
Swedish statistician Hans Rosling explains the perils of trying to use income and health statistics to compare the human rights situations of different countries. Rosling demonstrates how a narrow focus on specific statistics can lead to misleading conclusions about a country’s democratic maturity and respect for human rights.Rosling states that it is essentially impossible to quantify human rights,making it very hard to measure any developments. Despite these difficulties,Rosling argues that respect for human rights should be considered a goal in itself,and should not be considered less important than either economic growth or effective governance.