Monthly Archives: September 2013

Women’s Earnings by State

Comparing the median earnings of full-time employed women to the median earnings of full-time employed men in the U.S., we can see there is still a gender pay gap, where women earn 77 cents per each dollar earned by their white male counterparts. This number has remained unchanged for the last ten years.

In some states women earn slightly more. That is the case for the states of Nevada (84 cents per dollar), California, Vermont, and New York. On the other side of the spectrum, there are states where women earn much less than the median. That is the case of Wyoming (64 cent per dollar), and Louisiana (67 cents per dollar).

Source: Forbes: The Geography Of The Gender Pay Gap: Women’s Earnings By State

The Most Honest Cities in the World

Reader’s Digest conducted an experiment where a total of 192 wallets were lost in 16 cities around the world, about 12 wallets per city, to see how many of those would be returned to their rightful owners. Each wallet contained cash, credit cards, and the owner’s contact information.

The results show the most honest cities as Helsinki (Finland) and Mumbai (India). On the other hand, cities where the fewer number of lost wallets were returned to their owners include Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Zurich (Switzerland), Madrid (Spain), and Lisbon (Portugal).

Source: International Business Times: Most Honest Cities In The World: The Lost Wallet Experiment [Infographic]

Hardworking People in the World

In some countries people work really hard and in others they don’t. In the map above we can see that countries where people are the most hardworking (orange) include Mexico, South Korea, and Chile, while countries where people just take it easy (blue) include France, Germany, Italy, and Norway.

This map was elaborated for OECD countries only. To get this numbers the author took into consideration the average annual hours worked per person and the average age of retirement per worker for each OECD country.

Source: Business Insider: MAP: Here Are The Countries That Work Hard And The Ones Where They Like To Relax

Syrian Refugees in 2013

Since the armed conflict began in Syria, an estimated 100,000 people have been killed, and as many as 2 million people had fled the nation seeking refuge in neighboring countries. The majority of the refugees had fled to neighboring Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. Egypt and Iraq have seen an influx of Syrian refugees as well.

Additionally, another 4 million people had been internally displaced, roughly 1 of every 4 inhabitants, including an estimated 2 million children.

Source: PBS: Syrian Refugees

Parts of the World With No McDonald’s

If you travel outside the United States the likelihood that you will find a McDonald’s is very high. However, there are still many countries that do not have one. Such is the case of most South Saharan African countries, with the exception of South Africa, Botswana, and Kenya; Iran, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan in the Middle East; Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea in Asia; Cuba, Haiti, Bolivia, and Guyana in the America’s. It is interesting to see that Iceland, being a highly developed European nation, does not have one either.

Note: We found this interesting map on the web, but we were unable to find its original source to give it proper credit and link to it as the source for this blog post.

Unplanned Pregnancy By State Across the United States

Nearly half of the total 6.7 million of pregnancies taken place in the United States every year are unintended pregnancies. Although the unintended pregnancy rate has remained relatively constant in the last three decades, the rate among poor women has seen a dramatic increase, especially in the South, and in cities with a large population.

Public funds are used to cover the huge cost of such unintended pregnancies. Avoiding unintended pregnancies though the funding of public family planning centers constitutes a better use of those funds. In 2008, $1.9 billion were destined to fund public family planning centers across the U.S., which resulted in savings of $7 billion, resources that would have been used to cover for the unintended pregnancies otherwise.

Source: The Huffington Post: The Geography Of Unintended Pregnancy (INFOGRAPHIC)

The Economic Freedom Index 2013

The Economic Freedom Index, compiled by the Heritage Foundation, is a measure of the economic freedom given to citizens in each of the 185 countries where it is measured. A total of ten components of economic freedom are considered, all grouped under four categories: rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets.

The highest ranking country in the list is Hong Kong, with a score of 89.3, affording its citizens the highest degree of economic freedom in the world. Hong Kong is followed by Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Mauritius, Denmark, and the United States, among the top ten.

On the opposite side, the most repressed countries in terms of economic freedom include North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Eritrea, and Burma.

Source: International Business Times: US Economic Freedom Is At Lowest Point Since 2000 [MAP]

Refugees: Where Do They Come From?

As a consequence of armed conflicts happening in different parts of the world, inhabitants in those regions had been forced to flee and seek refuge in other countries.

As of 2011, the largest number of refugees was coming from Afghanistan (2.6 million people), followed by Iraq (1.4 million), and Somalia (1 million), as seen in the map above in color red. Countries where these refugees were seeking asylum included Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Kenya, Germany, and Jordan.

Up to the point when this data was collected, there was not an armed conflict going on in Syria. In fact, Syria was listed as an asylum destination for refugees coming from Iraq. That has changed now, and Syria has joined other countries torn by conflict whose inhabitants are seeking asylum in other parts of the world.

Source: Global Refugee Tracker: where are refugees from? And where do they go (2011)

Every Protest in the World Since 1979

According to the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) website, an estimated 250 million incidents have occurred since 1979, ranging from protests and violence, to change in military or police attitudes.

The dots spread across North Africa in 2011, for example, hint to the Arab Spring protests taking place at the time in that region. In a similar manner the cluster of dots concentrated in the Middle East, more precisely in Syria, point to the ongoing conflict in that country.

For the interactive map, please visit: Foreign Policy: Mapped: Every Protest on the Planet Since 1979

The Higher Cost of Higher Education

Studying abroad can be very expensive, specially if you are looking at universities in Australia or the United States.

The average cost of higher education for international students is very high in Australia, where a student is expected to pay a total of $38,516 in annual fees and cost of living. Australia is followed by the U.S. where the average cost of one year of higher education is estimated at $35,705. Other countries with a steep tab on higher education include the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

On the other hand, more affordable higher education can be found in Germany, where the average cost of one year of college annual fees plus cost of living is estimated at $6,285. Other countries with affordable higher education include Spain, Taiwan, China, and Russia.

Source: International Business Times- International Students: Higher Education Is Really Inexpensive In Germany, But Not In The US [CHARTS]

IndexMundi Blog

Country profiles in depth