When we collected a list of 40 cool maps that you would never have seen in school, you guys loved them, so we’re back with more. If interesting world maps are one of the main ways that we understand the world we live in (and how people elsewhere in the world live), then it’s no surprise that people are always coming up with new ways to use them to display information.
Every single one of these interesting maps reveals different fun and surprising facts, from which we can make some curious inferences. There’s usually a no better way to illustrate the economic, social and cultural differences between different parts of the world than by displaying them on a map.
However, it’s also important not to jump to conclusions with these world maps – whether a country ranks well or poorly in a particular metric can be due to a whole number of factors, some of which we understand and some of which we don’t. Information without context should be taken with a grain of salt.
So, have you ever wondered where in the world the most and least photos are taken? How is the human population or economic production distributed across the globe? These maps – some of which are new and some of which are old favorites – intuitively answer questions like these.
If you like what you see, check out the rest of our thought-provoking map-related posts as well. Do you know of any cool maps that we haven’t seen before?
NOTE: Studies like these, while entertaining or interesting, are not always 100% accurate. Leading questions and limited sample sizes are just a few of the data gathering problems that could be present in funny maps like these.
The Most Photographed Places In The World
Image credits: imgur.om
Happiness Map
Image credits: tutonew.com
Earth’s Seasons
Image credits: visibleearth.nasa.gov
Hottest And Sexiest Women By Country
Image credits: targetmap.com
Red Hair Map of Europe
Image credits: imgur.com
Average Breast Sizes By Country
Image credits: targetmap.com
Penis Size Worldwide
Image credits: targetmap.com
How Many Beers Will Minimum Wage Get You In Europe?
Image credits: imgur.com
More People Live Inside This Circle Than Outside Of It
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
Metal Bands Per 100,000 People
Image credits: targetmap.com
Google Autocomplete Results: Europe
Image credits: Randal Olson
Google Autocomplete Results: USA
Image credits: Randal Olson
Google Autocomplete Results: Asia
Image credits: system637
Countries Ranked By Emotional Tendencies
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
People In The EU, Aged 25-34, Who Still Live With Their Parents
Image credits: imgur.com
Countries Where Homosexuality Is A Crime
Image credits: businessinsider.com
Where To Be Born Index
Image credits: imgur.com
The World Divided Into Regions With A GDP of 1 Trillion Dollars
Image credits: imgur.com
2% of Australia’s Population Lives In This Region
Image credits: imgur.com
Highest-Paid U.S. Public Employees By State
Image credits: deadspin.com
Educational Backgrounds of World Leaders
Image credits: reddit.com
How The World Would Look If Mapping Conventions Were Flipped Upside-Down
Because orienting north toward the top is a matter of convention rather than correctness, a south-up map is technically just as correct as north-up. Maps with different orientations have appeared in several cultures and time periods. The convention of orienting north to the top (and thus east to the right) was probably established by the astronomer Ptolemy. [1] Image credits: unknown
Most-Popular Type Of Alcoholic Beverage
Image credits: chartsbin.com
The World According to Americans
Image credits: alphadesigner.com
The World Divided Into Seven Regions, Each with a Population of One Billion
Image credits: imgur.com
Every Country England Has Ever Invaded (all but 22 countries in the world)
Image credits: telegraph.co.uk
Greatest And Lowest Racial Tolerance By Country
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
Birthright Citizenship Around the World
Image credits: cis.org
Cigarettes Smoked Per Person
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
Monarchies in the World
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
Global Distribution Of Atheists
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
Where People Feel The Most And Least Loved
Image credits: washingtonpost.com
Europe vs. the USA: Sunshine Duration In Hours Per Year
Image credits: imgur.com
Lactose Intolerance
Image credits: eupedia.com
The Most Popular Countries In The World To Visit
Image credits: movehub.com
The Most-Listened-To Artist In Every U.S. State
Image credits: businessinsider.com
The Most Famous Brand From Each State In The U.S.
Image credits: mapsontheweb.tumblr.com
Map of Countries Officially Not Using the Metric System
Image credits: wikimedia.org
great job and highly creative! thanks for your dedication to detail.
Now I know why they didn't teach these maps at school... The amount of inaccuracies and biases are too damn high!
great job and highly creative! thanks for your dedication to detail.
Now I know why they didn't teach these maps at school... The amount of inaccuracies and biases are too damn high!
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