Do you have an hour? Here is Hans Rosling's BBC Four documentary The Joy of Stats. He takes us through a number of studies he's done and the statistics to back up said claims, complete with pretty charts.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that life expectancy/income across the world was less in 1810 than in 2010, but how—and where—did the statistics tick up over time? In this stunningly visual presentation, Hans Rosling explains.