Cassava in a Global perspective Hans RoslingEmail: Hans.Rosling@ki.se

Public Lecturer at Gapminder and Professor of Global Health at Karolinska Institute

Address: Box 3802510064 Stockholm+46 (0)76 171 2210 / www.gapminder.org

Is cassava important for the world economy in long term perspective? It may appear as cassava is a crop of the poor and that with economic growth its importance will diminish. However, a view at the long term population and economic macro trends in the world shows the opposite. The regions where cassava is produced and used is where a large part, if not most, of the population and economic growth will take place in this century. The change of the distribution of the world population is most striking. By the end of this century, 80% of the world population will be living in Asia and Africa and less than 10 % in West Europe and North America. The world economic growth is also going tropical with now high growth rates in South Asia and Africa. This will be shown using animated graphics and the latest socioeconomic data available.