Rainfall [233]

As drawn according to rainfall, a picture of our “waterworld” reveals contours that are subtly influenced by continental masses, but not beholden geography in any way whatsoever. Darkest regions receive on average more than 2000 millimeters of rain annually while white regions receive less than 100 millimeters. Arabian peninsular shown in the center of the perspective.

The World Is All That Is the Case [220]

The first sentence of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico Philosophicus.

Non-Competitive Elections [227]

Highlighted areas indicate those countries that are democratic in name only. Dictatorships, Communist states, and military states either ban popular elections, disregard their results, or hand-pick the candidates. Floundering or corrupt representative democracies often do no better at generating competitive elections.

Overseas Chinese Network [271]

Highlighted are countries that have a population of more than 500,000 ethnic Chinese. Outlined countries have more than 60,000 Chinese. The total number of overseas Chinese is estimated to be above 50 million.

Obesity [275]

Countries where 3% or more of preschool age children are overweight.

“Bad Carma” [211]

Traveling the roads of countries with a red cross is dangerous. The larger the cross, the higher the chance to continue any given trip in an ambulance and end up in a hospital or graveyard.

Watersheds [234]

The river systems and drainage basins on every continent have created watersheds of the world’s fresh water. Fueled by precipitation, and directed by continental geography, watersheds constitute the major reservoirs of fresh water and the channels through which water flows to the ocean.

Prison Populations [235]

The U.S. has recently usurped from Russia the dubious honor of highest rate of incarceration - almost 700. The number of inmates per 100,000 of the national population is represented for each country. 142 is the world average.

Red Tape - Impediments to Business [297]

One of the biggest roadblocks to economic growth and poverty reduction is excessive business regulation. Among the 155 economies measured in 2005/2006, it is easiest to do business in New Zealand and most difficult in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On the globe, the top 25 performers in terms of the ease of doing business have no “red tape.” Countries ranked 26 through 50 are marked by one line of red tape, those ranked 51 through 80 have two lines, and those ranked 81 through 145 have three. The bottom 10 countries are covered in red lines – with the exception of Laos, these countries are all in Africa. Countries not measured in the report are marked by a black line.

Deserts [314]

The world's most arid regions occur along the tropics of cancer and capricorn.
Deserts are areas that receive precipitation of less than 250 mm p.a. The largest desert by this standard is Antarctica. Some deserts climates extend into the ocean. The waters adjacent to the Atacama in Chile are technically deserts.

Coffee Trade and Consumption [320]

Energy Generation/ Consumption [322]

87% of the world energy consumption is generated from fossil fuels (gas, coal, oil). The rest is equally divided between nuclear (6%) and hydro energy (7%).
Alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and ocean wave/tidal power account for barely 0.1 %. Only in Spain and Germany do these sources supply up to 1% of the total consumption.
Yellow-green: Nuclear - Black: Fossil - Blue: Hyrdo - Silver line: Alternative.
Breadth of bars indicate regional consumption volume.