Original version

BBC World Service East Asia

More or Less

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

More or Less: The doubling of life-expectancy

Magazines & Reviews

Factual

The doubling of life-expectancy

12/06/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - More or Less, The doubling of life-expectancy

The story of how data helped extend our lives

Author Steven Johnson explains how we doubled our life expectancy over the last century - with the help of data.

Steven Johnson, author of Extra Life, tells the fascinating history of life expectancy, and the extraordinary achievements of the last century, in which it has practically doubled.

It’s a story that has data at its heart, from the ground-breaking invention of the category itself in 17th century London to the pioneering social health surveys of W.E.B. Du Bois in 1890s Philadelphia. 

Tim Harford spoke to Steven about the numbers beneath possibly the most important number of all.


Produced by Nathan Gower.


(Author, sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois at home in Brooklyn Heights, New York, 1958. Credit: David Attie /Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

More or Less

The doubling of life-expectancy

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East Asia

About BBC World Service