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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

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More or Less: Kidney donation: the chance of finding a match

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19/09/2014

Kidney donation: the chance of finding a match

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, Kidney donation: the chance of finding a match

Tim Harford on kidney donation, charity-giving, Huntrodds' Day, ants and tiny countries.

Tim Harford on kidney donation, charity-giving, how the prosperity of Britain compares to that of the individual states of America, ants, Huntrodds' Day and tiny countries.

The chance of a successful kidney match between two unrelated people has increased significantly in the past ten years - why? Tim Harford speaks to Professor Anthony Warrens, president of the British Transplantation Society.

Donations to the Manchester Dogs' Home have exceeded £1m in the wake of a fire, which killed more than 50 dogs. The large sum raised caused Today presenter Justin Webb to comment that it often seems easier to raise money for animals than humans who are in need. Is it true that we give more generously to animals? Ben Carter reports.

Is Britain poorer than every US state, except for Mississippi? Journalist Fraser Nelson calculates that's the case. Tim Harford speaks to economist Chris Dillow about why he's right.

An edition of BBC Four's Wonder of Animals states that there are 14,000 ants to every person on earth, and that were we to weigh all of these ants they would weigh the same as all the people. Can this be true? Tim Harford and Hannah Moore investigate with the help of Francis Ratnieks, professor of at the University of Sussex.

Friday, September 19 is Huntrodds' Day - a chance to celebrate coincidence and the extraordinary tale of Mr and Mrs Huntrodds. As Michael Blastland explains, they shared their birthday and day of death.

A complaint has been held up against a BBC programme for calling Eritrea 'tiny'. Can any country rightly be described this way?

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Ruth Alexander.

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