Mapped: Meat Consumption By Country and Type

Meat is always on the menu in many parts of the world, as we can see when we map out meat consumption by country.

How do countries differ in how much, and what type of meat, they eat? In this colorful graphic, our creator theWORLDMAPS highlights the most consumed type of meat in every country in the world, using data from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Each color denotes a different category of meat—beef, pork, mutton, poultry, seafood, or other—with annual consumption calculated per capita in kilograms (kg).

Let’s dig in to the data.

Is Fish Considered Meat?

Since meat is normally defined as the flesh of any animal (with the primary components being water, fat, and protein), that includes fish and other seafood.

But whether fish is considered “meat” or not depends a lot on cultural practices and dietary preferences, and has varied throughout history. Some earlier definitions of meat focused only on mammals, for example.

In Christianity for example, many denominations allow eating fish on fasting days when abstaining from meat. This was both due to distinctions between meat from warm-blooded land animals and cold-blooded animals (like fish), as well as the importance of fish consumption in parts of Europe where Christianity flourished.

To account for both sides of the debate, we’ll cover meat consumption by country both with and without fish and seafood.

The Most Consumed Meat by Country (Including Seafood)

Just by glancing at the map and the below table, poultry stands out as the most popular meat by weight consumption in 70 countries, or about 40% of the entire database.

Note: Other meat includes less frequently farmed animals like rabbit, horse, and camel, as well as game—meat from wild animals.

Country	Most Consumed Meat
Afghanistan	Mutton & Goat
Albania	Poultry
Algeria	Mutton & Goat
Angola	Fish & Seafood
Antigua & Barbuda	Poultry
Argentina	Bovine
Armenia	Bovine
Australia	Poultry
Austria	Pork
Azerbaijan	Poultry
Bahamas	Poultry
Bahrain	Poultry
Bangladesh	Fish & Seafood
Barbados	Poultry
Belarus	Pork
Belgium	Pork
Belize	Poultry
Benin	Fish & Seafood
Bhutan	Bovine
Bolivia	Poultry
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Poultry
Botswana	Other
Brazil	Poultry
Bulgaria	Pork
Burkina Faso	Pork
Burundi	Fish & Seafood
Cabo Verde	Poultry
Cambodia	Fish & Seafood
Cameroon	Fish & Seafood
Canada	Poultry
Central African Republic	Bovine
Chad	Bovine
Chile	Poultry
China	Fish & Seafood
Colombia	Poultry
Comoros	Poultry
Congo	Fish & Seafood
Costa Rica	Poultry
Côte d’Ivoire	Fish & Seafood
Croatia	Pork
Cuba	Poultry
Cyprus	Pork
Czechia	Pork
Denmark	Fish & Seafood
Djibouti	Bovine
Dominica	Poultry
Dominican Republic	Poultry
DR Congo	Fish & Seafood
Ecuador	Poultry
Egypt	Fish & Seafood
El Salvador	Poultry
Estonia	Pork
Eswatini	Bovine
Ethiopia	Bovine
Fiji	Poultry
Finland	Fish & Seafood
France	Fish & Seafood
French Polynesia	Poultry
Gabon	Poultry
Gambia	Fish & Seafood
Georgia	Poultry
Germany	Pork
Ghana	Fish & Seafood
Greece	Poultry
Grenada	Poultry
Guatemala	Poultry
Guinea	Fish & Seafood
Guinea-Bissau	Pork
Guyana	Poultry
Haiti	Poultry
Honduras	Poultry
Hong Kong	Fish & Seafood
Hungary	Pork
Iceland	Fish & Seafood
India	Fish & Seafood
Indonesia	Fish & Seafood
Iran	Poultry
Iraq	Poultry
Ireland	Pork
Israel	Poultry
Italy	Pork
Jamaica	Poultry
Japan	Fish & Seafood
Jordan	Poultry
Kazakhstan	Bovine
Kenya	Bovine
Kiribati	Fish & Seafood
Kuwait	Poultry
Kyrgyzstan	Bovine
Laos	Fish & Seafood
Latvia	Pork
Lebanon	Poultry
Lesotho	Pork
Liberia	Poultry
Libya	Poultry
Lithuania	Pork
Luxembourg	Pork
Macao	Fish & Seafood
Madagascar	Fish & Seafood
Malawi	Pork
Malaysia	Fish & Seafood
Maldives	Fish & Seafood
Mali	Fish & Seafood
Malta	Bovine
Mauritania	Mutton & Goat
Mauritius	Poultry
Mexico	Poultry
Micronesia	Fish & Seafood
Moldova	Pork
Mongolia	Mutton & Goat
Montenegro	Pork
Morocco	Poultry
Mozambique	Fish & Seafood
Myanmar	Fish & Seafood
Namibia	Fish & Seafood
Nauru	Fish & Seafood
Nepal	Bovine
Netherlands	Pork
New Caledonia	Poultry
New Zealand	Fish & Seafood
Nicaragua	Poultry
Niger	Bovine
Nigeria	Fish & Seafood
North Korea	Fish & Seafood
North Macedonia	Poultry
Norway	Fish & Seafood
Oman	Fish & Seafood
Pakistan	Bovine
Panama	Poultry
Papua New Guinea	Other
Paraguay	Bovine
Peru	Poultry
Philippines	Fish & Seafood
Poland	Pork
Portugal	Fish & Seafood
Qatar	Poultry
Romania	Pork
Russia	Poultry
Rwanda	Fish & Seafood
Saint Kitts & Nevis	Poultry
Saint Lucia	Poultry
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	Poultry
Samoa	Poultry
Sao Tome & Principe	Fish & Seafood
Saudi Arabia	Poultry
Senegal	Fish & Seafood
Serbia	Pork
Seychelles	Fish & Seafood
Sierra Leone	Fish & Seafood
Slovakia	Pork
Slovenia	Poultry
Solomon Islands	Fish & Seafood
South Africa	Poultry
South Korea	Fish & Seafood
South Sudan	Bovine
Spain	Pork
Sri Lanka	Fish & Seafood
Sudan	Bovine
Suriname	Poultry
Sweden	Fish & Seafood
Switzerland	Pork
Syria	Mutton & Goat
Taiwan	Poultry
Tajikistan	Bovine
Tanzania	Bovine
Thailand	Fish & Seafood
Timor-Leste	Pork
Togo	Fish & Seafood
Trinidad & Tobago	Poultry
Tunisia	Poultry
Türkiye	Poultry
Turkmenistan	Bovine
U.S.	Poultry
UAE	Poultry
Uganda	Fish & Seafood
UK	Poultry
Ukraine	Poultry
Uruguay	Poultry
Uzbekistan	Bovine
Vanuatu	Fish & Seafood
Venezuela	Poultry
Vietnam	Fish & Seafood
Yemen	Poultry
Zambia	Fish & Seafood
Zimbabwe	Bovine

Fish & Seafood ranks as the second most popularly consumed meat in 56 countries, most of them with significant coastlines.

