Tag Archives: Iran

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.

 

Refugees: Where Do They Come From?

refugees from where to where

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)

 

The World’s Largest Oil Reserves by Country

strategic oil reserves worldOil reserves are the amount of oil that can be technically and economically recovered from the ground.

Nations with the world’s largest oil reserves include Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Libya. Saudi Arabia, holds an approximate 234.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, and it has the largest market share for oil production after Russia. Saudi Arabia is followed by Venezuela, with an estimated 211.0 billion barrels of oil reserves, although its current oil production market share is only 3.2%.

By comparison, the United States has an estimated 30.9 billion barrels in oil reserves, and  8.7% market share in oil production.

Source: Spiegel Online: A World without Oil: Companies Prepare for a Fossil-Free Future

 

Death Sentences and Executions by Country

In this visualization by The Guardian, based on data from Amnesty International, we can see which countries still use the death penalty.

In 2012, 1,923 people were handed out a death sentence in 58 countries, and 976 executions were carried out in 20 countries.

China is by far the country that has carried out the largest number of executions, more than the rest of the world combined. Numbers are not know, though, since China keeps that information secret. China is followed by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United States, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.

 

Dangerous Countries for Travelers

This map published by CBS News warns travelers not to visit certain dangerous countries, or to exercise caution when visiting some of them.

Countries to be avoided at all cost include Niger, Chad, Sudan, Mali, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and North Korea.

Countries where travel should be done with a high degree of caution include Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua, to name a few.

Political Violence Risk by Country

This map created by Aon Risk Solutions, as part of its Crisis Management Web Analytics tool, shows which countries are at risk of facing political violence.

Political violence risks include terrorism, strikes, riots, civil upheaval, sabotage, war, civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, a hostile act by a belligerent power, mutiny or a coup d’etat.

Based on a rating from 0 to 6, 0 being low risk (green), and 6 being very high risk (red), we can see that the countries that carry the highest risk of political violence include Argentina in the Americas; Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe in Africa; Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Myanmar, and North Korea in Asia. OECD countries are not rated in this map.

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