occurred. For example, using the example of Russia again, the graph shows a steep decline in life expectancy starting in 1940. If you hover over this data the 'Description' column provides information about the affect of World War II on life expectancy.

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