Here’s a breakdown of how much of each type of meat is eaten per capita in each country, measured in kilograms.

Country	Poultry	Pork	Fish & Seafood	Bovine	Mutton & Other
Afghanistan	1.7	0.0	0.4	3.2	4.3
Albania	13.9	5.3	8.7	11.7	8.3
Algeria	6.4	0.0	3.8	3.8	8.4
Angola	8.4	7.0	14.1	3.4	1.1
Antigua & Barbuda	61.8	14.3	54.1	5.0	1.0
Argentina	46.2	14.4	6.8	46.9	2.6
Armenia	15.3	8.1	5.5	23.9	3.6
Australia	48.7	24.2	24.1	37.0	11.5
Austria	15.7	45.0	14.3	14.9	1.4
Azerbaijan	14.4	0.6	2.0	13.5	8.4
Bahamas	54.4	23.8	24.2	5.2	1.7
Bahrain	44.0	0.8	16.3	13.7	22.2
Bangladesh	1.6	0.0	26.7	1.3	1.4
Barbados	49.3	12.3	42.9	8.0	3.4
Belarus	32.2	39.2	11.8	18.6	0.4
Belgium	12.4	32.8	22.7	14.0	2.6
Belize	23.8	20.8	13.3	3.6	0.3
Benin	8.7	0.7	16.2	3.6	1.5
Bhutan	4.6	1.9	7.3	9.3	0.3
Bolivia	40.9	9.7	2.8	21.6	4.9
Bosnia & Herzegovina	20.0	9.3	7.3	12.8	0.6
Botswana	3.5	0.5	2.6	10.2	14.3
Brazil	48.4	14.2	8.1	35.4	1.2
Bulgaria	21.5	30.0	7.4	3.5	2.0
Burkina Faso	9.5	15.2	8.9	5.3	4.3
Burundi	0.6	0.9	2.6	0.9	0.8
Cabo Verde	19.4	7.3	10.8	1.7	1.9
Cambodia	2.8	5.9	45.8	4.2	0.0
Cameroon	3.3	1.2	19.1	3.1	4.0
Canada	40.1	21.4	20.7	27.5	1.6
Central African Republic	2.6	4.1	7.4	20.8	10.4
Chad	0.5	0.2	6.6	27.5	18.7
Chile	36.1	22.1	14.8	23.7	1.3
China	15.6	35.5	39.9	6.8	4.2
Colombia	33.8	10.5	8.9	13.7	0.1
Comoros	26.8	0.1	14.3	3.0	1.2
Congo	23.2	6.8	24.5	1.9	8.1
Costa Rica	34.3	12.7	18.0	11.4	0.0
Côte d’Ivoire	2.9	1.0	23.2	1.4	6.5
Croatia	16.6	49.6	19.1	11.2	2.1
Cuba	37.7	21.6	6.1	7.4	4.9
Cyprus	28.4	36.8	25.5	5.9	4.6
Czechia	23.5	44.5	10.5	10.2	0.9
Denmark	24.6	13.5	26.5	24.3	1.3
Djibouti	3.6	0.1	3.5	6.2	5.4
Dominica	39.4	11.4	27.9	8.1	1.1
Dominican Republic	32.2	9.9	8.5	6.3	0.2
DR Congo	1.3	0.5	4.2	0.3	1.2
Ecuador	18.9	12.9	8.2	13.3	0.4
Egypt	14.3	0.0	27.1	7.4	1.5
El Salvador	25.9	4.7	6.5	8.2	0.0
Estonia	21.1	37.7	14.7	8.5	0.5
Eswatini	7.3	2.0	4.3	16.1	2.0
Ethiopia	0.6	0.0	0.5	3.8	3.5
Fiji	28.8	3.7	26.5	3.1	5.3
Finland	21.1	30.8	33.5	18.4	1.1
France	23.0	31.0	33.2	20.8	3.5
French Polynesia	48.8	14.3	47.3	21.4	3.7
Gabon	39.7	8.3	28.7	4.7	14.3
Gambia	10.6	0.3	25.2	3.4	1.1
Georgia	18.2	9.3	10.0	5.8	1.8
Germany	18.3	44.0	12.6	14.6	1.8
Ghana	11.6	1.2	24.9	1.6	4.2
Greece	25.6	25.0	21.7	14.5	9.4
Grenada	37.4	14.6	33.8	4.1	1.4
Guatemala	28.7	3.6	3.0	11.7	0.3
Guinea	2.7	0.2	9.7	8.2	2.8
Guinea-Bissau	3.1	7.2	1.2	3.7	1.3
Guyana	41.4	5.0	25.0	4.2	1.2
Haiti	10.9	4.0	5.0	4.2	0.9
Honduras	21.6	5.0	2.6	6.0	0.1
Hong Kong	55.5	55.2	65.8	22.5	3.0
Hungary	29.8	48.3	6.4	4.6	0.3
Iceland	30.0	21.8	90.6	14.0	24.4
India	2.6	0.2	8.0	1.1	0.6
Indonesia	13.7	0.9	44.4	2.8	0.5
Iran	26.0	0.0	12.6	7.6	4.5
Iraq	5.4	0.0	3.6	3.1	1.7
Ireland	24.7	31.1	22.6	19.8	3.6
Israel	68.9	1.6	24.7	27.2	1.7
Italy	19.6	32.9	29.2	15.9	1.8
Jamaica	53.9	3.1	25.2	3.8	0.7
Japan	22.3	21.3	46.2	9.6	0.3
Jordan	26.1	0.0	5.1	6.8	4.8
Kazakhstan	21.2	8.2	2.8	26.6	15.9
Kenya	1.3	0.4	2.9	4.5	4.5
Kiribati	26.6	10.3	73.2	1.9	0.3
Kuwait	46.6	0.0	14.0	9.4	16.7
Kyrgyzstan	5.2	2.1	1.1	14.9	10.0
Laos	6.6	13.5	24.1	8.4	0.5
Latvia	26.2	38.4	25.0	5.3	0.8
Lebanon	18.6	0.6	8.7	9.2	1.1
Lesotho	2.1	3.8	3.0	2.0	3.9
Liberia	11.3	5.3	4.3	0.4	2.1
Libya	32.8	0.0	14.3	2.9	6.5
Lithuania	33.3	50.7	33.1	5.9	1.1
Luxembourg	18.1	33.1	31.7	25.7	2.0
Macao	45.6	46.9	73.2	9.4	1.8
Madagascar	3.1	1.0	4.0	1.3	0.5
Malawi	5.7	11.8	10.1	2.9	3.1
Malaysia	50.2	7.4	54.7	6.0	1.0
Maldives	11.0	0.4	83.1	5.9	0.8
Mali	2.4	0.1	8.5	3.6	2.6
Malta	25.2	25.8	22.8	26.4	1.8
Mauritania	6.3	0.0	8.4	6.4	18.4
Mauritius	38.7	3.2	24.0	4.5	4.2
Mexico	35.9	19.1	13.6	14.6	1.5
Micronesia	38.2	16.2	47.4	4.9	0.2
Moldova	17.2	19.2	11.7	1.9	0.3
Mongolia	3.0	0.6	0.6	26.6	81.4
Montenegro	17.1	43.2	15.6	15.0	2.1
Morocco	24.0	0.0	18.4	7.7	6.9
Mozambique	3.8	3.1	13.4	0.6	0.1
Myanmar	29.9	20.1	45.0	9.3	1.7
Namibia	10.2	4.5	11.9	8.8	8.9
Nauru	51.0	28.2	51.0	19.1	6.9
Nepal	2.3	1.0	3.5	8.2	2.7
Netherlands	10.0	27.7	21.9	16.2	5.2
New Caledonia	40.9	17.4	23.4	17.7	2.3
New Zealand	26.0	25.2	26.4	18.6	15.3
Nicaragua	21.8	5.3	6.6	2.2	0.4
Niger	1.0	0.1	1.8	2.8	4.4
Nigeria	1.2	1.5	6.7	1.6	2.8
North Korea	1.8	4.3	11.0	0.8	6.7
North Macedonia	20.0	12.6	6.2	6.8	0.9
Norway	20.0	23.7	50.2	17.8	5.8
Oman	19.7	0.4	26.1	9.0	14.3
Pakistan	6.2	0.0	1.6	9.8	2.6
Panama	55.4	15.9	13.7	14.5	1.0
Papua New Guinea	3.9	9.9	14.6	0.8	47.8
Paraguay	9.6	8.8	4.0	21.9	0.6
Peru	42.7	4.5	27.1	4.2	1.9
Philippines	15.9	14.5	29.1	3.1	0.3
Poland	32.9	55.0	12.5	1.5	0.1
Portugal	30.6	38.1	60.0	18.8	2.8
Qatar	54.3	1.2	21.1	8.4	12.1
Romania	23.9	34.5	8.3	5.2	2.7
Russia	30.8	28.2	21.7	12.9	5.1
Rwanda	1.5	1.0	4.6	2.7	3.2
Saint Kitts & Nevis	48.7	15.5	38.8	2.9	2.5
Saint Lucia	57.6	14.9	33.6	3.8	2.0
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	74.7	11.3	19.4	7.8	0.7
Samoa	65.7	12.3	47.6	6.9	3.5
Sao Tome & Principe	17.1	4.7	27.7	1.7	0.1
Saudi Arabia	43.0	0.0	11.7	4.4	7.7
Senegal	7.4	1.2	11.9	5.0	3.7
Serbia	14.1	37.3	6.7	6.1	4.1
Seychelles	36.9	13.7	56.8	9.2	2.7
Sierra Leone	5.4	1.0	25.5	1.3	1.9
Slovakia	16.9	38.8	10.2	5.8	0.9
Slovenia	30.4	25.8	13.2	15.3	1.1
Solomon Islands	6.1	4.4	28.1	1.8	0.1
South Africa	34.9	4.2	6.5	17.2	3.5
South Korea	22.8	38.4	55.3	16.9	0.5
South Sudan	4.3	0.0	2.9	12.4	4.3
Spain	33.6	52.6	40.8	12.3	3.4
Sri Lanka	10.4	0.1	29.0	1.2	0.1
Sudan	1.9	0.0	1.1	8.0	10.5
Suriname	49.6	8.0	16.5	4.4	0.3
Sweden	15.4	28.6	32.2	22.5	1.5
Switzerland	16.9	27.8	16.0	19.1	2.4
Syria	6.4	0.0	2.2	2.2	7.3
Taiwan	41.6	38.4	29.8	6.1	0.9
Tajikistan	3.5	0.1	0.7	25.8	7.8
Tanzania	1.5	0.3	6.4	7.8	1.6
Thailand	11.4	13.1	29.2	1.2	0.0
Timor-Leste	9.4	11.5	6.4	1.6	0.4
Togo	7.2	2.3	11.7	0.8	2.2
Trinidad & Tobago	63.1	5.6	23.6	5.7	1.5
Tunisia	17.9	0.0	14.1	3.7	5.8
Türkiye	20.0	0.0	5.5	16.0	1.3
Turkmenistan	6.1	0.1	2.8	22.5	20.8
U.S.	58.7	30.6	22.8	37.9	1.4
UAE	31.1	0.0	25.4	6.7	10.4
Uganda	1.5	2.9	14.3	3.6	1.0
UK	32.7	24.0	17.9	17.4	5.0
Ukraine	24.9	16.7	13.8	7.2	0.7
Uruguay	21.0	14.1	9.1	19.4	3.5
Uzbekistan	3.1	0.2	4.0	31.6	6.1
Vanuatu	14.6	12.4	29.0	7.2	0.3
Venezuela	16.1	4.4	10.2	12.0	0.3
Vietnam	15.8	38.2	39.6	6.1	0.5
Yemen	11.2	0.0	3.0	3.0	4.5
Zambia	2.6	1.5	13.1	9.3	2.7
Zimbabwe	4.6	0.7	3.0	42.3	4.3

