Language & WorldMental model

Why country comparisons in absolute numbers almost always mislead.

A country with 1.4 billion people tops nearly every total: cars, emissions, accidents. That says little about any individual. Only the base rate, the figure per capita or per 100,000 residents, makes countries comparable. A small country can produce several times more per person than a giant one.

Useful: For any country statistic, ask first: is that a total or per capita?

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Denkwerkzeug Laender Statistik

Difficulty:

Related cards

How many countries are there? Depends who you ask.The United Nations has 193 member states plus two observers (Vatican City, Palestine). Kosovo is …
Why vitamin pills work in observations but not in trials.People who voluntarily take vitamins usually also exercise more, smoke less and see doctors more …
Ice cream sales and drownings rise together. Ice cream is innocent.Two things occur together – that doesn't prove one causes the other. Often a third factor lies …
How many must take a treatment for one to benefit?The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) answers exactly that. If a treatment cuts an event from 5 % to 4 …
“Risk cut by 50 %” can mean 1 person in 1,000.Relative risk compares groups: if a disease drops from 2 to 1 per 1,000, that's “50 % less”. In …
“My grandpa smoked and lived to 95” is not an argument.You only hear from the smokers who grew old – the others no longer tell stories. That's …
Diagnosed earlier does not mean lived longer.If a disease is normally found at 60 and someone dies at 65, the statistic records five years of …
One healthy person in twenty falls outside the normal range.A standard reference range is defined so that 95 percent of a healthy comparison group falls …

Keep reading

This card belongs to the topic Language & World. Every card is short, cites a source and can be saved – due ones come back by themselves later.

About Doomlearn · Projects · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms