Ola Rosling

Ola Rosling: Shaping a Fact-Based Understanding of the World

Ola Rosling is a leading statistician and the President and Co-Founder of the Gapminder Foundation, which he established with his father, Hans Rosling, and his wife, Anna Rosling Rönnlund. The foundation is dedicated to promoting a fact-based worldview by making complex global data accessible, understandable, and actionable for everyone.

Beginning in the early 2000s, Ola led the development of Trendalyzer, an innovative software that transformed the way statistical data was visualized. In 2007, Google acquired Trendalyzer from the Gapminder Foundation, where Ola and his wife, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, continued developing the technology into what became Google Motion Chart. 

As Product Manager for Google Public Data, Ola introduced the Dataset Publishing Language (DSPL), which enabled integration of official statistics into Google Search and visualization tools, greatly expanding public access to global development data.

After leaving Google, Ola Rosling returned to the Gapminder Foundation with a renewed focus on developing free teaching materials to promote a fact-based understanding of the world. In 2013, he launched the Ignorance Project, a global initiative designed to measure and expose the widespread lack of knowledge about essential global trends, such as poverty, life expectancy, and education.

Through this work, Ola has helped millions—including teachers, journalists, and decision-makers—recognize and correct common misconceptions about the state of the world. His efforts continue to support more informed public debate and better decision-making, grounded in reliable data and accessible tools.

Ola’s dynamic presentations and groundbreaking data visualization tools empower audiences to see beyond sensational headlines and grasp the macrotrends shaping our world. By translating complex global statistics into clear, interactive insights, he enables individuals and institutions alike to make more informed, data-driven decisions.

His commitment to upgrading worldviews and combating misinformation has had a transformative impact on public understanding of global development. Through his work with Gapminder, Ola continues to shift how people everywhere perceive progress and challenges—replacing myths and outdated assumptions with facts grounded in reliable, accessible data.