The world’s largest consumers of meat per capita? Hong Kong, Iceland, and Macao have the highest total meat consumption, all above 170 kg (370 lbs) per capita.

We take a brief look through the biggest consumers of each type of meat below.

Who Eats the Most Poultry?

While the U.S. and China eat the most chicken by absolute numbers, the countries rank 7th and 112th respectively when it comes to poultry consumption on a per capita basis.

Several island nations—St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Samoa—along with Israel eat more than 60 kilograms of poultry meat (about 15 large birds) per person on an annual basis.

Regionally, poultry consumption can be seen spanning almost all of the Americas, as well as in the UK and former British colonies Australia and South Africa, and in the Middle East.

Who Eats the Most Pork?

Despite eating more seafood and poultry, Hong Kong leads the world in pork consumption per capita annually at 55 kg (121 lbs). This is almost equivalent to the average amount of retail pork harvested from a single 250 lb pig.

Poland and Spain—who are also top pork producers—rank close behind Hong Kong with similar pork consumption numbers. Indeed, we can see pork as the most consumed meat in many European countries with local histories of pork foods, as well as in a few countries in Africa including Burkina Faso and one Southeast Asian country, Timor-Leste.

Who Eats the Most Fish and Seafood?

In the middle of the North Atlantic ocean, Iceland eats the most fish and seafood in the world, at a staggering 90 kg (nearly 200 lbs), per person per year. That also gives Iceland the crown for the highest per-capita consumption of any single type of meat.

Behind Iceland are other island and high coastline nations, including the Maldives, Hong Kong, Macao, and Portugal. Regionally we can see the importance of seafood reflected in East and South Asia, the Atlantic coastline of Africa, and the Nordic countries in Europe.

