Does hunger make Africans want to move abroad? by PRIO

Data visualization comes with the risk of presenting a neat and authoritative picture of a reality that’s actually messy and uncertain. In my work as a Research Professor, I have to deal with what’s under the hood and seek to tell stories that are both compelling and truthful. One aspect of this, is to handle statistical uncertainty. In recent years, there’s been a shift away from simplistic ideas of “statistical significance” towards engaging more openly and dynamically with uncertainty. And this is where there’s great – and largely unused -- potential in data visualization. For this visualization, I have used data on the drivers of migration, which is my specialty, and analysed whether the experience of hunger makes people more or less inclined to migrate. The visualization shows not only that the effect of hunger differs from country to country, but also that the degree of certainty about the result differs. In a quest to seek explanations for the differences in the role of hunger, I have added information about the estimated prevalence of migration, and the population size of each country. To compensate for the complexity, I have incorporated visually distinct comments on what is shown and how it matters.