Demographics

Mapped: The World Divided Into 4 Regions With Equal Populations

Published

5 years ago

May 9, 2019

Jeff Desjardins

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World Map: Divided Into 4 Regions With Equal Populations

View the full-size version of the infographic by clicking here

At the most basic level, a standard world map tells us almost nothing about human population.

While the borders on a map may give us an idea of political boundaries or even aspects of continental geography, in reality they have little to do with showing population density.

That said, it is possible to apply one simple alteration to the world map so that we can make it more interesting from a population perspective – and it turns out that doing so can help us gain insight on where regional population density is the greatest.

Splitting Up the Map

Today’s map comes from Reddit user /u/OrneryThroat and it breaks up the world by grouping countries into four equally populated regions.

While both simple and crude, this mechanism does have some profound results:

Region	Population
North America, South America, and West/Central Africa	1.9 billion
Europe, East Africa, Middle East, and Northern Asia	1.9 billion
South Asia	1.9 billion
Most of Southeast Asia, China, and Oceania	1.9 billion

More specifically, there is one area that stands out from a visual standpoint, and it resides clearly in the southern portion of Asia.

Home to 1.34 billion people, it’s well-known that India already holds roughly 20% of the global population – but add Pakistan (195 million) and Bangladesh (165 million) into the mix, and you’re already closing in on one quarter of the global total.

Meanwhile, to get to a similar number, you’d need to add the entire populations of North America, South America, Europe, and Oceania together to even come close.

Shown Another Way

While splitting it into four equal portions is one way to transform the world map, here is another geometric route to conveying a similar idea about the world’s population density:

Circle population

On a previous Chart of the Week, we showed that 22 of the world’s 37 megacities are located in the small circle above, putting into perspective the region’s population density in a similar but different way.

These simple transformations of the world map are not only memorable, but they also give our brain an easy heuristic to better understand the planet we live on.

Related Topics:map population distribution

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Demographics

The Countries That Have Become Sadder Since 2010

Tracking Gallup survey data for more than a decade reveals some countries are witnessing big happiness declines, reflecting their shifting socio-economic conditions.

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped chart showing the top countries with the biggest happiness declines (measured out of 10) between 2010–24.

The Countries That Have Become Sadder Since 2010

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Can happiness be quantified?

Some approaches that try to answer this question make a distinction between two differing components of happiness: a daily experience part, and a more general life evaluation (which includes how people think about their life as a whole).

The World Happiness Report—first launched in 2012—has been making a serious go at quantifying happiness, by examining Gallup poll data that asks respondents in nearly every country to evaluate their life on a 0–10 scale. From this they extrapolate a single “happiness score” out of 10 to compare how happy (or unhappy) countries are.

More than a decade later, the 2024 World Happiness Report continues the mission. Its latest findings also include how some countries have become sadder in the intervening years.

Which Countries Have Become Unhappier Since 2010?

Afghanistan is the unhappiest country in the world right now, and is also 60% unhappier than over a decade ago, indicating how much life has worsened since 2010.

In 2021, the Taliban officially returned to power in Afghanistan, after nearly two decades of American occupation in the country. The Islamic fundamentalist group has made life harder, especially for women, who are restricted from pursuing higher education, travel, and work.

On a broader scale, the Afghan economy has suffered post-Taliban takeover, with various consequent effects: mass unemployment, a drop in income, malnutrition, and a crumbling healthcare system.

Rank	Country	Happiness Score Loss (2010–24)	2024 Happiness Score (out of 10)
1	🇦🇫 Afghanistan	-2.6	1.7
2	🇱🇧 Lebanon	-2.3	2.7
3	🇯🇴 Jordan	-1.5	4.2
4	🇻🇪 Venezuela	-1.3	5.6
5	🇲🇼 Malawi	-1.2	3.4
6	🇿🇲 Zambia	-1.2	3.5
7	🇧🇼 Botswana	-1.2	3.4
8	🇾🇪 Yemen	-1.0	3.6
9	🇪🇬 Egypt	-1.0	4.0
10	🇮🇳 India	-0.9	4.1
11	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	-0.9	3.9
12	🇨🇩 DRC	-0.7	3.3
13	🇹🇳 Tunisia	-0.7	4.4
14	🇨🇦 Canada	-0.6	6.9
15	🇺🇸 U.S.	-0.6	6.7
16	🇨🇴 Colombia	-0.5	5.7
17	🇵🇦 Panama	-0.5	6.4
18	🇵🇰 Pakistan	-0.5	4.7
19	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	-0.5	3.3
20	🇮🇪 Ireland	-0.5	6.8
N/A	🌍 World	+0.1	5.5

Nine countries in total saw their happiness score drop by a full point or more, on the 0–10 scale.

Noticeably, many of them have seen years of social and economic upheaval. Lebanon, for example, has been grappling with decades of corruption, and a severe liquidity crisis since 2019 that has resulted in a banking system collapse, sending poverty levels skyrocketing.

In Jordan, unprecedented population growth—from refugees leaving Iraq and Syria—has aggravated unemployment rates. A somewhat abrupt change in the line of succession has also raised concerns about political stability in the country.