Changed ‘Personal Freedom’ to ‘Doughnuts’ (Reason: More Recent Data)
October 30, 2018 10:39 AM Subscribe
A map of International Number Ones, Because Every Country is the Best at Something (according to data) from Information is Beautiful in 2016, with some 2017 updates
CANADA: DOUGHNUTS
One of the first things a friend of mine from Australia asked me about Canada after her arrival in Toronto (in 1997) was “What’s with all the doughnut shops?” Nowadays there are probably an order of magnitude more.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:49 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
One of the first things a friend of mine from Australia asked me about Canada after her arrival in Toronto (in 1997) was “What’s with all the doughnut shops?” Nowadays there are probably an order of magnitude more.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:49 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
um...Mongolia has velociraptors? How many?
They're generally using the black tags to denote bad things, so I'm assuming these are actual velocirpators and not fossils. Like, fossils wouldn't be similarly problematic to metrics like spam emails or genital mutilations, right? So we're talking the bad kind of velociraptors to have.
posted by es_de_bah at 10:57 AM on October 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
They're generally using the black tags to denote bad things, so I'm assuming these are actual velocirpators and not fossils. Like, fossils wouldn't be similarly problematic to metrics like spam emails or genital mutilations, right? So we're talking the bad kind of velociraptors to have.
posted by es_de_bah at 10:57 AM on October 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
am disappoint Amurika isnt movies, microcode and high speed pizza delivery :(
posted by supermedusa at 10:58 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 10:58 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
um...Mongolia has velociraptors? How many?
From the source Google Doc:
Mongolia Velociraptors Most fossils found 2015 LiveScience http://www.livescience.com/23922-velociraptor-facts.html
posted by Etrigan at 11:00 AM on October 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
From the source Google Doc:
Mongolia Velociraptors Most fossils found 2015 LiveScience http://www.livescience.com/23922-velociraptor-facts.html
posted by Etrigan at 11:00 AM on October 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
India: Bananas
This makes sense. I moved from India to the US more than ten years ago, but I can count on one hand the number of bananas I've eaten since moving here.
Part of that is because I've mostly been eating low carb, but the other reason is that the bananas here just don't tempt me. They're all the same, seem kind of raw even when supposedly ripe and just have no real flavor. Whereas bananas in India are like apples are in the US - lots of different varieties and flavors and you can really narrow down the few that are your favorites. Mine was always the tiny hill bananas. It doesn't surprise me that we produce so many.
posted by peacheater at 11:04 AM on October 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
This makes sense. I moved from India to the US more than ten years ago, but I can count on one hand the number of bananas I've eaten since moving here.
Part of that is because I've mostly been eating low carb, but the other reason is that the bananas here just don't tempt me. They're all the same, seem kind of raw even when supposedly ripe and just have no real flavor. Whereas bananas in India are like apples are in the US - lots of different varieties and flavors and you can really narrow down the few that are your favorites. Mine was always the tiny hill bananas. It doesn't surprise me that we produce so many.
posted by peacheater at 11:04 AM on October 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
I'm so proud that Canada is number one in doughnuts, but also have to be that old crank who laments at the loss of our doughnut quality. Tim Horton's are too sweet, Krispy Kreme (an American import!) is too greasy. Country Style are actually quite nice, especially their jelly-filled, but hard to find these days.
Also a good time to remind people that the guy who wrote the history of donuts in Canada was awarded an Ignoble, but it's a quite good piece of scholarship and has since been published (review).
posted by jb at 11:05 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
Also a good time to remind people that the guy who wrote the history of donuts in Canada was awarded an Ignoble, but it's a quite good piece of scholarship and has since been published (review).
posted by jb at 11:05 AM on October 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
UK - Billionares! - I guess Empires was a bit too Political
posted by Middlemarch at 11:13 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Middlemarch at 11:13 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well I'm calling Brazil nuts Bolivia nuts from now on.
posted by borkencode at 11:23 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by borkencode at 11:23 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Romania is the best at being overlooked, apparently.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:26 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:26 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Odd choice to have Puerto Rico but no Greenland or Faroe Islands. Gonna go with "glaciers" for Greenland and "grass" for Faroes.
posted by Nelson at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
No love for Guyana?
posted by The otter lady at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by The otter lady at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Dutch only drink that much coffee as a way to drink more milk.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:34 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by humboldt32 at 11:34 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Best At Child Brides" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue
posted by BungaDunga at 11:41 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by BungaDunga at 11:41 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
no Greenland
A running joke in data-vis-land is that there is never any data for Greenland
posted by BungaDunga at 11:42 AM on October 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
A running joke in data-vis-land is that there is never any data for Greenland
posted by BungaDunga at 11:42 AM on October 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
Latvia is the best at women.
