Monthly Archives: August 2013

Deaths by Hepatitis vs. Deaths by HIV by Country

hepatitis and hiv world HIV killed 1.47 million people in 2010. Viral hepatitis killed as many as 1.44 million people in the same year. Even though the number of deaths caused by viral hepatitis follows close that of HIV, its impact goes largely ignored worldwide.

According to The Economist, viral hepatitis killed more people in 117 out of 187 countries, including China, India, Japan, and the UK. In the map above, countries in dark red show a higher ratio of deaths by viral hepatitis to deaths caused by HIV. Those countries include Egypt, Mongolia, UK, Turkey, Yemen, Iraq, South and North Korea, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Poland, and Germany.

Source: The Economist: The other killer – Hepatitis kills more people than HIV in most countries

 

 

Minutes of Minimum-Wage Work to Buy a Big Mac Burger

minutes of work for a big macUsing the criteria of the Big Mac Index developed by The Economist in 1986 as a way to measure if currencies are valued at the right level, the International Business Times created this visualization showing how many minutes a minimum-wage worker needs to work in order to buy a Big Mac burger.

As it turns out, a minimum-wage worker in Afghanistan needs to work 372 minutes (6.2 hours) in order to buy a Big Mac burger. In contrast, a minimum-wage worker in Australia needs to work only 18 minutes to buy a Big Mac burger.

Source: International Business Times: Minutes Of Minimum-Wage Work To Buy A Big Mac: 36 minutes in the US, 6 hours in Afghanistan

 

The Most and Least Ethnically Diverse Countries

diversity map harvardUsing data from the Harvard Institute for Economic Research, The Washington Post created this map that shows how ethnically diverse is a country.

Dark green countries are the more ethnically diverse. Such is the case of Canada, Mexico, several South American countries, including Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The most ethnically diverse countries are located in Africa. In contrast, dark orange countries are more ethnically homogenous. That is the case of most European nations, China, Japan, South and North Korea, and Australia.

 

Writing Systems of the World

writing systems of the worldThis map published by the Washington Post shows the different writing systems used around the world.

The Latin alphabet is by far the most common used alphabet, from Europe to the Americas to Africa and Australia. The two other writing systems widely used are Arabic, used in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and Cyrillic used in Russia and other countries formerly part of the Soviet Union.

 

The United States Leads in Mobile Monetization

us leads in mobile monetizationAccording to Statista global revenue from mobile advertising almost doubled in 2012, increasing from $4.9 billion back in 2011 to $9.1 billion.

In North America alone, the amount spent on mobile ads per mobile subscription reached $9.39 on 2012 compared to $4.53 on the previous year. That fact puts North America as the leader in mobile advertising worldwide. Western Europe follows with $2.91 spent on mobile ads per mobile subscription, more than double the amount spent on the previous year.

 

People Living with an HIV Diagnosis by U.S. County

people living with HIV diagnosis by countyOut of all the people in the United States who are HIV positive, up to one out of five are not aware of their condition. That’s just one of the interesting results highlighted by AIDSVu while preparing its most recent study.

The map above shows the number of people infected by the HIV virus per 100,000 people by county in the United States. The darkest red areas show the highest number of adults and adolescents with an HIV diagnose, 386 or more per 100,000 population. These numbers are concentrated along the East coast and Southern parts of the United States.

Source: AIDSVu: Persons Living with an HIV Diagnosis, 2010

 

Cannabis Consumption by Country

use of cannabis worldwideUruguay is on its way to legalize the production and consumption of cannabis, only waiting for the senate to pass the new bill. According to The Economist, more than 8% of Uruguay’s population ages 15 to 64 smoked cannabis in 2011, a higher percentage than in previous years.

Consumption of cannabis has also increased worldwide. Countries with the highest levels of consumption of cannabis in 2012, 10% or more of the population, include Italy, Nigeria, Australia, the United States, and Canada.

 

China at the Top of Renewable Energy Investment

china leads energy investmentIn 2012 China’s investment in renewable energy surpassed the investment by the United States for the previous year and for the same year. In fact, China’s is ahead every other nation including Germany, Japan, and Italy.

China’s investment in renewable energy exceeded $60 billion for 2012, compared to an estimated $36 billion in the United States, and $23 billion in Germany for the same year.

Source: Statista: China Leads the Way in Renewable Energy Investment

 

Total Population Undernourished in 2012

undernourishment hunger map 2012About 870 million people are still undernourished around the world, specially in developing countries. Undernourishment is defined as the lack of sufficient caloric intake.

The situation is specially serious in Africa. In countries like Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, etc. more than 35% of the population is undernourished. Other countries where a high percentage of the population is undernourished include North Korea, Laos, Paraguay, Haiti, to name a few.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: The FAO Hunger Map 2012

 

Bribes Around the World

where the bribes areThe Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 was enacted for the purpose of making it illegal for individuals or entities to make payments to foreign government officials in order to obtain business in a particular country. So far about 200 FCPA violations have been covered in 80 countries.

The darker the color of a country on the map above, the larger the FCPA violations in that country. FCPA violations have been found in different economic sectors: energy, manufacturing, agriculture, consulting, health and pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, defense and aerospace, and infrastructure.

The country with the largest number of FCPA violations is Nigeria, with the majority of bribery cases in the energy sector. Nigeria is followed by Argentina, China, Russia, Iran, and Iraq.

For the interactive map and links to documentation for every FCPA violation, please visit: The Mintz Group: Where the Bribes Are – Penalties in U.S. Government FCPA Cases Since 1977