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Within a year Google had bought Gapminder, and a version of the bubble-graph software is now available free online under the name Google Motion Chart.

Do the data give any sneak previews of our future? “For most of human history, the world has been dominated by Asia, and it will be again within 40 years,” he says. “While nothing now can stop the surge to 9 billion, if the poorest 2 billion get improved child survival and the ability to buy bicycles and mobile phones, population growth will stop. We cannot have people at this level looking for basics like food and shoes. Lower-middle-income countries will also forge forward—but only if we invest in the right technologies to avoid severe climate change.”

“We can stop population growth, we can eradicate poverty, we can solve the energy and the climate issues but we have to make the right investments,” he says. “I know a good world is possible if we leave emotion aside and just work analytically.”