Who Eats the Most Beef?

Argentina’s 46-million-strong population eats nearly 47 kg (103 lbs) of bovine meat per person per year, the most by any country in the UN’s database.

The South American country has a rich culinary history with beef, as cattle brought by Spanish settlers flourished on the grassy plains of the region. Such is cattle’s importance on the continent that the gaucho—a horseman engaged in cattle work—is a folk symbol in Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Brazil (which ranks 5th in beef consumption).

The map of beef consumption highlights Central Asian countries including Uzbekistan and Eastern African countries including Ethiopia.

Who Eats the Most Mutton & Other Meat?

The people of Mongolia are unrivaled in their consumption of mutton and goat meat, devouring an impressive 66 kilograms (145 pounds) per capita annually. This voracious appetite for meat is deeply rooted in their heritage as a nation of skilled shepherds.

Papua New Guinea, meanwhile, tops the “other meat” consumption rankings. The country is the largest producer of game meat in the world, due to its mostly rural and indigenous population relying on hunting. One 2023 study found that a sample of villages in the country primarily hunted wild deer and boar for meat, although marsupials like bandicoots, tree-kangaroos, and cuscus were occasionally hunted and consumed as well.

Mongolia also ranks highly in consumption of other meat per capita, likely due to their traditional consumption of horse meat. The country produced just over 100,000 tons of horse meat in 2020, one-sixth of the country’s total meat production that year.

Mapping Meat Consumption By Country, Without Seafood

What happens to each country’s meat consumption habits if we remove fish and seafood from the dataset? The map, and the rankings change quite a bit.

Most of the blue on the map is replaced with a wash of yellow, indicating the global popularity of poultry meat as a cheap and efficient source of protein. However, much of East Asia including China and European countries like France and Sweden consume more pork.

The rankings for total meat consumption also shuffle.

Country	Total (With Seafood)	Total (Without Seafood)
Afghanistan	9.6	9.3
Albania	47.8	39.1
Algeria	22.4	18.6
Angola	34.1	19.9
Antigua & Barbuda	136.2	82.1
Argentina	116.9	110.2
Armenia	56.4	50.9
Australia	145.6	121.5
Austria	91.2	76.9
Azerbaijan	38.9	36.9
Bahamas	109.3	85.1
Bahrain	96.9	80.6
Bangladesh	31.1	4.3
Barbados	115.8	73.0
Belarus	102.2	90.4
Belgium	84.5	61.9
Belize	61.8	48.5
Benin	30.8	14.6
Bhutan	23.4	16.1
Bolivia	79.9	77.1
Bosnia & Herzegovina	50.1	42.8
Botswana	31.1	28.6
Brazil	107.2	99.2
Bulgaria	64.3	56.9
Burkina Faso	43.2	34.3
Burundi	5.7	3.1
Cabo Verde	41.2	30.4
Cambodia	58.6	12.9
Cameroon	30.8	11.6
Canada	111.3	90.6
Central African Republic	45.1	37.8
Chad	53.5	46.9
Chile	97.8	83.0
China	102.0	62.1
Colombia	67.0	58.1
Comoros	45.5	31.2
Congo	64.5	40.0
Costa Rica	76.4	58.5
Côte d’Ivoire	35.0	11.8
Croatia	98.6	79.5
Cuba	77.6	71.6
Cyprus	101.1	75.6
Czechia	89.6	79.2
Denmark	90.1	63.7
Djibouti	18.9	15.4
Dominica	87.9	60.1
Dominican Republic	57.1	48.6
DR Congo	7.4	3.3
Ecuador	53.6	45.4
Egypt	50.3	23.3
El Salvador	45.4	38.8
Estonia	82.4	67.8
Eswatini	31.7	27.4
Ethiopia	8.4	7.9
Fiji	67.4	40.9
Finland	104.8	71.4
France	111.5	78.2
French Polynesia	135.4	88.2
Gabon	95.7	67.0
Gambia	40.6	15.5
Georgia	45.1	35.1
Germany	91.4	78.8
Ghana	43.5	18.5
Greece	96.2	74.5
Grenada	91.3	57.5
Guatemala	47.2	44.2
Guinea	23.6	13.9
Guinea-Bissau	16.5	15.3
Guyana	76.8	51.8
Haiti	25.0	20.0
Honduras	35.4	32.8
Hong Kong	202.1	136.3
Hungary	89.3	82.9
Iceland	180.9	90.2
India	12.6	4.6
Indonesia	62.3	17.9
Iran	50.6	38.0
Iraq	13.8	10.2
Ireland	101.8	79.2
Israel	124.1	99.4
Italy	99.4	70.2
Jamaica	86.7	61.5
Japan	99.6	53.4
Jordan	42.8	37.7
Kazakhstan	74.7	71.9
Kenya	13.6	10.7
Kiribati	112.4	39.2
Kuwait	86.6	72.7
Kyrgyzstan	33.2	32.1
Laos	53.1	29.0
Latvia	95.8	70.8
Lebanon	38.2	29.5
Lesotho	14.7	11.7
Liberia	23.4	19.1
Libya	56.5	42.2
Lithuania	123.9	90.9
Luxembourg	110.6	78.9
Macao	176.9	103.7
Madagascar	9.8	5.8
Malawi	33.7	23.6
Malaysia	119.4	64.7
Maldives	101.2	18.1
Mali	17.1	8.6
Malta	102.0	79.1
Mauritania	39.5	31.1
Mauritius	74.5	50.5
Mexico	84.7	71.1
Micronesia	106.7	59.4
Moldova	50.3	38.6
Mongolia	112.1	111.6
Montenegro	93.0	77.4
Morocco	57.0	38.6
Mozambique	21.0	7.6
Myanmar	106.0	61.0
Namibia	44.3	32.4
Nauru	156.2	105.1
Nepal	17.7	14.2
Netherlands	81.0	59.1
New Caledonia	101.7	78.3
New Zealand	111.4	85.0
Nicaragua	36.3	29.6
Niger	10.1	8.3
Nigeria	13.8	7.0
North Korea	24.6	13.6
North Macedonia	46.6	40.3
Norway	117.4	67.2
Oman	69.5	43.4
Pakistan	20.2	18.6
Panama	100.5	86.8
Papua New Guinea	77.0	62.4
Paraguay	44.9	40.9
Peru	80.5	53.4
Philippines	62.8	33.7
Poland	102.0	89.5
Portugal	150.2	90.2
Qatar	96.9	75.9
Romania	74.7	66.4
Russia	98.6	76.9
Rwanda	12.9	8.4
Saint Kitts & Nevis	108.5	69.7
Saint Lucia	111.9	78.3
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	113.8	94.4
Samoa	135.9	88.3
Sao Tome & Principe	51.3	23.6
Saudi Arabia	66.8	55.0
Senegal	29.1	17.2
Serbia	68.3	61.6
Seychelles	119.2	62.5
Sierra Leone	35.0	9.5
Slovakia	72.7	62.5
Slovenia	85.7	72.5
Solomon Islands	40.5	12.4
South Africa	66.2	59.8
South Korea	133.8	78.5
South Sudan	23.9	21.0
Spain	142.7	101.9
Sri Lanka	40.8	11.8
Sudan	21.5	20.3
Suriname	78.8	62.3
Sweden	100.2	68.0
Switzerland	82.2	66.2
Syria	18.0	15.8
Taiwan	116.7	87.0
Tajikistan	37.9	37.2
Tanzania	17.6	11.2
Thailand	54.9	25.8
Timor-Leste	29.3	22.9
Togo	24.2	12.5
Trinidad & Tobago	99.5	75.9
Tunisia	41.4	27.3
Türkiye	42.8	37.3
Turkmenistan	52.2	49.4
U.S.	151.4	128.6
UAE	73.6	48.2
Uganda	23.3	9.0
UK	97.0	79.1
Ukraine	63.3	49.5
Uruguay	67.3	58.1
Uzbekistan	45.0	41.0
Vanuatu	63.5	34.5
Venezuela	43.1	32.9
Vietnam	100.2	60.6
Yemen	21.7	18.7
Zambia	29.3	16.2
Zimbabwe	54.9	51.9

