Author Archives: Miguel Barrientos

IndexMundi Global Surveys

We are very excited to announce that the results of the surveys we have been running on the site are now available in our new Global Surveys section. We started by asking our visitors the following questions:

  • How big of a problem is police corruption in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is corruption in the justice system in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is government corruption in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is drug-related crime in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is violence against women in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is air pollution in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is discrimination against women in the workplace in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is racial discrimination in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is religious discrimination in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is lack of access to quality health care in the country where you live?
  • How big of a problem is lack of access to quality primary and secondary public education in the country where you live?

The answers we received have given us a new understanding about the perceptions that ordinary citizens have regarding some of the most pressing problems of our time.

Government Restrictions on Religion

Government Restrictions on Religion Around the World

The Pew Research Center released today the results of its assessment of global restrictions on religion. A team of researchers combed through multiple sources of information to record concrete reports about government policies and actions, as well as specific incidents of religious violence or intolerance by social groups. One of the outcomes of the study is the thematic map shown above, which displays the level of government restrictions on religion as of December of 2011. The level is represented by the darkness of the color. The darker the color, the higher the level of government restrictions. The map shows that the Middle East and North Africa have many countries where governments restrict religion. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran top the list of countries with very high government restrictions. China, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Russia also stand out due to the policies and actions of their governments.

Compare States

We launched today a new state comparison section which allows you to get high-level side by side comparisons of any two states in the United States of America. The data behind the comparisons comes from the United States Census Bureau. Here are some examples of popular comparisons:

Condom Imports by Country

One of our visitors asked us if we had statistics on condom imports so we started looking through our trade section and found the data somewhat hidden under the category “sheath contraceptives of vulcanised rubber”. Anyway, the graph below shows the top 25 countries ranked by the value of their condom imports. You may also want to check our data on condom exports. Are you surprised by the rankings?

Condom imports by country

Alcohol Consumption Per Capita by Country

Alcohol consumption per capita by country

According to the the World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol consumption by adults on a per-capita basis is highest primarily in Eastern Europe. The Global Status Status Report on Alcohol and Health ranks Moldova, Hungary, and Russia at the top of the list. In Moldova, adults consume 18.22 liters of alcohol per year through a combination of beer, wine and spirits. How much alcohol is consumed in your country?

Download Speed by Country

Ranking of countries by download speed

For anyone who spends a significant part of their day working online, there is nothing more frustrating than having to use a slow internet connection. There are countries where slow internet connections are a thing of the past though, as shown by the household download index compiled by Ookla using data from Speedtest.net. According to the latest data, the countries with the fastest residential internet are Hong Kong, Singapore, and Lithuania. In Hong Kong, the average download speed is now a blistering 44.06 Mbps. Contrast that speed with the download speed in the countries with the slowest residential internet, namely Botswana, Uzbekistan, and Benin, where download speeds do not exceed 1 Mbps. How fast is your internet connection? You can check it using the meter at Speedtest.net

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

Food Spending by Country

Food spending by country

The share of household spending devoted to food and drink varies widely by country, as shown in the chart above recently published by The Economist using data from the US Department of Agriculture. The chart shows that Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food and drink, whereas people in Cameroon spend close to 50%. What percentage of your income pays for food and drink?

Country Comparisons

We launched today a new country comparison section which allows you to get high-level side by side comparisons of any two countries. The data behind the comparisons comes from the World Factbook published by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Here are some examples of popular comparisons:

Note that you can compare countries for all the indicators/variables we have, or for subsets grouped by topic. Topics include economy, demographics, government, military, telecommunications, etc.