Turn Your World View: Expo 2020 aims to transform Dubai into a global change maker

Collaborates with Rosling's Gapminder Foundation to challenge the Expo 2020 audience's worldview
Expo to promote greater understanding and communication worldwide
Knowledge is fundamental to cross-border efforts to create a better future

Expo 2020 has partnered with Dubai Swedish-based Gapminder Foundation to announce that Expo 2020 will be transforming global audiences into champions for change. The news comes as Expo 2020 marks the one-year countdown of the worlds greatest show of human talent and achievement.

Anna and Ola Rosling in conjunction with the Expo 2020 Dubai will create a series of questions that challenge the audience to understand the world. This follows the results of Expo 2020s Global Optimism Outlook survey, which highlights peoples desire for increased communication, knowledge sharing and cross-border collaboration.

"The world is often more confident than it feels," said Ola Rosling, president and co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation. The Gapminder Foundation was born to allow people to learn more about themselves and the world more clearly, side by side. In the world we see challenges every day, but this creates opportunities. The magic happens when the world comes together to promote change on a global scale, and that is the goal of Expo 2020 Dubai. So we are really happy to be a part of this project and help people make better informed choices that will lead to positive change in the future.

When the Expo officially opens, the project will be created from 2020 to October 2020 in partnership with participating countries. A series of questions will be placed throughout the Expo 2020 site, where data will be collected and transformed into a true analysis of our understanding and perception of the world around us.

Mangal Al Bayat, Chief Social Engagement Officer at Expo 2020 Dubai, said: We are now a year away from the world's best human-minded event - a year of uniting millions of people with 192 countries that are confident and participating, to understand the world around us and to inspire and build people to create a better future.

Our collaboration is part of Expo 2020 Dubais aim to drive positive and lasting change where it is most needed. That change cannot begin without us knowing more about the world around us, and with those we share it. We are thrilled to have Anna and Ola Rosling with us for such an important milestone, and we look forward to further developing the project ahead of opening next year.

The Gapminder Foundation provides cost-effective teaching materials that allow people to create a fact-based view of the global community. This project is aimed at understanding our knowledge of each other today. This reflects the Expos ambitious mission to connect millions of people around the world to find inspiration for creating a better future.
Together with Novus and IpsosMori, the Foundation voted 20,000 people in 31 countries.

When asked a series of eighteen questions about global trends such as average income levels, number of people over 65 years of age, or how the world's population is distributed across continents, the average respondent received only 2.9 questions.

In contrast, a person who chooses one of three possible responses is expected to score 6 out of 18. This difference demonstrates the extent to which people's knowledge of the wider world can be mistaken.

For example, when the Gapminder / Ipsos Mori survey asked respondents what proportion of the global population lives in low-income countries, the majority of respondents thought that 35% of people on earth did so. The real answer is only 9% of the population.

Expo 2020 Dubai 2020 opens its doors to the public on October 20th.