Hans Rosling, statistician and sword-swallower, has died

STATISTICS has not, traditionally, been an exciting word. Its most common prefix is the word “dry”. Ask people what they think of statistics, or try to use some in an argument, and you will often get the quote attributed to Benjamin Disraeli that lists them alongside lies and damned lies. That is a shame: tables of figures may look dull, but they are a better guide to what is happening in the world than anything on television or in the press.

Hans Rosling had no time for the idea that statistics were boring. Armed with everything from a few Lego bricks and a pocketful of draughts pieces to snazzy, specially made computer graphics, he had a talent for using numbers to tell exciting stories. Not just exciting, but optimistic, too, for the tales those numbers told were of a world which, despite the headlines, was rapidly becoming a better place.

He knew what he was talking about. Besides being a statistician, he was also a doctor with experience in some of the world’s poorest corners. He did his PhD in Africa, studying a disease called konzo that strikes people whose diets include a lot of semi-processed cassava, which contains high...