Hong Kong remains at the top, but the U.S. jumps up three spots to second place, with annual per capita meat consumption at 128 kg (282 lbs) when seafood isn’t included.

Iceland and Macao drop to the top 15, while Australia, Mongolia, and Argentina climb into the top five. Other countries that preferred seafood dropped a lot lower, such as Japan, which fell 40 spots in the total consumption rankings when fish was removed.

The post Mapped: Meat Consumption By Country and Type appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Mapped: The Safest Cities in America

The phrase “small town America” often conjures up images of white picket fences, well-trimmed lawns, and big houses. But how safe is modern-day suburbia in America?

Some of the smallest places in the country can actually be among the most dangerous. Take for example Bessemer, Alabama, with a population of around 26,000 and a violent crime rate of 33.1 per every 1,000 residents.

That said, there are many small cities that are true havens for families across the United States. This map showcases the safest cities in the U.S., using FBI data and Census Bureau populations compiled by NeighborhoodScout in 2023.

Note: The source only considered cities with a population of 25,000 or higher. This report is based on total index crimes reported in each city, which includes arson, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault.

Top 100 Safest Cities in the U.S.

40% of the cities in the ranking are located in Northeastern states, which are typically rated the “safest” based on FBI data.

Here’s a closer look at the full list:

One quarter of the safest cities are located in Massachusetts, with the vast majority clustered around Boston.

The median population of the cities and towns in the top 100 is just 32,000, and few widely-recognized cities make the list. Carmel, Indiana (#60) is the only city with a population above 100,000 to make the rankings. This would seem to follow the logic that bigger cities are more dangerous, but our map covering the most dangerous cities in America shows that many small cities were just as dangerous, and some even more.

Regardless, small towns can truly be idyllic. For example, a person’s chance of falling victim to crime in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the safest ranked city in the U.S., is just 1-in-510. That’s an overall rate of fewer than two incidents of crime per every 1,000 residents.

One surprising observation from the data is that many of the safest U.S. cities are in very close proximity to some of the most dangerous.

One example that illustrates this is Detroit, which ranks as the sixth most dangerous city in America. Despite this, as shown on the map above, there are four communities nearby that have some of the lowest crime rates in America.

In other words, America’s metro areas contain much contrast, and these insights provide valuable information for individuals and families seeking secure places to live across the country.

The post Mapped: The Safest Cities in the U.S. appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Mapped: World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets

In the final year of World War II, the U.S. spent about 38% of its GDP on its military. When adjusted for inflation, the military budget over those four years of war came to a staggering $4.1 trillion in 2020 dollars.

Almost 80 years later, modern day military spending isn’t much of a far cry from World War II budgets. The top spenders have continued to increase their military capabilities, while war in Ukraine has caused countries in the region to re-evaluate their budgets as well.

In 2022, global military budgets hit an all-time high of $2.2 trillion, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the eighth consecutive year of increase. This post looks at the top 40 largest military budgets in the world.

The Largest Military Budgets in 2022

The United States accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spend coming to $877 billion.

Here are the top 40 largest military budgets in the world for 2022 in U.S. dollars:

Rank	Country	Military Budget (Billions)	% of World Military Spend
1	U.S.	$876.9	39.0%
2	China	$292.0	13.0%
3	Russia	$86.4	3.9%
4	India	$81.4	3.6%
5	Saudi Arabia	$75.0	3.3%
6	UK	$68.5	3.1%
7	Germany	$55.8	2.5%
8	France	$53.6	2.4%
9	South Korea	$46.4	2.1%
10	Japan	$46.0	2.1%
11	Ukraine	$44.0	2.0%
12	Italy	$33.5	1.5%
13	Australia	$32.3	1.4%
14	Canada	$26.9	1.2%
15	Israel	$23.4	1.0%
16	Spain	$20.3	0.9%
17	Brazil	$20.2	0.9%
18	Poland	$16.6	0.7%
19	Netherlands	$15.6	0.7%
20	Qatar	$15.4	0.7%
21	Taiwan	$12.5	0.6%
22	Singapore	$11.7	0.5%
23	Türkiye	$10.6	0.5%
24	Pakistan	$10.3	0.5%
25	Colombia	$9.9	0.4%
26	Algeria	$9.1	0.4%
27	Indonesia	$9.0	0.4%
28	Mexico	$8.5	0.4%
29	Norway	$8.4	0.4%
30	Kuwait	$8.2	0.4%
31	Greece	$8.1	0.4%
32	Sweden	$7.7	0.3%
33	Belgium	$6.9	0.3%
34	Iran	$6.8	0.3%
35	Switzerland	$6.1	0.3%
36	Oman	$5.8	0.3%
37	Thailand	$5.7	0.3%
38	Chile	$5.6	0.2%
39	Denmark	$5.5	0.2%
40	Romania	$5.2	0.2%

China, ranked second in absolute terms, accounts for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion.

Russia, India and Saudi Arabia round out the top five biggest military budgets in 2022. Add in the UK to the mix (#6 rank), and these countries all had military expenditures that made up at least 3% of global spend.

Comparatively, the lowest budgets on the top 40 ranged include Romania at $5.2 billion, Denmark at $5.5 billion, and Chile at $5.6 billion. They each account for just 0.2% of the world’s military budgets in 2022, and of course there are many countries with even smaller spends.

Largest Military Budget Increases in 2022

Russia’s position as the third-largest military spender is a recent development, as the country’s military spend had a 9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to SIPRI estimates.

