Tag Archives: Bolivia

The Gender Gap in Science by Country

women in science

The number of women researchers is small compared to that of men globally. Researchers are professionals who are engaged in the creation of new knowledge, technologies, or products.

The map above shows the number of women as a share of total researchers by country. It is interesting to note that countries like Bolivia and Burma, both developing nations, show the highest ratio of female researchers compared to the total in each country.  Since the data used here is based on headcounts of people employed in R&D full time and part time, I would take this results with caution considering that the total number of researches in these countries could be very low to begin with, and the results, therefore, not very solid.

In the same manner, the percentage of women researchers for Latin America and the Caribbean as a share of the total is the highest in the world, higher than the number for developed nations (45.2% according to this study) which seems counter-intuitive.

Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics: Women in Science – The Gender Gap in Science

 

Parts of the World With No McDonald’s

countries without a mcdonalds

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.

 

Dependency on U.S. Funds to Fight AIDS by Country

dependence on us funds for hivThe United States provides 60% of the funding to fight the AIDS epidemic worldwide. The highest recipients of this funding are African nations. Other countries include Bolivia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Latin America depends on these funds to fight AIDS too. Latin American nations are recipients of up to 24% of funding from the US along with Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Source: The Nation: Who Depends Most on US Funds to Fight AIDS Epidemic

 

How Welcome Are Foreign Visitors in Your Country?

When traveling around the world, tourists do not know which countries will welcome them, and which countries won’t.

A recent report on world tourism by the World Economic Forum fills that void. The report compiled a list of the most and least friendly countries for tourists. Using a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 stands for the unfriendliest countries, and 7 stands for the friendliest nations, the report ranks countries according to the attitude of the population toward foreign visitors.

As seen in the map above, among the unfriendliest nations we find Bolivia, Venezuela, Russia, Kuwait, Latvia, Iran, Pakistan, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Mongolia. Among the friendliest nations we find Iceland, New Zealand, Morocco, Macedonia, Austria, Senegal, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland, and Burkina Faso.

Resource:  World Economic Forum: The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013

 

The Cheapest and Most Expensive Places to Fill Your Gas Tank

click to enlarge

Gas prices go up or down according to supply-demand forces and to movements in the commodities market. According to this map, published by the Car and Driver blog, prices in the United States ($3.85 per gallon) are not that bad compared to gas prices in other countries.

European nations have the highest gas prices, above $7 per gallon. If you were in Turkey you will have to pay the highest price, a steep $9.39 per gallon. Turkey’s gas prices are followed by Norway ($9.38), Italy ( $9.00), Sweden ($8.75), the United Kingdom ($8.46), Germany ($8.29), and Iceland ($8.01).

In the Americas, the highest gas prices can be found in Belize ($7.59), followed by Uruguay ($6.99), Chile($6.60), Peru ($5.95), Argentina ($5.52) and Canada ($5.14). Gas prices are significantly low in Venezuela ($0.06) and Bolivia ($2.05) due to government subsidies.

Africa enjoys low gas prices, except for Djibouti ($6.48), Madagascar ($5.74), Zimbabwe ($5.38), and South Africa ($5.15).

In Asia, Japan pays the highest gas prices, $6.87 per gallon, followed by the Philippines ($5.43), and India ($5.42).

In Australia, New Zealand and Australia’s gas prices per gallon are $6.75 and $5.64, respectively.