--- title: Swedish Designer Wants to Show the World Isn't As Divided description: Anna Rosling Rönnlund’s mission is to show how economics, not geography, dictates lifestyle—and how the world is less divided than we think. canonical: https://time.com/5087361/this-designer-wants-to-prove-the-world-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-04T11:35:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:44:22.829Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Swedish Designer Wants to Show the World Isn't As Divided og:description: Anna Rosling Rönnlund’s mission is to show how economics, not geography, dictates lifestyle—and how the world is less divided than we think. og:url: https://time.com/5087361/this-designer-wants-to-prove-the-world-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdad7dffe5fe9e8c/6988f65b7cdbaccfe0d5b677/optimist-issue-a-r-ronnlund.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: optimist-issue-A-R-Ronnlund og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Swedish Designer Wants to Show the World Isn't As Divided twitter:description: Anna Rosling Rönnlund’s mission is to show how economics, not geography, dictates lifestyle—and how the world is less divided than we think. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdad7dffe5fe9e8c/6988f65b7cdbaccfe0d5b677/optimist-issue-a-r-ronnlund.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Designer Wants to Prove the World Isn’t as Divided as We Think > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=b422c9e5-ceb4-423d-89de-150f8936516a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2018 11:35 AM UTC  Anna Rosling Rönnlund, co-founder and product manager of the Stockholm-based fact tank Gapminder. Anna Rosling Rönnlund, co-founder and product manager of the Stockholm-based fact tank Gapminder. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2018 11:35 AM UTC As a co-founder and product manager of the Stockholm-based fact tank Gapminder, Anna Rosling Rönnlund’s mission is to show how economics, not geography, dictates lifestyle–and how the world is less divided than we think. Using images of quotidian items like toilets and door locks, Gapminder’s “[Dollar Street](http://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street/matrix?thing=Families&countries=World®ions=World&zoom=4&row=1&lowIncome=26&highIncome=15000&lang=en)” interactive shows how most people have similar daily existences, whether they live in China or Chattanooga, Tenn. Take toothbrushes. The poorest people in the world use a twig–or even just a finger and mud–to clean their teeth. But with a small rise in income, a family can afford a shared plastic toothbrush. Another rise, and each family member gets a toothbrush and toothpaste. In the top bracket, electric toothbrushes. Rönnlund, 42, who has a background in photography, says Dollar Street began by sending photographers to representative households but hopes to one day crowdsource its material. “In the media, usually we see only the exotic: the really poor and the really rich,” she says. “To understand the world, we have to focus on the unsexy, everyday life in the middle.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5087361/this-designer-wants-to-prove-the-world-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5087361/this-designer-wants-to-prove-the-world-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think/"},"headline":"This Designer Wants to Prove the World Isn’t as Divided as We Think","datePublished":"2018-01-04T11:35:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:44:22.829Z","description":"Gapminder Foundation/Dollar Street","url":"https://time.com/5087361/this-designer-wants-to-prove-the-world-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think/","keywords":["Optimist"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdad7dffe5fe9e8c/6988f65b7cdbaccfe0d5b677/optimist-issue-a-r-ronnlund.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdad7dffe5fe9e8c/6988f65b7cdbaccfe0d5b677/optimist-issue-a-r-ronnlund.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"optimist-issue-A-R-Ronnlund","caption":"Anna Rosling Rönnlund, co-founder and product manager of the Stockholm-based fact tank Gapminder.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/optimist/","name":"Optimist"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5087361/this-designer-wants-to-prove-the-world-isnt-as-divided-as-we-think/","name":"This Designer Wants to Prove the World Isn’t as Divided as We Think"}}]}] ```