(By which they mean "highest women to men ratio")
posted by JDHarper at 11:44 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
(By which they mean "highest women to men ratio")
posted by JDHarper at 11:44 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Friggin' cheese eaters.
Also, what is "Pepper"? Like... chili peppers? black pepper? I wish I could click on items to find out more.
And for Sweden, I assume it's "writing pop music" because of that one Swedish dude who wrote 99.999998% of all pop songs in the last two decades or whatever?
posted by Grither at 11:46 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, what is "Pepper"? Like... chili peppers? black pepper? I wish I could click on items to find out more.
And for Sweden, I assume it's "writing pop music" because of that one Swedish dude who wrote 99.999998% of all pop songs in the last two decades or whatever?
posted by Grither at 11:46 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I wish I could click on items to find out more.
The page has a link to a google doc with citations. It looks like this more an exercise in scanning and aggregating articles than pure number crunching.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
The page has a link to a google doc with citations. It looks like this more an exercise in scanning and aggregating articles than pure number crunching.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm not a fan of the black tags... I want to know am awesome thing about Georgia, other than that time it was mentioned in a Beatles song.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:55 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by kaibutsu at 11:55 AM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
At the bottom there is a teeny little link to the data.
posted by ckridge at 12:05 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ckridge at 12:05 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
A really odd choice to go with bananas for India over mangoes. Perhaps more bananas are eaten total, but from what I've seen, seems that mangoes are much more important - and India by far grows the most.
We don't even get any of the good ones in the USA.
posted by evilangela at 12:26 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
We don't even get any of the good ones in the USA.
posted by evilangela at 12:26 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
A really odd choice to go with bananas for India over mangoes.
I have definitely heard my Indian colleagues have in-depth conversations about mangoes and not about bananas.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:28 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have definitely heard my Indian colleagues have in-depth conversations about mangoes and not about bananas.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:28 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Also, Ugandan bananas are flipping amazing...
posted by kaibutsu at 12:34 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by kaibutsu at 12:34 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
india has like 200 banana varietals though
posted by poffin boffin at 1:23 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 1:23 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
and i support them all, they are doing a good job
posted by poffin boffin at 1:24 PM on October 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 1:24 PM on October 30, 2018 [6 favorites]
Yeah there are a lot of odd choices, but I commend them for exposing the data and justification (such as it is) for the choices.
There are some that are pretty debatable—i.e. the prevalence of FGM per capita is virtually the same in Somalia and Indonesia given the margin of error, and Indonesia has a greater population, which would seem to be the logical tie-breaker if you were trying to decide between two countries for the same trait. But maybe Indonesia somehow was more unique in its prevalence of coconuts than any other country...
Similar maps have been constructed using Internet search terms for US states, showing the "most unique" search term in each state (e.g.). I think it's usually defined as the search term with the greatest difference in frequency above the national average. Though I suspect everyone is doing a little finger-on-the-scale adjustment, or else I'd suspect each state is going to be something applicable only to itself (in the example, Delaware's most unique search term is "Delaware", which makes me think it slipped through whatever filtering criteria kept that for being the case for every state).
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:29 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are some that are pretty debatable—i.e. the prevalence of FGM per capita is virtually the same in Somalia and Indonesia given the margin of error, and Indonesia has a greater population, which would seem to be the logical tie-breaker if you were trying to decide between two countries for the same trait. But maybe Indonesia somehow was more unique in its prevalence of coconuts than any other country...
Similar maps have been constructed using Internet search terms for US states, showing the "most unique" search term in each state (e.g.). I think it's usually defined as the search term with the greatest difference in frequency above the national average. Though I suspect everyone is doing a little finger-on-the-scale adjustment, or else I'd suspect each state is going to be something applicable only to itself (in the example, Delaware's most unique search term is "Delaware", which makes me think it slipped through whatever filtering criteria kept that for being the case for every state).
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:29 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
looks like a good place to retire is Colombia, but, like, near the border to Peru
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:33 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:33 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Icelandic options strangely not taken:
a) Per capita novel authors
b) SF/Fantasy backdrops
c) Gas stop hotdog quality
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:26 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
a) Per capita novel authors
b) SF/Fantasy backdrops
c) Gas stop hotdog quality
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:26 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
Very pleased to see the UK is also best at Champagne. Take that, France!
posted by Major Tom at 2:31 AM on October 31, 2018
posted by Major Tom at 2:31 AM on October 31, 2018
The UK is best at billionaires (per capita) but only two of them pay tax - JK Rowling and (the inventor) James Dyson.
posted by Major Tom at 2:34 AM on October 31, 2018
posted by Major Tom at 2:34 AM on October 31, 2018
Latvia is the best at women.
I know!
(Reader, I married one.)
posted by Harald74 at 2:39 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
I know!
(Reader, I married one.)
posted by Harald74 at 2:39 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by humuhumu at 10:41 AM on October 30, 2018 [5 favorites]