What are some interesting maps of the world, depicting interesting facts?

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These are some of the most interesting maps.

• In this map, the population in the red area is equal to the population in the blue areas. That is insane.

• This is another world population map. Half of the world’s total population is in yellow, and the other half is in black.

• This map shows the total wealth of the world in 1500. It is obvious that here it was India, China and Europe that had most of the world’s wealth, with some of Africa (mostly Nigeria and Egypt) showing, along with Mexico and Peru in the Western Hemisphere as having the wealth of that region (considering that at that time that’s where most of the people also lived). Within Europe, Italy is the richest nation, followed by France. The UK and Russia are tiny.

• A map showing the total wealth of the world in 1960. Notice that China and India shrank dramatically, while Japan grew, and the U.S. positively exploded. Europe grew slightly, but within it the countries have shuffled around, with the UK, Germany and Russia much richer than France and Italy. Africa practically disappeared, while Australia is visible for the first time. In South America, Brazil and Argentina also show up for the first time.

• A map showing the total wealth of the world in 2015. Notice that China has regained her top spot, with India closely following behind. The U.S. has shrunk, along with most of Europe. Within Europe Russia shrunk dramatically, while less dramatic shrinking occurred with Germany, Italy and France. Southeast Asia has also grown substantially (Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia are quite large now) while Africa, and South America have not changed.

• War deaths between 1945 and 2000. Notice that the vast majority of all deaths have happened in Africa and East Asia, with Indochina almost as big as half of Africa. The Americas, Europe and Japan are almost non-existent, and considering how many people live in South Asia, relatively few war deaths have happened there since 1945.

• Map of scientific collaborations from 2005 to 2009. Notice that each line demarcates a scientist from country A collaborating with a scientist from country B. Patterns emerge, with Japan, the eastern US and Western Europe shining brightly, while wisps show India, China, and southeastern South America (mostly the large Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). Australia is practically non-existent, along with Africa, Canada, most of the Middle East and the rest of South America.

• Map showing human impact on the biosphere, showing that only remote deserts and tundras, Siberia, deep rainforests in South America, and a surprising chunk of China, are the only places with a light human presence. All the environments in red have been deeply disrupted by humans, with all of India and Europe completely red, along with a huge chunk of the U.S.

• Map of all 2.4 million car crashes in the UK from 1999 to 2010. Notice the obvious—almost all car crashes happened in the crowded cities. It would be interesting to see this map superimposed on a similar map showing the UK at night from outer space.

• Map of the tracks of all the tropical storms and cyclones that have formed over the surface of the Earth in the past 100 years. Notice that the bulk of all extremely intense storms happened in the western Pacific Ocean, between Japan and Indonesia, with Taiwan and the northern Philippines getting the brunt of the storms. Also notice that no tropical storm crossed over the equator, and that no tropical storms formed over the Pacific Ocean west of South America, or the Atlantic Ocean west of southern Africa. Only two storms formed in all of the southern Atlantic Ocean in the past 100 years.

• The explosive population growth experienced by the U.S. between 1850 and 1900. Notice how much in these two maps the population densities just get thicker much more quickly and spread westwards, implying that the nation was filling up really quickly.

1850 Map

1900 map