File talk:Life expectancy in some Southern African countries 1958 to 2003.png

This graph does not agree with data from the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org). For example WB shows life expectancy for South Africa in 2003 was 52, vs ~47 in this graph. Should this graph not be replaced with data from the WB? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.181.122.128 (talk) 14:19, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

This graph showing average life expectancy in Africa is misleading because it does not have a base of zero. By zooming in on the curved part of the graph, it gives a visual impression of the lines swinging wildly. The shape of the lines is far more dramatic than it would be if the graph started at zero.

AIDS in Africa has had a positively horrifying effect, but this graph distorts the information.

This is from a textbook, "Visual Communication" by Paul Lester: "A serious problem with charts can be the misleading visual representation of data. Although omitting part of a scale to save space is acceptable (as indicated by the zigzag line at the bottom of many charts), constructing a chart from a y-axis point other than zero can dramatically change the visual message and is not acceptable. As printed in a newspaper and reproduced using the Excel program (center), the [changes in the price of oil from '98 to '99] appears dramatic with the zero point set at ten. But with the zero point set at zero, the infographic is more accurate and less visually alarming."

It's also explained pretty well here with figures 2 and 6. Mr. Billion 17:57, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * As Impi pointed n Talk:AIDS in Africa, demanding a zero point for the axis representing life expectancy is non-sensical because life expectancy has never been zero for as long as mankind has been around. I'm removing the NPOV tag because of this. &mdash; mark &#9998; 19:43, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * I don't buy this argument. The zero point is required not because it's a possible value, but because it makes it easy to see what fraction of the total lifespan is being lost to AIDS.  Looking at the graph now, the impression is that half the average lifespan in South Africa is being lost, when the actual value is more like a third.  Still horrifying, but not misleadingly so.  Ideogram 17:01, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Whoops. I guess I got so caught up in thinking about this one thing that I completely neglected something else that should be perfectly obvious. Sorry about that. Mr. Billion 20:43, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

According to this graph, the life expectancy in Botswana has gone from about 60 to about 40 over roughly the past 20 years. During that same 20 years, the actual population has gone from 1.1 million to 1.9 million (approx.) Kind of a curious fact. 198.59.188.232 21:35, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Hold on a second, if its from a textbook, how it is free? --Rory096 18:19, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
 * The quote, not the image, is from a textbook InvictaHOG 03:17, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Another reason to change the intersection point of a Y-Axis is to 'zoom in' the graph to get a better look at the details. If this graph were represented with a y-intersection point of 0, the subtle differences in the values would be lost, especially when viewed as a thumbnail (as it will be in the articles). While I appreciate the idea that 'the medium is the message', and that visual representations can be manipulated to create a false impression, I think that in this case, the intent was not to exaggerate, but to make the data as usable as possible when viewed as a thumbnail graph. I vote to remove the NPOV tag. Thoughts? Phidauex 22:06, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Life Expentancy in Botswana seen in the graph and another article in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Botswana#Life_expectancy_at_birth in the source i just pointed out it shows a life expentancy of 60/61 years (2007 est.) Now whats wrong? I doubt the change during 4 years to come in the graph. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.48.172.23 (talk) 00:32, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

My problem: the filename
I feel that this image's filename is misleading and POV. Even though it produces a synopsis of the caption and the intended use of the graph, it doesn't actually describe usefully what's plotted on the graph: African life expectancy vs. time. A filename similar to "African life expectancy 1958 to 2003.gif" would be more accurate and so more useful and NPOV. --Jacj 15:51, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, now that you mention it. I would support a move if you'd like. After that, I think that the NPOV tag could be removed (I don't think that it is POV otherwise) InvictaHOG 17:09, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Moved to Image:Life expectancy in some Southern African countries 1958 to 2003.gif; POV tag removed. Also sourced now. &mdash; mark &#9998; 10:55, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Thank you for moving it. It's better now. InvictaHOG 18:01, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Uganda
The Uganda map is probably misleading a bit. The reason that life expectancy starts dropping before the other countries is mostly due to Idi Amin - the Ugandan dictator of this period. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.178.3.163 (talk) 23:17, 7 December 2008 (UTC)