Percentage of the Population Living on $2 or Less a Day

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Claudia Soria

MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, conducted surveys in developing nations to see which countries survive on a few dollars per day. The cities or countries where people are known to live on meager dollar amounts on a daily bases are not that surprising, but the percentage of the population living under these conditions is.

In Udaipur and Hyderabad (India) a staggering 94% of the population survive on $2 or less per day. In Bangladesh, 69.4% go on $2 or less per day. In Ghana, 67.7% survive on $2 or less per day. In Guatemala, 64.8% of the population survive on $2 or less per day.

Source: GOOD: Living on Less

Women in the Workforce by Country

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Claudia Soria

It has been said, that if women participated in the workforce more actively, like their male counterparts, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of those countries would be higher.

However, most countries, including some developed nations do not have policies in place that support women’s participation in the workforce, such as access to education, credit, employment, paid maternity leave or child care.

Countries with the highest economic success for women (measured in terms of equality of pay, degree of inclusion in the workforce, and career advancement), that offer the best policies for supporting women in the workforce include Norway, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and Iceland.

Countries with the lowest degree of economic success that have few policies (or none) that support women in the workplace include Chad, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, among others.

Some interesting facts about the success of women in the workplace and the policies in place to support them in certain countries can be seen in the graphic above.

Source: Harvard Business Review: Vision Statement: Women and the Economics of Equality

Internet Connectivity in the United States

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Claudia Soria

As part of the PBS series America Revealed, this aerial visualization shows the patterns of internet distribution in the United States. We can see that the regions with highest levels of internet connectivity include the Northeast, and parts of the South and Midwest, followed by the Pacific West.

For additional interesting aerial visualizations, such as the distribution of the unemployed, electricity network routes, public transportation paths, U.S. imports and exports of beef patterns, the distribution of the population in towns and cities, etc., visit: The Roosevelt’s – Aerial Data Visualisation Reveals Life In The United States.

The Influenza Virus Visualized

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Claudia Soria

Humans can be infected by influenza viruses types A,B, and C. Type A affects humans, birds, and pigs. Type B and C affect only humans. Type C is less severe than type A and it does not cause pandemics.

In this visualization by Information is Beautiful, we can see how the different strains of influenza virus affect humans, what is their origin, and how they are transmitted from pigs and from birds ultimately to humans.

Type A influenza is divided into H and N strains. The “swine flu” N1H1 killed 15,000 people worldwide in 2009-2010. The “bird flu” H5N1 strain, with a fatality rate of 60%, has killed 371 people as of 2013. The more recent H7N9 strain has killed thousand of pigs in China, with 8 human fatalities to date.

North Korea vs. South Korea

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Claudia Soria

In this visualization created by The Guardian, we can see how North Korea compares to South Korea in terms of population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), life expectancy, freedom of the press, military spending, internet connectivity, infant mortality, among other indicators.

North Korea is a poor country with half the population of South Korea. It is one of the worst countries in terms of corruption and freedom of the press. Its military spending constitutes approximately 22.3% of its GDP, compared to 2.8% for South Korea.

Additional resource: IndexMundi: South Korea vs. North Korea – Country Comparisons

Life Expectancy at Birth for Women

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Claudia Soria

Life expectancy at birth, for women, varies significantly across the world.

On one side of the spectrum, we find nations where the life expectancy at birth for females is 80.5 years or more. Countries in this group include the United States, Canada, Chile, several developed nations in Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

On the other side, we find nations where the life expectancy at birth for females is much lower, 62.0 years or less. This group is comprised by the majority of African countries, with the exception of North African nations, and Afghanistan.

Resource: The World Bank DataBank: Gender Statistics – Life expectancy at birth, female (years)

Mortality Numbers for Children Under Five

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Claudia Soria

In 2011, 6.9 million children under five years old died around the globe from different causes ranging from pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea, HIV/AIDS, meningitis, to all kinds of injuries.

The number of deaths of children under five has decreased by 59% in the last forty years, from 16.9 million back in 1970 to 6.9 million in 2011. That is good news for the world in general; however, there are still regions in the planet where under-five mortality rates have changed hardly at all. That is the case of Africa, where countries with the highest under-five mortality rates include Sierra Leone, Somalia, Mali, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola. In other parts of the world, countries with high under-five mortality rates include Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Haiti and Bolivia.

Income is a critical factor influencing under-five mortality rates, as shown in the graph above. The larger the income per capita of a nation, the lower the mortality rate. Such is the case of developed economies like Luxembourg or Norway, in stark contrast with developing countries like Somalia or Sierra Leone, where income per capita is very low.

Source: Health Intelligence: Under-five Mortality dashboard

The Best and Worst Places to be Born in 2013

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Claudia Soria

Back in 1988, the United States was ranked first as the best country to be born. Twenty five years later, the U.S. is ranked number 16.

The Economist Intelligence Unit compiled the where-to-be-born index which measures which country will provide the best opportunities to someone born in 2013. It links the results of life satisfaction surveys to indicators that affect the quality of life in those countries, such as geography, demographics, culture, government policies, the economy, etc.

Based on those factors, the best places to be born are Switzerland, Australia followed by Norway, Sweden Denmark, and Singapore. At the bottom of the list you will find Nigeria, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Angola, Pakistan, among others.

The United States as Mapped by Starbucks Locations

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Claudia Soria

click to enlarge

In a thought-provoking article, James Davenport from the blog IfWeAssume.com, mentions interesting facts about the location of Starbucks coffee shops in different cities in the U.S. For example, the closer you live to a Starbucks, the more likely your rent is going to be higher. Another interesting fact is that Starbucks locations are clustered around major cities and highways, as shown in the map. He concludes that more than 80% of the U.S. population, about 250 million people, live within 20 miles of a Starbucks.

How Does Your Country Compare to U.S. States?

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Claudia Soria

These interactive maps from the Economist provide an interesting comparison between different countries and US states.

Using the criteria of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the economy of California is approximately the size of Italy, Texas the size of Russia, Florida the size of the Netherlands, and Alabama the size of Nigeria.

Using the criteria of Population, California is approximately the size of Poland, Washington the size of Lebanon, Arizona the size of Libya, and Minnesota the size of Finland, to name a few.

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