Teachers’ guide and students’ material
A card game with
The Gapminder
World Map
About this lesson
Level: secondary school. Subjects: history, geography &
social studies. What you need: only this document.
Outline: The students will try to arrange “country cards” in
an order that illustrates the gaps in the world today. They
then compare their arrangement with the “Gapminder
World Map” graph.
About this document
By Mattias Lindgren, the Gapminder Foundation,
based on an idea by Paula Cooper. Version:
02/09/2010
This guide is available at:
www.gapminder.org/downloads/card-game
Cover photo by: Meeralee http://bit.ly/b9GLwv
License
You are free to use and re-distribute this material
for non-commercial purposes under a creative
commons licence. We ask you to credit
1 as the source:
www.gapminder.org
Key messages of the exercise
How to do the exercise
The exercise can help the students to think about the gaps in the world
today and challenge preconceived ideas about how the contemporary
world looks. The exercise can also be used to stimulate an interest in
using statistics to understand the world.
1. Divide the class into groups with 3-5 students in each group.
About the data in the graph
The data in the Gapminder World graph has been compiled from a
variety of sources. Data from high-income countries is mainly from
registers, whereas surveys are a common source in low and middleincome countries. Such surveys are based on interviews with a
representative sample of the population. Information about sources
can be found at www.gapminder.org/worldmap.
The uncertainty of the data varies, but there is a consensus
regarding the general pattern. The graph uses what is known as a logscale, a scale which expands at low values and compresses at high
values. The log scale gives a more correct picture when we look at
incomes. For example, $100 extra per year makes a huge difference for
a person earning $400. The same $100 addition might not even be
noticed by someone earning a $100,000.
Some middle-income countries, such as South Africa and Botswana,
have a remarkably low life expectancy compared to other countries
with the same incomes. The main reason for this is the AIDS
epidemic, which has hit these countries particularly hard. HIV and
AIDS affect rich and poor alike. The relative high incomes in these
countries have been used to give treatment to some of those infected,
but they have not yet been able to stop the transmission of the disease.
2. Prepare the material. The following material will be used:
•
•
•
“The country cards” that are available for printing on page 3.
Distribute one set of cards to each group.
An ordinary world map, if you have one. This is not essential, but
it could be good if the students can get a better sense of where in
the world the countries on the cards are.
The graph “Gapminder World Map” that is available for printing
on page 4. Print one graph for each group, but don’t distribute
them yet.
3. Ask the students to arrange the country cards according to the
development level of the countries. You do not have to be more
specific than this, let the students come up with their own ways of
grouping the countries (e.g. they might sort them into two groups,
several groups or arrange them into one line).
4. Ask them to explain how they arranged the cards. Does their way
of sorting the countries reflect what they think the incomes of the
countries are? Health? Development, in a more vague sense?
5. Distribute the “Gapminder World Map” graph to the groups.
Explain the graph, i.e. that each bubble is a country, the size of the
bubble is the population, the colour the continent, the Y-axis is the life
expectancy (i.e. health) and the X-axis is income per person. Explain
quickly what the two indicators mean.
6. Ask them to find and mark the countries on the graph.
7. Discuss whether there were any surprising results. Discuss
whether the graph could be used to divide the countries of the world
into different categories.
2
China
Bangladesh
South Africa
United States
Capital: Beijing
Location: Eastern Asia
Capital: Dhaka
Location: Southern Asia
Capital: Pretoria
Location: Southern Africa
Capital: Washington DC
Location: North America
South Korea
Mexico
Brazil
Ukraine
Capital: Seoul
Location: Eastern Asia
Capital: Mexico City
Location: Latin America
Capital: Brasilia
Location: Latin America
Capital: Kiev
Location: Eastern Europe
India
Dem. Rep. of the
Singapore
Botswana
Capital: New Delhi
Location: Southern Asia
Capital: Kinshasa
Location: Central Africa
Capital: Singapore
Location: South East Asia
Capital: Gaborone
Location: Southern Africa
Ethiopia
Nigeria
Japan
Russia
Capital: Addis Ababa
Location: Eastern Africa
Capital: Abuja
Location: Western Africa
Capital: Tokyo
Location: Eastern Asia
Capital: Moscow
Location: Eastern Europe /
Northern Asia
Congo
3
85
Low–income countries
Healthy
Rich
Poor
Vietnam
Kosovo
Nicaragua
Micronesia
Sick
Tuvalu
Nepal
Tajikistan
Laos
São Tomé
& P.
