Gasoline Prices in Europe by Country

According to Russian news agency Ria Novosti, Norway has the highest gasoline price among European countries, with a price of 1.90 Euro per liter ( or US $9.475 per gallon at the current exchange rate of 1 Euro = US $1.31). Norway is followed by Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, and Greece.

The lowest gasoline prices are found in Belarus and Kazakhstan, 0.68 Euros and 0.70 Euros per liter, respectively. The average gasoline price for European nations is 1.39 Euros per liter.

 

Body Mass Index (BMI) by Country

A body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9 is usually considered a healthy body weight to height relationship. A BMI of 25 or higher indicates body weight not optimal for the height of a particular person.

This visualization published by Visual.ly, shows the different BMI values for adult men and women across the globe.

Countries with a healthy average BMI between 20 and 22.9 include several nations in Africa, Yemen, India, Thailand, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, among others.

Countries with an average BMI between 23 and 24.9 include several Asian nations, several European nations (including France), some nations in Africa, and Honduras.

Countries with an average BMI between 25 and 26.9 include Canada, Russia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Israel, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, all Nordic countries, Spain, Portugal, and nations in the Middle East.

Countries with an average BMI of 27 and over  (the highest BMI range) include the United States, Kuwait, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Australia, UK, New Zealand, Greece, and Germany to name a few.

 

Government Debt as a Percentage of GDP

Government Debt as a Percentage of GDP

Using data from Eurostat, we identified the top 10 European countries with the highest government debt as a percentage of GDP. The chart above shows that as of the third quarter of 2012, the latest period for which quarterly data is available, Greece, Italy, and Portugal had the highest government debt ratio. Ireland was close behind Portugal, with a ratio that has been increasing at the fastest rate out of all the countries in the list. Cyprus, which has been in the news lately due to problems in its banking sector, had a debt ratio not much higher than Germany.

Source: Eurostat

Milk Consumption Per Capita Worldwide

Milk and milk products are consumed all over the world on a daily basis. As shown in the graph above, the largest consumers of milk in the Americas are the U.S., Canada, Nicaragua, and Argentina. In Europe the largest consumers of milk are Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, and Kazakhstan. In Africa, we have Sudan and South Sudan. Australia is also one of the largest consumers of milk.

The consumption of milk in this map is defined as Kg. of milk consumed per person per year.

Resource: Food Beast: Map of Milk Consumption & Lactose Intolerance Around the World

 

U.S. Military Personnel Around the World

According to this map by Bloomberg, in 2012 approximately 12.5% of active-duty military personnel were stationed outside the United States, in places like Afghanistan, Turkey, Australia Canada, Greenland, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Egypt, Myanmar, South Korea, Greece and Western Europe.

The pie chart above shows the top 14 places where the U.S. has active duty soldiers stationed.

Resources:

 

 

Sexual Well-Being Around the World

click to enlarge

Durex, the condoms manufacturing company, conducted a survey of 26,000 people in 26 countries, asking about their sexual well-being. The results are summarized in an interactive map that allows you to see how each participant countries rates in terms of frequency of sex versus sexual satisfaction levels. For Nigeria, for example, 53% of respondents were having sexual intercourse weekly, with 67% reported being satisfied. For Greece, 87% of respondents were having sexual intercourse weekly, with 51% being satisfied. For Japan, 34% of respondents were having sexual intercourse weekly, the lowest amongst the participant countries, with only 15% being satisfied, also the lowest rate of the surveyed populations.

For the interactive map, visit: Durex: Sexual Wellbeing Survey – Frequency of Sex versus Satisfaction Levels

 

The World’s Least and Most Dynamic Countries

Global Dynamism Index

Grant Thornton International and the Economist Intelligence Unit have just released a Global Dynamism Index, which ranks 50 economies on 22 indicators of dynamism. Countries which have a positive reading on these indicators have recovered faster since the 2008 global recession, and are also on a path to higher future growth. Singapore, Finland, and Sweden are at the top of the list of the world’s most dynamic countries, whereas Nigeria, Greece, and Venezuela are at the bottom.

Youth Unemployment in Europe and the US

Youth unemployment in Europe and the US

A new report from Eurostat shows that the economic crisis in Europe is creating rising unemployment throughout the continent. The 25 years old and under age group has been the hardest hit by a wave of layoffs and by the reluctance of firms to hire. In Greece and Spain, youth unemployment has risen above 50%, a level which has been fueling mass protests and even violence. Check the article at The Atlantic for a more detailed discussion about the graph above.

Income Inequality in Greece

As the political situation in Greece continues to deteriorate, we decided to take a look at the income distribution statistics we have for the country. Take a look at the graph we created based on World Bank numbers:

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The graph shows the income share for each quintile of the population. The top 20% has a 41.49% share of income, while the bottom 20% has a 6.74% share.

Note that all income share numbers are from the year 2000. We have not been able to locate more recent data, although the CIA World Factbook publishes GINI index numbers which are more recent.

It will be interesting to see how the distribution of income in Greece changes once the effect of the current crisis is quantified.