With high profile attacks in Brussels, Nice and Munich, you might think that 2016 has been a particularly bad year for terrorism in Europe. But what happens when you put the numbers in historical context and compare them with figures for the rest of the world? More Or Less hears from Dr Erin Miller of the Global Terrorism Database and Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker.



(Image: A man wrapped in a Belgian flag holds a candle as people gather at a makeshift memorial on Place de la Bourse two days after a triple bomb attack hit. Credit: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images) Published on August 22, 2016.

WS More or Less: Counting Terror Deaths

The “gender pay gap”

This topic has been in the news this week after the Institute for Fiscal Studies published research showing women end up 33% worse off than their male counterparts after they have children. But earlier in the summer, Fraser Nelson wrote in the Telegraph that the pay gap is “no longer an issue” for women born after 1975. Can both assessments be true? And could the label “gender pay gap” be hindering our understanding of what really lies behind the numbers?



The cost of a hospital

If a politician or commentator wants to underline just how wasteful a piece of expenditure is, a common strategy is to compare it to the number of hospitals you could build instead. Of course, hospitals are positive things – we all want more, right? But just how much is a hospital? Is it really a useful unit of measurement? We speak to health economist John Appleby.



Corbyn Facts

As Labour members begin voting on the party leadership, we investigate some of the claims made on the “Corbyn Facts” website set up by Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign. Did he really give 122 speeches on the EU referendum during the campaign? Were this year’s local election results as good as Labour’s best performance under Ed Miliband? We look at what the numbers tell us.



Death Penalty abolition

Statistics suggest that officially about half of the countries in the world have abolished Capital Punishment, and a further 52 have stopped its use in practice. But we tell the story behind the numbers and show why the picture is more complicated. We speak to Parvais Jabbar, co-director of the Death Penalty Project.



The Holiday Desk of Good News 

This week we outline a handful of statistics to make everyone feel better about the UK and their holidays. Published on August 26, 2016.

Gender Pay Gap

Statistics suggest that officially about half of the countries in the world have abolished Capital Punishment, and a further 52 have stopped its use in practice. But we tell the story behind the numbers and show why the picture is more complicated. We speak to Parvais Jabbar, co-director of the Death Penalty Project. Published on August 30, 2016.

Death Penalty abolition

Britons entitled to Irish passports

After the Brexit vote in June, so many Britons applied for Irish passports that Ireland’s foreign minister had to ask them to stop – pointing out that the UK remains, for now, in the EU. If some of the figures that have been quoted are correct, the Irish passport service may find itself completely inundated in future. But does one in four Britons really have Irish heritage? We reveal the dubious history of that number and attempt to estimate the number of Britons who are actually entitled to dual nationality with Ireland.



Do women’s periods sync?

It is a commonly held belief that if women spend time together, their bodies start to sync and they will have their periods at the same time. But where does this idea come from? And is it really true? We look at the evidence and wonder – could it be down to chance?



Numbers in music

Marcus du Sautoy takes us on a journey through some of his favourite musical pieces, pointing out the interesting mathematical patterns hidden in the compositions.



Dangerous algorithms

Cathy O’Neil, a data scientist and activist, has written a new book, “Weapons of Math Destruction.” She is concerned about the proliferation of certain kinds of algorithms – that help make important decisions, but that could be based on unfair statistics with hidden biases. She explains how to look out for them, and what we can do to protect ourselves.



Desk of Good News – organ donations

We look at the trends for organ donations and transplants. Published on September 2, 2016.

Irish Passports

Can economics help us work out the perfect amount to spend on a wedding gift? Our reporter Jordan Dunbar is in a tricky situation-he’s heading to an old friend’s wedding and needs to figure out how much to give as a gift without breaking the bank. Luckily, economist Maria Kozlovskaya is on hand to talk about her findings on what factors we need to consider for gift giving, as well as preserving Jordan’s friendship and wallet. Published on September 18, 2016.

WS More or Less: Wedding gift economics

The fact-checkers have been working overtime looking into the numbers used by Donald Trump during his campaign to become President of the USA. In the wake of the election next week, we take a look at some of Trump’s more outrageous statistical claims Published on November 4, 2016.

Trump tells the Truth

Who voted in the US elections? Plus are there nine million stray cats in the UK? Published on November 11, 2016.

US election, stray cats and puzzles

Notable deaths, Rule Britannia and creating your own Christmas speech Published on December 16, 2016.

Have more famous people died this year?

More or Less: Behind the Stats

Tim Harford investigates numbers in the news. Numbers are used in every area of public debate. But are they always reliable? Tim and the More or Less team try to make sense of the statistics which surround us.

BBC Radio 4: More or Less

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