Bangladesh
Togo
Eritrea
Liberia
Guinea
Uganda
Zimbabwe
500
Niger
Mozambique
Uzbekistan
Paki- Solostan mon Isl.
Armenia
Honduras
Paraguay
Mongolia
India
Brazil
DR
Tonga
El Jamaica
Samoa
Salvador Palau
Morocco
Maldives
Fiji
Guatemala
Ukraine
Egypt
6
Azerbaijan
Iran Turkey
Bhutan
Lesotho
Taiwan
Czech Rep.
Nauru
Kazakhstan
Turkmenistan
Russia
Kiribati
USA
Qatar
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
San Marino
Monaco
Cyprus
Montenegro
Saint Lucia
St Vincent &
Grenadines
Colour by region:
Namibia
Gabon
Botswana
Congo, Rep.
Burkina Faso
Mali
Slovenia
Trinidad &
Tobago
Belarus
Suriname
Liechten-
stein
Netherlands
LuxBel- Ireland
embourg
gium Austria
Denmark
Kuwait
UAE
Brunei
Latvia
Seychelles
LebaMauritiusnon Lithuania
Thailand
Guyana
Bolivia
Portugal
Sweden
Hong Kong
Andorra
Iceland
Switzerland
Australia SingaCanada
pore Norway
1
South
Korea GreeceUK
Barbados
Croatia
Uruguay
Grenada Panama
Dominica
Georgia
Vanuatu
Iraq
Albania
Belize
Mauritania
Ghana
Senegal
Djibouti
Kenya
Sierra Leone
Central African Rep.
1 000
Moldova
Mexico
Gambia
Guinea-Bissau
Afghanistan
Indonesia
Chile
Israel
Finland
New Zealand
2
Malta
3
ArgenOman
Poland
Bahrain
tina
Slovakia
Venezuela
Ecuador Macedonia4 Serbia
Malaysia Antigua & Barbuda
Libya
Bahamas
Tunisia Colo-5
Hungary
Bulgaria
mbia
Algeria Peru
St Kitts & N. Estonia
Saudi Arabia
Romania
Jordan
Syria
Sri Lanka
Cape
Verde
Costa
Rica
Puerto
Rico
France
Sudan
South Africa
Cameroon
Rwanda
Somalia
Philippines
Cuba
Bosnia & H.
TimorPapua Leste
New
Guinea
Côte d'Ivoire
Tanzania
Malawi
Congo, DR
Cambodia
Haiti
Ethiopia
Burundi
Yemen
Benin
Myanmar
Madagascar
55
45
Kyrgyzstan
North
Korea
Comoros
65
50
Marshall Isl.
Palestine
China
Germany
Italy
Spain
Chad
Equatorial Guinea
Nigeria
Angola
Zambia
2 000
3
or less
10
100
1000
millions
Data are for 2009 for all 192 UN member states and the other
5 countries and territories with more than 1 million people
(Hong Kong, Taiwan, Palestine, Puerto Rico and Kosovo).
Free to copy, share and remix but attribute Gapminder.
For sources see:
www.gapminder.org
Swaziland
5 000
Size by population:
http://www.gapminder.org/worldmap
10 000
Money GDP per person in US dollars (purchasing power adjusted) (log scale)
20 000
50 000
Gapminder World Chart 2010 Version May 2010b
Health Life expectancy at birth (years)
70
60
Japan
Gapminder World Map 2010
80
75
High–income countries
Middle–income countries