Wait, why does it say a million people died from swine flu?

It's inaccurate to have the Spanish Flu infobox pointing to Spain, despite the name. Spain was just the first place where the outbreak was widely reported, because most other affected countries were had their media censored due to World War I.

Jfruh points out one of the difficulties of using maps to display data. Although the text for the Spanish Flu indicates that it spread worldwide, a quick glance at the graphic links it tightly with Spain.

Ms. Liberty - good question. I saw an actual number (around 100) in an earlier version. I would assume a cut-and-paste error on the part of the designer as it doesn't match the statistic for the # dead per thousand population.

What a useless chart. Why are they comparing the first few weeks of this pandemic with the complete run of all other pandemics? What's the point of that?

Maybe I give the designer too much credit, but I'd think from a teaching opportunity, that would be part of the point - how do we compare pandemics? what are worst cases? how do we report risks and disasters?

The Spanish Flu is from Ft. Riley, Kansas! Not Spain! It spread quickly through the military, and to all the countries involved in WW1. That nickname is misleading, and results from Spain's neutrality during the war. The US and the rest of Europe couldn't give accurate death tolls because, especially within the military, it was nigh impossible to get accurate numbers of flu dead vs. war dead.