I’ve been tinkering with Google’s Fusion Tables (which are very cool and no relation to our host’s biz), and wondering how best to introduce a chart or two to TBP. BR’s recent post on healthcare gave me the perfect opening.
So, herewith, the first of what I hope will be many Fusion Tables to come (hover over countries for data).
First up, worldwide density of doctors per 10,000 population (these are doctors only; dentists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals are tallied separately). To spare you the trouble of searching, Cuba is #1 at 64, and Greece is #2 at 54; many countries are at one or less.
Source: WHO
Next up, total healthcare expenditures as a percent of GDP. There are additional aspects of this to explore (private expenditures, government expenditures, etc.), but I’ll leave that for another time in the interest of getting the overall picture out.
Source: WHO
You’ll probably not find #1 on the graphic above (at 17.9%), which is the only country ahead of the United States (at 16%). It is Niue, a speck of an island in the South Pacific (east of Fiji) no larger than a pixel or two on your screen.
I love being able to visualize the data via Fusion Tables. The Tables themselves still seem to be a work-in-progress (still in Beta), and there are many improvements I hope Google makes, but its ability to import Excel data and manipulate is great. Which leads to this question: What would folks be interested in seeing via the Fusion Tables — suggestions should be either worldwide (rankings by nation) or specific to the United States (state-by-state). Of course, the data must be readily available and from reputable sources. Throw it in comments and I’ll see what I can do — if there’s one thing this crowd is long it’s imagination.
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