On the other side of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was the top 40 military budget with the largest annual increase in 2022, surging nearly six and a half times above its 2021 expenditures.

Country	% Change (2021-2022)	Rank Change (2021-2022)
Ukraine	640%	+25
Qatar	27%	+2
Saudi Arabia	16%	+3
Belgium	13%	0
Netherlands	12%	0
Sweden	12%	-1
Poland	11%	0
Russia	9.2%	+2
Denmark	8.8%	+3
Spain	7.3%	-1
Norway	6.2%	0
India	6.0%	-1
Japan	5.9%	-1
Iran	4.6%	+5
China	4.2%	0
UK	3.7%	-2
Canada	3.0%	-1
Singapore	2.8%	+1
Germany	2.3%	0
Indonesia	1.3%	0
Colombia	1.1%	-1
U.S.	0.7%	0
France	0.6%	-2
Greece	0.6%	-1
Switzerland	0.4%	-1
Taiwan	0.4%	-1
Australia	0.3%	-1
Pakistan	-2.0%	-3
South Korea	-2.5%	+1
Romania	-2.6%	+1
Oman	-3.0%	+1
Algeria	-3.7%	-1
Israel	-4.2%	-1
Italy	-4.5%	-1
Chile	-6.2%	-3
Brazil	-7.9%	-1
Mexico	-9.7%	0
Kuwait	-11%	-4
Thailand	-11%	-5
Türkiye	-26%	-6

Ukraine’s dramatic increase represents the highest single-year jump ever recorded by SIPRI, painting a vivid before-and-after picture of a nation engaged in conflict.

Although no other country comes close in matching Ukraine’s surge in defense spending, Qatar saw a substantial increase of 27% over the last year, marking a continuing trend over the last decade of significantly bolstering its military.

Additionally, Saudi Arabia, along with four European nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland), have registered year-over-year changes of over 10%.

On the flipside, 13 of the nations with the largest military budgets decreased spend from 2021, including top 15 spenders such as South Korea, Italy, and Israel.

The largest drop was seen by Türkiye, with an estimated 26% reduction in military budget. This drop may be linked to Türkiye’s inflation problem, which saw prices rise 72.3% in 2022—effectively decreasing the purchasing power of their currency in relative terms to other nations.

The Specter of War in Europe

With an ongoing conflict in the region and large financial powerhouses, its no surprise that eight of the top 10 countries with the most significant increases in military spending are located in Europe.

Consequently, European military budgets have reached levels not witnessed since the end of the Cold War.

And amid escalating geopolitical concerns, countries in Asia such as India, Japan, and China have also ramped up their defense spending. This is an indication of simmering global flashpoints such as India and China’s border skirmishes, the longstanding South China Sea territorial conflict, and concerns surrounding Taiwan’s sovereignty.

The post Mapped: World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Mapped: The Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S.

Crime is seemingly always increasing—at least according to the headlines.

The focus is usually on big cities like Chicago or San Francisco, but some of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. are actually smaller or suburban cities, at least according to new per capita data from NeighborhoodScout.

The map above reveals the most dangerous urban areas in the U.S., in terms of how many violent crimes occur for every 1,000 residents. It uses the latest FBI crime data and Census Bureau populations available in 2023.

Note: The source only considered cities with a population of 25,000 or higher. This report is based on reported violent crimes including armed robbery, murder, rape, and aggravated assault.

Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S.

Though the most dangerous cities in the U.S. are spread across multiple states, Alabama is home to three of the 10 cities with the highest violent crime rates: Bessemer (#1), Mobile (#2), and Birmingham (#7).

Here’s a closer look at the full list:

Both large cities and smaller ones make the list, with Memphis and Detroit the biggest cities to appear in the top 10 with populations above 600,000. A person’s chance of being a victim of violent crime in each is 1-in-39 and 1-in-43, respectively.

It’s worth noting that the numbers above are strictly for the most violent forms of crime, and don’t include things like simple assault and various forms of property crime. These push the total crime rate, and therefore the likelihood of becoming a victim of any crime, much higher in these hotspots.

And though there are well-known cities in the list, a few typically associated with crime don’t make even the top 100. For instance, New York City’s violent crime rate is 5.2 per 1,000 residents, with the chance of being a victim in Manhattan specifically at 1-in-192.

Crime in the United States

The violent crime rate for the entire U.S. is 5.6 per 1,000 people. Comparatively, the safest cities in the us have total crime rates of 8.6 per 1,000 people and lower.

It’s difficult to touch on violent crime in the U.S. without discussing gun violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have already been more than 22,000 gun violence deaths in the U.S. as of July 2023. That includes 371 mass shootings, and 150 children deaths.

And though the latest annual FBI data shows that violent crime has decreased from 2020 to 2021, murders have gone up over the same time frame.

The post Mapped: The Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S. appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Vintage Viz: The World’s Rivers and Lakes, Organized Neatly

Rivers and lakes have borne witness to many of humanity’s greatest moments.

In the first century BCE, the Rubicon not only marked the border between the Roman provinces of Gaul and Italia, but also the threshold for civil war. From the shores of Lake Van in 1071, you could witness the Battle of Manzikert and the beginning of the end for the Byzantine Empire.

Rivers carry our trade, our dead, and even our prayers, so when London mapmaker James Reynolds partnered with engraver John Emslie to publish the Panoramic Plan of the Principal Rivers and Lakes in 1850, he could be sure of a warm reception.

The visualization, the latest in our Vintage Viz series, beautifully illustrates 42 principal rivers in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, along with 36 lakes across the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Each river has been unraveled and straightened onto an imaginary landscape-–no meandering here—and arranged by size. Major cities are marked by a deep orangy-red.

Top 3 Longest Principal Rivers (in 1850)

According to this visualization, the Mighty Mississippi is among the world’s longest, coming in at 3,650 miles, followed by the Amazon, the Nile, and the Yangtze river in China. The bottom three are the Tay in Scotland (125 miles), the Shannon in Ireland (200 miles), and the Potomac in the U.S. (275 miles).

Surveying methods have come a long way since 1850, and we now have satellites, GPS, and lasers, so we can update these rankings. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Nile (6,650 km / 4,132 miles), the Amazon (6,436 km / 3,998 miles), and the Yangtze (6,300 km / 3,915 miles) are the world’s top three longest rivers.

The table below shows the rivers in the graphic above compared with today’s measurements, as well as the general location of rivers using 1850 location names (including modern day locations in brackets).

These figures are a unique look into a time period where humanity’s efforts to quantify the world were still very much a work in progress.

Editor’s note: Some of the rivers and lakes are spelled slightly differently in 1850 than they are today. For example, the map notes today’s Mackenzie River (Canada) as the McKenzie River, and the Yangtze River (China) as the Yangtse.

O Say, Can You Sea?

