Tag Archives: Norway

Internet Population and Penetration by Country

An estimated one third of the world population is connected to the internet while the remaining two thirds do not have have access to it yet, according to the website Information Geographies.

As shown in the map above, the distortion in the size of China points out the fact that it is the country with the largest number of internet users, roughly 500 million people. China is followed by the United States, India, and Japan, among others.

Countries with the largest internet penetration, the percentage of the population of each country connected to the internet, include Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Germany, Finland, Qatar, and New Zealand.

Source: Information Geographies: Internet Population and Penetration

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

Oil Production and Consumption by Country

When it comes to oil production and consumption, countries have a very close relationship of interdependence with each other. Some countries consume more oil than what they produce relying on imports to satisfy their internal demand. Others, consume less than what they produce, being able to export oil to nations that need it.

Oil consumption (yellow) for the United States, for example, was larger than its production (grey) for 2012, 18.55 mb/d (million barrels per day) compared to 8.9 mb/d, importing more than double its production to satisfy the gap in internal demand. Other nations with oil consumption higher that oil production include China, Brazil, Australia, India, UK, and Indonesia.

In contrast, oil consumption for Saudi Arabia for 2012 is estimated at 2.94 mb/d, while its production reached 11.53 md/d, exporting its oil surplus to the rest of the world. Other nations whose oil production exceeds its oil consumption include Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Norway, Russia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

Source: Winston Smith Labs: Global Oil Production and Consumption since 1965 [Interactive Map/Graph]

The Quality of Democracy by Country

Global Democracy Ranking released the Democracy Ranking for the year 2012, which shows the quality of democracy around the world.

Several indicators were used to calculate the Global Democracy Ranking. Those indicators were selected from a vast variety of dimensions such as politics, economy, environment, gender equality, education, health, and knowledge.

As seen in the map above, countries ranked at the top (dark green), those with the highest quality of democracy include Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, and Austria. In contrast, we find countries where democracy is at serious risk or where it is no longer a viable system (brown). Among these countries we have Yemen, Syria, Libya, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, China, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, and Haiti.

Source: Global Democracy Ranking: Democracy Ranking 2012

Gay Marriage by Country

To date, 15 countries allow gay marriage: Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, and New Zealand.

Same-sex marriage is legal in some jurisdictions of Mexico and the United States. Currently, 12 states in the U.S. permit same-sex marriage, while 30 states have amended their constitutions to ban it.

Resource: Pew Research Center: A global snapshot of same-sex marriage

Women in the Workforce by Country

It has been said, that if women participated in the workforce more actively, like their male counterparts, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of those countries would be higher.

However, most countries, including some developed nations do not have policies in place that support women’s participation in the workforce, such as access to education, credit, employment, paid maternity leave or child care.

Countries with the highest economic success for women (measured in terms of equality of pay, degree of inclusion in the workforce, and career advancement), that offer the best policies for supporting women in the workforce include Norway, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and Iceland.

Countries with the lowest degree of economic success that have few policies (or none) that support women in the workplace include Chad, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, among others.

Some interesting facts about the success of women in the workplace and the policies in place to support them in certain countries can be seen in the graphic above.

Source: Harvard Business Review: Vision Statement: Women and the Economics of Equality

Gasoline Prices in Europe by Country

According to Russian news agency Ria Novosti, Norway has the highest gasoline price among European countries, with a price of 1.90 Euro per liter ( or US $9.475 per gallon at the current exchange rate of 1 Euro = US $1.31). Norway is followed by Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, and Greece.

The lowest gasoline prices are found in Belarus and Kazakhstan, 0.68 Euros and 0.70 Euros per liter, respectively. The average gasoline price for European nations is 1.39 Euros per liter.

Human Development Index 2012

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure that includes three indicators: life expectancy at birth, level of education attained, and income. The HDI is an alternative to the purely economical GDP, that quantifies economic growth only. Thus, the HDI provide a way to gauge the development of a country. The HDI for 2012 includes 187 countries.

The HDI ranks countries according to their degree of development using a scale from 0 to1, 0 being the least developed and 1 being the most developed country.

In the HDI map above, published by the Brazilian media site Globo.com we find that Norway has a score of 0.955, ranking number one as the most developed country (color green). Norway is followed by Australia, the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, among others.

At the other end of the spectrum we find the least developed nations (color purple), including the majority of African nations, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Papua New Guinea.

Vulnerability to Climate Change

The Global Adaptation Institute (GAIN) created the GAIN Index to measure the vulnerability of countries to climate change, combined with how well prepared these countries are to face the global challenges associated with it.

Countries at extreme risk include North Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Burundi, Chad, Sudan and Zimbabwe. At the other end of the spectrum, countries with the lowest risk include Denmark, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, New Zealand, Norway, to name a few.

For a complete list of countries and index methodology visit: The Global Adaptation Institute: The GAIN Index

The Happiest Countries on Earth

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MIT’s Technology Review magazine created a map of the 40 happiest countries in the world, based on research data from Columbia University’s Earth Institute. According to the list, Denmark ranks as the happiest country, followed by Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada. At the bottom of this list are Jamaica, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and the Czech Republic. Countries not on this list ranked even lower.

For a detailed information concerning the methodology used and sources, see: The Earth Institute – Columbia University: First World Happiness Report Launched at the United Nations

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