Wednesday 16 February 2011

Debtris: Putting things in Perspective

We all (well mostly all, unless you're Ed Balls) know that the budget deficit is huge. Indeed, most of the economic facts and figures involve huge figures well beyond the comprehension of most mere mortals.

How does it compare with, for example, the revenues of OPEC countries? Or the cost of the Iraq war? How do the profits of Tesco stack up against the UK's defence budget? And how much do African countries owe to the west... or to put that another way, how much would debt cancellation cost the so-called civilised world?

The people from Information is Beautiful have made the following video which graphically compares these figures and more through the medium of Tetris:




You can see more, including a US version, here. Hat-tip to Marcus Brigstocke for this.

Andrew

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