What is the significance of 56,075,900?

The government has started releasing data from last years census. According to this the population of Engalnd and Wales has reached 56.1 million (there official estimate is 56,075,900) up 3.7 million on a decade earlier.


Residents in England and Wales from 1801 -2011 



The census also reveals our ageing population.

Population by age and sex, 2001 and 2011, England and Wales

Source - http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_270487.pdf

 Look out for more census news over the summer. We will be back with the blog in September.

Wimbledon: the statistics behind winning

Euro 2012

It may not surprise you that Spain made the most passes at Euro 2012.

But which team made the most saves? The answer may suprise you!

See the answer and all the Euro 2012 data you could possibly want at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/datablog/2012/jul/02/euro-2012-statistics-opta-data

The wettest drought ever

April was the wettest on record with Engalnd receiving 75% more rain than it does on average. Yet we remain in drought!

This graph which shows the percentage above or below the average level of rainfall for each month since the start of 2010 shows why one wet month may not solve the problem.

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/feeds/17903057

Species Extinction

The Convention on Biological Diversity claims that up to 150 species of animals and plants become extinct each day. Yet the International Union for the Conservation of Nature only has a list of 801 species that have been lost in the last 500 years.

A great piece on this weeks More or Less explains why questions such as counting how many species are going extinct (or even how many species there are) can prove very difficult to come up with even vaguely accurate answers to.

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd

More or Less

On the right hand side of the page I've added an RSS feed for the More or Less Podcast; this should automatically update with the latest versions of the program. 

Each week Tim Hartford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life. 

This week what is the world average salary?

Misleading statistics about eating red meat

Statistics gone wrong? In response to recent research from Harvard School of Public Health about the health risks of eating red meat, Channel 4 News' Cathy Newman interviewed a St. George's Hospital dietician - who says that the statistics are misleading. Watch the interview here.

Graduate employment

New data shows that:

More graduates are employed in lower skill jobs.

1 in 5 graduates are unemployed.

Medicine and dentistry graduates remain the best paid, closely followed by maths and engineering graduates.

Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/06/graduate-employment-low-skill-jobs

Study statistics

According to Hal Varian from google:

"the sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians. People think I'm joking, but who would've guessed that computer engineers would've been the sexy job of the 1990s?"

A new report estimates that the US alone will need an extra 1.5 million managers capable of making decisions based on data.

Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/02/data-scientist

European Super Highway of Debt

Wondering just how big the Euro debt crisis is? These frightening infographics show you using lorries packed with €100 notes...

Source: http://demonocracy.info/infographics/eu/debt_piigs/debt_piigs.htm

February competition - correlation or causation?

Need to 'prove' something you already believe?
It's easy with statistics! All you need are two graphs and a leading question.

Source - http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/correlation-or-causation-12012011-gfx.html

The competition

Make your own misleading graph that shows correlation and implies causation (even if there is no basis for doing so). 
Open to all years, all entries to be given to Mr Alderson by midday, Wednesday 29th February.

Stephen Hester's bonus

What else could you buy with a bank chief's bonus? What is Stephen Hester worth - visualised.

Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/graphic/2012/jan/28/stephen-hester-bonus-graphic

Economics - UK recessions compared

The latest GDP figures released today showed that the UK economy shrank by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2011. How does this recession compare to previous ones?


Source http://www.niesr.ac.uk/

Video - the joy of stats

For those of you who haven't seen it before; Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years in 4 Minutes.

The rise and fall of personal computing

The history of computing (including mobile) platforms

Source - http://www.asymco.com/2012/01/17/the-rise-and-fall-of-personal-computing/

Note this graph uses a log scale.

Economics - UK exports

Which products does the UK export and where does it export them to? 

Source - http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/feb/24/uk-trade-exports-imports

University applications

How has the increase in tuition fees impacted on Ucas applications

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jan/04/ucas-applications-drop-tuition-fees

Autumn Term 2011

The blog will start properly in 2012. Here are a range of stories from last term to give you an idea of the type of topics that will be covered.

Economics

• The UKs national debt
• Comparison of recessions
• Quantitative easing (needlessly complicated diagram)
• Country credit ratings
• Inequality
• Money (epic graphic from xkcd)

Social media

• Anatomy of Facebook
• Twitter traffic during the riots

Education

• GCSE exam results
• Education 2011
• University applications by subject

Work

• Highest paid jobs
• The gender gap (I thought the median was a type of average)
• European working hours

Science and nature

• Are our summers getting colder?
• Causes of cancer
• The thrill of touching data

Crime

• The riots broken down
• Commuting to the riots
• The death penalty

Other

• The Mercury music prize
• Doctor Who villains
• The rugby world cup

Probability

• Coincidence and chance (not very keen on this headline)
• The best way to win a Maserati
• Visualising probabilities