Author Archives: Chart Planet

Which countries plant the most forest?

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Which countries plant the most forest?

If we measure total hectares, then China is leading, followed by Canada, USA, Russia and India. Those countries are big, that’s why they manage to plant a lot. However this “planting” appeared to be a bad measure of how “forest loving” a country is because Brazil and Indonesia are significantly reducing their total forest area.

If we take the percentage of total land, then Sweden is leading, they planted 14,5% of their land area with trees. I even googled to see if this enormous number could be real, and seems it is, they even achieved Guinness world record in plating. However, this planting is made only to recover for what IKEA used because the total volume of forests increased only a bit in Sweden. It seems that Finland has quite a similar situation.

What: Planted forest and total forest area changes
When: 1992 to 2017
Where: Top 15 by each measure. Some countries are not included, because for 1992 they did not have existing data, e.g. Czech and Slovak republics were still Czechoslovakia. It might be possible that one such country could appear in the top 15 by %.
Source: FAO

Is there deforestation?

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Is there deforestation?

After zooming in the axis, the constant decrease is clear. I don’t know whether 129 million hectares is a big deal or not, but we were happier if the trend were the opposite. However people are also planting forest, and since they cut more and more, they plant more and more too. Now the rate of planting is less than the rate of cutting, but I believe one day the trend will be reversed.

What: Land used as forest and types of forest. Mind the axis on the left graph which does not start at zero.
When: 1990-2017
Where: The world
Source: FAO

Kaip Lietuvai sekasi Eurovizijoje?

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Are vegans right? Do we really use more land for pastures than for growing crops?

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Are vegans right? Do we really use more land for pastures than for growing crops?

It’s true! And some crops are even grown for feeding the cattle, so, this division between land used to feed humans and land used to feed animals which are used to feed humans is even bigger than it seems from the first glimpse. But would we really save energy and resources if we all turn vegan?

What: Comparative shares of land area used as cropland and meadows & pastures.
When: 2017
Where: The world
Source: FAO

Iš kur Lietuvoje atsiranda Bananai, Avokadai, Apelsinai?

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Iš kur Lietuvoje atsiranda Bananai, Avokadai, Apelsinai?

„Tu pieši daug grafikų, tai nupiešk iš kur Lietuvoje atsiranda bananai“ – paprašė manęs. Pridėjau dar avokadus bei apelsinus ir štai prašom.

  • Pasirodo iš Lenkijos atvyksta beveik tiek pat bananų kaip iš Kosta Rikos ar Ekvadoro.
  • Olandija – svarbus visų šių egzotiškų vaisių šaltinis.
  • Panašu, kad mes esame egzotiškų vaisių šaltinis Baltarusijai!

How much did humans change the face of the earth?

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How much did humans change the face of the earth?

I was sure, that we have lots of buildings, but in reality, we have less than 0,7% of the land area covered with them. However, combining buildings and cropland, we changed almost 22% of the land area. Is that a lot? Subjective question!

The real percentage might be higher because I did not count grasslands used as pastures (which might have been forests before becoming grasslands), changing inland waters (shrinking Sea of Azov for example), growing deserts or barren land due to human activities. Let’s say, that those 22 percent is an obvious change even an alien would immediately identify with humans.

What: Land Cover according to European Spatial Agency Climate Change Initiative annual land cover maps, which were produced by the Université catholique de Louvain.
When: 2015
Where: Land area of the whole planet including inland water.
Source: FAO

Is Thailand “the country of smiles”?

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Is Thailand "the country of smiles"?

After debunking “America is the country of freedom” myth, I tried to debunk “Thailand is the country of smiles” myth. As it happens, Gallup, while doing research for their emotional indices asked people did they smile or laugh yesterday. And this data reveals that Thailand indeed could be called the country of smiles – its result is among the best in the world, however, its poorer brother Laos does better on this list.

But the whole Southeast Asia is indeed the region of smiles!

By the way, where is the secret of Nigeria? Is it Nollywood?

What: Percentage of people who replied that they smiled or laughed yesterday on an interview on emotions.
When: 2018
Where: 143 countries of the world
Source: Gallup

Does reflective happiness correlate with positive emotions?

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Does reflective happiness correlate with positive emotions?

I have put countries into four categories:
– those which have the most positive emotions (big circle – excited)
– those which have the least positive emotions (small circle – bored)
– those which have the most negative emotions (big square – sad)
– those which have the least negative emotions (small square – chill)
Then I ranked them according to the World Happiness Report. I did not see any serious contradictions between these two data sets, except one country – Lithuania is quite high on happiness score, but very low on positive experiences, so it is the most bored happy country in the world.

What: Positive and Negative emotions indices based on interviews and Happiness index also based on interviews.
When: 2018
Where: 43 countries of the world
Source: Gallup for emotions and WHR for happiness

What countries are the happiest and what the saddest?

