NAME: The Statistics of Poverty and Inequality TYPE: Sample SIZE: 97 observations, 8 variables DESCRIPTIVE ABSTRACT: For 97 countries in the world, data are given for birth rates, death rates, infant death rates, life expectancies for males and females, and Gross National Product. SOURCES: Day, A. (ed.) (1992), _The Annual Register 1992_, 234, London: Longmans. _U.N.E.S.C.O. 1990 Demographic Year Book_ (1990), New York: United Nations. VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS: Columns 1 - 6 Live birth rate per 1,000 of population 7 - 14 Death rate per 1,000 of population 15 - 22 Infant deaths per 1,000 of population under 1 year old 23 - 30 Life expectancy at birth for males 31 - 38 Life expectancy at birth for females 39 - 46 Gross National Product per capita in U.S. dollars 47 - 52 Country Group 1 = Eastern Europe 2 = South America and Mexico 3 = Western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand 4 = Middle East 5 = Asia 6 = Africa 53 - 74 Country Values are aligned and delimited by blanks. Missing values are denoted with *. STORY BEHIND THE DATA: These data were collected from _The Annual Register 1992_ (data for 1990) and the _U.N.E.S.C.O. 1990 Demographic Year Book_ for use with first year undergraduates taking an introductory course in statistics. PEDAGOGICAL NOTES: This dataset provides a wealth of interesting information that will inspire students to ask their own questions and develop their own investigations. The data can be divided into groups of countries so that differences in wealth or life expectancies can be explored using multiple box plots. Population growth can be investigated in an exploratory way. Students can look for relationships between variables using scatter diagrams. Additional ideas for the pedagogical use of these data can be found in the "Datasets and Stories" article "The Statistics of Poverty and Inequality" in the _Journal of Statistics Education_ (Rouncefield 1995). SUBMITTED BY: Mary Rouncefield Mathematics Department Chester College Cheyney Road Chester CH1 4DF U.K.