No, there is some interesting data. The geo-politics embedded in it show up really well. East, west germany reunifying, Soviet Union disintegrating, the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott by the Americans, the back-at-you boycott in 84 by the Soviets, and Brazil becoming a force (as their economy strengthened perhaps?). Edit: Also, Japan's absence from the '48 edition after the second world war. Fun going from the map to Wikipedia to find out the reason for some major perturbations.