Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. How much do students from your college earn 10 years later?
  2. How much does each country spend on health care per person?

Chart 1 of 2 · College

How much do students from your college earn 10 years later?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Search 1,782 colleges that mainly award bachelor's degrees. Ten years after starting, former students of Ohio State earned a median of $67,080 a year, and those of California Institute of Technology, CA, the highest, $166,642. Earnings cover only students who received federal aid (grants or loans), whether or not they graduated, and who were working and not in school. They describe students who started about ten years before, with earnings in the two years through 2023, adjusted for inflation.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2023

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · World

How much does each country spend on health care per person?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2023, the United States spent $13,473 per person on health care, about 10 times the world figure of $1,317. Germany spent $6,395, Japan $3,638, China $763 and India $85; Madagascar spent the least, $17. Search 191 countries and territories. Spending counts what governments, insurers and households paid for health care, but not new hospitals or equipment, in US dollars at each year's exchange rates, not adjusted for differences in prices.

How to read this chart

Each bar is what a country spent on health care in a year, by governments, insurers and households together, divided by its population and turned into U.S. dollars. The dashed line is the world. The figures aren't adjusted for prices, so a dollar buys more care in some countries than others.

Questions to discuss

  1. About how many times the world figure does the United States spend per person?
  2. Does spending more on health care per person always mean people live longer? What other chart on Chartly could help you check?
  3. Doctors and nurses are paid less in some countries. How would that change what these dollar figures can tell you?

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