The largest ‘lake’ in this visualization is the Caspian Sea (118,000 sq. miles), followed by the Black Sea (113,000 sq. miles), and the greatest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior (22,400 sq. miles). While the Caspian Sea is considered a saltwater lake and could reasonably have a place here, the Black Sea—possibly bearing that name because of the color black’s association with “north”—is not a lake by any stretch of the imagination.

And while many of the surface areas reported could also be updated with modern estimates, the story behind Lake Chad (called Ichad in the visualization), the Aral Sea, and the Dead Sea are altogether different. Human development, unsustainable water use, and climate change have led to dramatic drops in water levels.

The Dead Sea in particular had a surface area of 405 sq. miles (1,050 km²) in 1930, but has since dropped to 234 sq. miles (606.1 km²) in 2016.

You Can’t Step in the Same River Twice

Over time, natural and anthropogenic forces cause rivers to change their course, and lakes to shift their banks. If Reynolds and Emslie were alive today to update this visualization, it would likely look quite different, as would one made 100 years from now. But so goes the river of time.

The post Vintage Viz: The World’s Rivers and Lakes, Organized Neatly appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Mapping The Best Places to Intern in the U.S.

Modern day internships vary wildly by industry, covering anything from coffee runs to working on high-profile projects, and from 90-hour weeks to part-time jobs.

The internship salaries offered also vary wildly by both location and industry. Some are full-time paid positions, others are unpaid, “for the experience” gigs.

Bringing some transparency into the ever-changing internship world, CashNetUSA sourced data in 2022 from listings on Chegg Internships and Zippia, creating a database of internship salary rates by hourly pay across state and sector.

The Highest Average Internship Salary by State

Across the 50 states in the U.S., three stand out above the competition when it comes to the average internship salaries.

Interns in Washington, California, and Connecticut were offered more than $20 an hour, nearly $5 more than minimum wage in each of these states.

On the lower side, internships in Wyoming, New Mexico, and Louisiana pay around $12/hour.

Part of the discrepancy in these figures is the cost of living for each state, with the more expensive coastal states paying more than their interior peers.

Six of the states with the highest average internship salary rates (California, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Oregon, and Massachusetts) are the most expensive states to live in. The reverse is also true, with some of the lowest-paying states matching a lower cost of living.

When adjusting for cost of living, the internship pays in Washington and West Virginia come out better than average.

Sectors With the Best Paid Internships

Looking at the states with the best internship pay also helps highlight the specific sectors which pay their interns well.

Unsurprisingly, tech internships mainly in California and Washington pay the best ($19.77), followed by the finance sector mainly in New York ($18.10).

Both industries are, of course, well-known for high pay packages for their employees. They’re on the opposite side of the spectrum from government internships, which rank last despite coveted D.C. positions paying fairly well.

States with the Most Unpaid Internships

Getting an internship doesn’t guarantee pay, and average hourly pay means little in states which have mostly unpaid interns.

In Delaware for example, nearly one-third of internships are unpaid despite otherwise boasting a high average pay.

New York, Oregon, New Mexico, California, and New Jersey all had nearly one-fourth of their listed internships as unpaid.

Meanwhile, the outer Midwest states, including Nebraska and Colorado, have some of the lowest unpaid internship rates of anywhere in the country. In Kansas, despite having some of the lowest internship pay, only 4.2% of internships were unpaid.

Sectors with the Most Unpaid Internships

The finance sector—also the second highest paying—is notorious for rigorous internships, but nearly one-third of listed finance internships were posted with no pay, and only experience.

That’s nearly twice the rate of the second-most unpaid internship sector: retail.

Interestingly, the tech sector had the second-fewest unpaid internships, despite paying the highest hourly rate. Only manufacturing has fewer unpaid internships.

A majority of students surveyed from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that those who took unpaid internships had a slightly higher positive correlation in networking than a paid internship. However, they also had a negative correlation with both employment and salary satisfaction.

The post Mapped: Average Internship Salary By U.S. State in 2022 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

Mapping Human Impact Across the World

Since the dawn of human history, our activities have left an impact on Earth—from gathering food to farming, from building homes and cities to traveling across oceans.

And as the global population expanded and civilizations became more complex, that impact grew alongside it. Mass agriculture, natural resource extraction, and creation of urban infrastructure are just some of the visible markers of modern human development.

In this graphic, Adam Symington maps the extent of humanity’s impact on the world from 1993 to 2009, using information provided by the scientific paper titled “Global Terrestrial Human Footprint Maps for 1993 and 2009.”

Variables for Measuring Human Impact

To accurately plot and measure human impact, the researches compiled studies and surveys from 1993 to 2009 across eight variables of human “pressure”:

1. Built environments
2. Population density
3. Night-time lights
4. Croplands
5. Pasture
6. Roads
7. Railways
8. Navigable waterways

These different pressures were then normalized and weighted, as some have a noticeably greater impact on the surrounding environments than others. Once plotted and overlayed, we can see where human impact was the highest.

What Caused the Largest Impact?

According to the research, increases in population density, housing development, and road and rail networks were the primary growth factors for human impact.

This caused the overall footprint to increase dramatically in densest urban centers of the world. The brightest and most visible on the map include:

• The Boston–Washington corridor (including New York City) in the U.S.
• The “Blue Banana” corridor in Europe from the UK to Northern Italy.
• The Nile Delta and Greater Cairo in Egypt.
• The Taiheiyō Belt in Japan (including Tokyo and Osaka).

Many other areas in South America, Central Africa, and South Asia, also saw human impact increase due to both increased urbanization and agriculture. Especially noticeable is the relatively even growth in human impact across Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

Untouched Wildernesses

While humanity’s footprint has transformed various parts of the world, some areas have been left untouched, to some extent.

The frigid Arctic terrains of Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Eastern Russia barely saw any change between 1993 and 2009.

Likewise, the Amazon rainforest in South America, the Sahara Desert in Africa, the Tibetan Plateau in Asia and the desert in Western Australia had large swaths of land with almost no human impact. However, they all had small patches of measured human impact, either through infrastructure development or resource extraction.

And though there were still corners of the Earth with little to no human impact in 2009, changes since in demographics, politics, and consumption could have an outsized effect on humanity’s footprint both now and into the future.

The post Mapping Human Impact Across the World appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

]]> https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/human-impact-world-map/feed/ 0 158301 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cities-with-the-best-work-life-balance/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cities-with-the-best-work-life-balance/#respond Wed, 14 Jun 2023 17:28:36 +0000 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/?p=157562 In this infographic, we explore which cities around the world excel in prioritizing work–life balance.

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Ranked: The Cities with the Best Work-Life Balance in the World

While some careers can be relatively stress-free, maintaining a healthy work-life balance can seem impossible for many.

The easy access to technology, blurred boundaries around work and personal time, and fear of job loss push many to work overtime, and fail to use vacation time or sick leave.

However, in some cities across the world, the situation is very different. In top-ranked locales, companies offer working professionals an opportunity to maintain a work-life balance through good healthcare, ample vacation time, and so on.