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What countries are the happiest and what the saddest?

This time I am talking about daily positive or negative emotions, not the long-term reflection on life. This map shows top and bottom countries according to Positive Emotions index (circle) and Negative Emotions index (rectangle). Most of positive emotions (big circles) are in Latin America – they’re so happy and excited. Most of negative emotions (big squares) are in Africa – they’re so sad and depressed. Countries with low negative emotions (small squares) are spread across Eurasia – those people are chillin’. Countries with low positive emotions (small circles) are spread from Central Europe through the Middle East to South Asia. Those people are bored. Chad happens to be both high on negative emotions and low on positive, probably it’s the unhappiest place on the world.

What: Positive and Negative emotions indices based on more than 151,000 interviews with adults in more than 140 countries.
When: 2018
Where: 44 countries of the world.
Source: Gallup, The 2019 Global Emotions Report

Are the world regions learning how to reduce CO2 emissions per dollar?

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Are the world regions learning how to reduce CO2 emissions per dollar?

Seems like kind of yes, they do. Some regions rely on polluting industries like the Middle East, some struggle to find their direction like South Asia, but most regions do reduce. Good news for future us.

What: CO2 emissions (kg per 2010 US$ of GDP) and GDP per capita.
When: 1970-2014
Where: World regions according to WB
Source: WB

Do more GDP per capita require more CO2 emissions?

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Do more GDP per capita require more CO2 emissions?

As expected – no, there is a nice easily visible downward trend. It’s not the inefficiency of the USA making it one of the biggest polluters, it’s just the amount of production, while China has plenty of space to improve. There are many outliers above the general trend, and they’re mostly Middle East countries with oil plus one pink Brunei, also with oil and Estonia (probably with oil shale?) just beside Saudi Arabia.

What: CO2 emissions (kg per 2010 US$ of GDP) and GDP per capita. Colours mean regions by WB.
When: 2014 for emissions, and 2018 for GDP. I did not match the time this time 🙁
Where: 187 countries of the world
Source: WB

What countries know how to make money with less emissions?

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What countries know how to make money with less emissions?

It’s a weird graph where poor African countries go together with rich European countries – Chad and Switzerland, Rwanda and France. It tells us, that some countries switched to less energy-consuming more intellect-consuming businesses, so they can reduce emissions, but others have not yet arrived at the stage where smoking chimneys power the growth. Will they manage jump over that stage? Will they manage skip factories and dive directly into developing apps or life-coaching blogs?

What: CO2 emissions (kg per 2010 US$ of GDP) – I don’t really get is it GDP in 2010 USD, or is it just 2010 GDP everywhere. But I hope it’s the former.
When: 2014
Where: 25 countries of the world with the lowest value.
Source: WB

Are there countries that are net CO2 consumers?

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Are there countries that are net CO2 consumers?

Since the forest is a net CO2 consumer, maybe there are whole countries covered in forests consuming CO2? Apparently, there are such countries, but they are tiny idyllic worlds mostly spread in the Pacific Ocean with happy exceptions of Bhutan (just beside the world’s largest polluter China) and US Virgin Islands (just beside the world’s second-largest polluter the USA).

What: Emissions of various greenhouse gasses (CO2, CH4, PFCs and so on) expressed in the equivalent of tons of CO2 emissions.
When: 2010
Where: The only nine countries with negative emissions at that time.
Source: FAO

What are the sources of CO2 emissions?

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What are the sources of CO2 emissions?

I know, the data is old, but back in 2010 energy production was the main source of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. Transport had the potential to overtake the land use and I bet despite all those electromobiles everywhere it did.

And the beautiful thing is – the forest is a net absorber of greenhouse gas! I knew it all along, but it is nice to see it on the graph. And it’s depressing at the same time because its absorption is tiny compared to our emissions.

What: Emissions of various greenhouse gasses (CO2, CH4, PFCs and so on) expressed in the equivalent of CO2 emissions. May not the question mislead – initially I asked about CO2, but then I found stats for all greenhouse gases. “Land use” is emissions by cropland and grassland and is not included in agriculture. “Residential, com., inst.” is emissions by residential, commercial and institutional activities. I believe the weird shape for the forest is due to inconsistency in data rather than actual changes.
When: From 1990 to 2010
Where: World aggregate
Source: FAO

Are we sure, that more development means more safety?

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Are we sure, that more development means more safety?

I was sure that I will get the obvious result again – more development will mean more safety. However, after cherrypicking some regions and drawing a trend line for each, I got the opposite result. Central Asia seems to follow exactly the opposite trend, and Latin America with Sub-Saharan Africa seems to be quite chaotic.

What: Law and Order (L&O) Index compared to Human Development Index (HDI)
When: 2019 for L&O and 2017 for HDI
Where: 63 countries from Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America & Carribean, which have both indices.
Source: Gallup for L&O and UNDP for HDI