Eco Pressure [172]

Arable land vs. population size: Some areas are particularly endangered and more sensitive to ecological imbalance. Population pressure, the scarcity of arable land, soil quality and climate set strict limits to growth.

Arab League [082]

Not an Arab World [035]

Superhighway to the Future [216]

A 24-lane superhighway packed bumper to bumper would have to circle the globe 1.8 times to accommodate the world’s 440 million cars in 2000. By the year 2030, however, the superhighway to the future would have to circle the globe 4.25 times to accommodate the projected1020 million cars at that date. A hypothethical parking lot to accommodate this car population would cover all of Belgium.

US Patent Holders [284]

This globe represents half of all patents in the US - those registered to
foreign holders. Countries with more than 1000 patents registered in
the US are indicated by name, with the point size of the representative
text scaled according to the square root of the total number of US
patents held. Japan accounts for roughly one third of foreign-held US
patents, followed by Germany, the UK, and France. Were the number
of domestically held US patents to be indicated according to this logic,
the entire surface of the globe would be covered. As of 2007 over half of all patents registered in the US are foreign owned.

Non-Competitive Elections [227 -2]

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. Minimal red tape indicates a flawed democracy, the median amount indicates hybrid regimes, and the most red tape indicates authoritarian regimes. Flawed or corrupt representative democracies often do no better at generating competitive elections.

Infant Mortality [171]

Infant mortality is a good indicator of a population's well-being. In areas shaded dark red, one out of five children did not live beyond the age of five in the year 2000. In white areas, the mortality is less than 2%. Reducing infant mortality in one of the UN's MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)

Soil Degradation [169]

Soil degradation is brought on by several factors, mostly predisposition for desertification, acid rain, need for fuelwood and food needs which are beyond the soil's capacity to support. This globe shows only areas where the population’s food needs lead to overexploitation and subsequently to soil degradation.

Labor Migration [166]

This world is divided into richer and poorer countries. Highlighted countries are considered rich, as the personal income averages more than US $2,500/year. Anybody making less is part of the rest, the poor. Accordingly, there is a migration from poorer to richer countries. Inconsistent definitions of labor migration, and the untrackable nature of illegal migration has resulted in a scarcity of data on the subject. Arrows shown represent flows of at least 50,000 migrants in a given year between 1986 and 2003 as noted by the International Labor Organization.

Ice Age [168]

Island Nations [167]

G8 vs. G20

The G8 states derive their global claim to leadership from their by now shrinking portion of the global economy (approx. 45% in 2009; 65% in 2002) which is represented here as the light part of the northern hemisphere. the G20 countries, which incorporate all G8 members, represent 85% of the world economy (southern hemisphere).. the portion of the world economy each member country controls is shown in a box surrounding each country; black outlines are G8 countries, red outlines are G20 members. red dots indicate membership in either G8 or G20; countries not represented are joined by dotted lines.