More or Less: Behind the Stats BBC Podcasts

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the UK economy is growing faster than Germany, France and the US, while Labour says the typical household in the UK is worse off by £5,883 since 2019. Are these claims fair? We give some needed context.
Net migration has fallen - we talk to someone who predicted it would - Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.
Is Taylor Swift about to add £1 bn to the British economy as some media outlets have claimed? The answer is ‘No’.
Why are our prisons full? We ask Cassia Rowland from the Institute for Government.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Charlotte McDonald, Nathan Gower, Bethan Ashmead Latham and Ellie House
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon

News stories earlier in the year appeared to suggest that time restricted eating – where you consume all your meals in an 8 hour time window – was associated with a 91% increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
But is this true? Tim Harford looks into the claim with the help of Cardiologist Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University in the US.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Debbie Richford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Richard Vadon

Is it going to take 685 years to clear NHS waiting lists in England?
Are 10 per cent of MPs under investigation for sexual misconduct?
How does gold effect the UKs export figures?
What does it mean to say that a woman has 120% chance of getting pregnant?
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.
Presenter: Tim Harford
Producers: Nathan Gower and Bethan Ashmead Latham
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Editor: Richard Vadon

It’s long been known that marriage is associated with happiness in survey data. But are falling marriage rates in the US dragging down the mood of the whole nation?
We investigate the statistical relationships with Professor Sam Peltzman from the University of Chicago, and Professor John Helliwell, from the University of British Columbia.
Presenter: Tom Colls
Reporter: Natasha Fernandes
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Richard Vadon

If a child loves reading, how big a difference does that make to their future success?
In a much-repeated claim, often sourced to a 2002 OECD report, it is suggested that it makes the biggest difference there is – that reading for pleasure is the biggest factor in future success.
But is that true? We speak to Miyako Ikeda from the OECD and Professor Alice Sullivan from University College London.
Presenter / series producer: Tom Colls
Reporter / producer: Debbie Richford
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon

Polling by YouGov made headlines around the world when it suggested 20% of young adults in the US thought the holocaust was a myth.
But polling experts at the Pew Research Centre thought the result might not be accurate, due to problems with the kind of opt-in polling it was based on. They tried to replicate the finding, and did not get the same answer.
We speak to Andrew Mercer from the Pew Research Centre and YouGov chief scientist Douglas Rivers.
Presenter /series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot
Editor: Richard Vadon