I just watched one of the most informative videos I've ever seen: Hans Rosling's Talk at TED.
Not only is it a wonderful example of data visualisation, it is a fascinating, myth-busting look at what's really going on with world health and economic development.
Rosling calls his approach a "fact-based world view". He's also extremely entertaining.
The software behind his visualisations was developed by a non-profit he founded, Gapminder, and is free (as in beer).
Even if you don't check out the software - the video is well worth 20 minutes of your time.
The original post was in the categories: economics human_development but I'm still in the process of migrating categories over.