In this graphic, we use the Forbes Advisor 2023 ranking to highlight the top cities in the world that encourage work-life balance. The ranking compares data from 128 cities to form the Work-Life Balance Score, which is marked on a scale of 100. The higher the score, the better work–life balance workers in a city have. We’ve covered the top 25 in the graphic above.

Europe Tops the Chart

Twenty of the 25 cities with the best work-life balance fall in Europe. The diverse range of cultures and lifestyles in these cities offers its residents a balance between work and personal life.

The top city on this list, with a work-life balance score of 70.5/100, is Copenhagen, Denmark. The city’s high standard of living, low unemployment rate, 52-week-long parental leave, and focus on sustainability and green spaces all contribute to the city’s top score. It also helps that the Danish lifestyle focuses on taking time for self-care and relaxation.

Healthy lifestyles along with generous vacation and parental leave policies also placed the European cities of Helsinki, Stockholm, and Oslo in the top five in this list. In fact, the average employee work week in these cities falls below 30 hours. The proportion of remote jobs in Helsinki, Finland is over 50%.

Many companies in Europe prioritize employee well-being, which has led to the emergence of a wellness culture. This culture includes practices such as remote work and mental health support.

Balancing Work and Life in Oceania

Although Europe dominates the top 25 list, some cities in Oceania also boast of healthy work-life balance scores.

Ranked 5th on the list of cities with the best work-life balance, workers in Auckland, New Zealand, have a 26.3-hour work week on average and a year’s worth of parental leave.

Meanwhile, the cities of Brisbane (53.3), Melbourne (53.1), and Sydney (51.4) in Australia follow an average work week of 32.4 hours to 38 hours. The sunny weather in these cities also positively influences their scores.

For Some, Safety is Key

UAE’s capital city is the only Asian city to make it to this top 25 list, and this is despite its high property prices and relatively low number of vacation days available to workers. On the flip side, the city is safe, sunny, and boasts a high quality of life.

Where Does This Data Come From?

Source: Forbes Advisor’s Work-Life Balance Index 2023

Data notes: This ranking the data from 128 cities to form the Work-Life Balance Score, which is marked on a scale of 100. The study analyzed various “Best Cities to Live In” indices, narrowing down those which had available data in the following key categories between January and February 2023. The following indices and metrics were used: World Happiness Index, Gender Inequality Index, Average working hours, minimum legal annual leave, property price to income ratio, proportion of remote working vacancies, maternity leave policies, parks and nature reserves per capita, unemployment rate, sunlight hours. Data was collected between January – Feb 2023. See the source for full details.

The post Ranked: The Cities with the Best Work-Life Balance in the World appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

]]> https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cities-with-the-best-work-life-balance/feed/ 0 157562 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-growth-in-house-prices-by-country/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-growth-in-house-prices-by-country/#respond Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:29:28 +0000 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/?p=158599 Global house prices were resilient in 2022, rising 6%. We compare nominal and real price growth by country as interest rates surged.

The post Mapped: The Growth in House Prices by Country appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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The following slider shows both nominal and real housing prices by country. Use slider arrows to navigate.



Mapped: The Growth in House Prices by Country

This was originally posted on Advisor Channel. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on financial markets that help advisors and their clients.

Global housing prices rose an average of 6% annually, between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022.

In real terms that take inflation into account, prices actually fell 2% for the first decline in 12 years. Despite a surge in interest rates and mortgage costs, housing markets were noticeably stable. Real prices remain 7% above pre-pandemic levels.

In this graphic, we show the change in residential property prices with data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The Growth in House Prices, Ranked

The following dataset from the BIS covers nominal and real house price growth across 58 countries and regions as of the fourth quarter of 2022:

Price Growth Rank	Country / Region	Nominal Year-over-Year Change (%)	Real Year-over-Year Change (%)
1	Türkiye	167.9	51.0
2	Serbia	23.1	7.0
3	Russia	23.1	9.7
4	North Macedonia	20.6	1.0
5	Iceland	20.3	9.9
6	Croatia	17.3	3.6
7	Estonia	16.9	-3.0
8	Israel	16.8	11.0
9	Hungary	16.5	-5.1
10	Lithuania	16.0	-5.5
11	Slovenia	15.4	4.2
12	Bulgaria	13.4	-3.2
13	Greece	12.2	3.7
14	Portugal	11.3	1.3
15	United Kingdom	10.0	-0.7
16	Slovak Republic	9.7	-4.8
17	United Arab Emirates	9.6	2.9
18	Poland	9.3	-6.9
19	Latvia	9.1	-10.2
20	Singapore	8.6	1.9
21	Ireland	8.6	-0.2
22	Chile	8.2	-3.0
23	Japan	7.9	3.9
24	Mexico	7.9	-0.1
25	Philippines	7.7	-0.2
26	United States	7.1	0.0
27	Czechia	6.9	-7.6
28	Romania	6.7	-7.5
29	Malta	6.3	-0.7
30	Cyprus	6.3	-2.9
31	Colombia	6.3	-5.6
32	Luxembourg	5.6	-0.5
33	Spain	5.5	-1.1
34	Switzerland	5.4	2.4
35	Netherlands	5.4	-5.3
36	Austria	5.2	-4.8
37	France	4.8	-1.2
38	Belgium	4.7	-5.7
39	Thailand	4.7	-1.1
40	South Africa	3.1	-4.0
41	India	2.8	-3.1
42	Italy	2.8	-8.0
43	Norway	2.6	-3.8
44	Indonesia	2.0	-3.4
45	Peru	1.5	-6.3
46	Malaysia	1.2	-2.6
47	South Korea	-0.1	-5.0
48	Morocco	-0.1	-7.7
49	Brazil	-0.1	-5.8
50	Finland	-2.3	-10.2
51	Denmark	-2.4	-10.6
52	Australia	-3.2	-10.2
53	Germany	-3.6	-12.1
54	Sweden	-3.7	-13.7
55	China	-3.7	-5.4
56	Canada	-3.8	-9.8
57	New Zealand	-10.4	-16.5
58	Hong Kong SAR	-13.5	-15.1

Türkiye’s property prices jumped the highest globally, at nearly 168% amid soaring inflation.

Real estate demand has increased alongside declining interest rates. The government drastically cut interest rates from 19% in late 2021 to 8.5% to support a weakening economy.

Many European countries saw some of the highest price growth in nominal terms. A strong labor market and low interest rates pushed up prices, even as mortgage rates broadly doubled across the continent. For real price growth, most countries were in negative territory—notably Sweden, Germany, and Denmark.

Nominal U.S. housing prices grew just over 7%, while real price growth halted to 0%. Prices have remained elevated given the stubbornly low supply of inventory. In fact, residential prices remain 45% above pre-pandemic levels.

How Do Interest Rates Impact Property Markets?

Global house prices boomed during the pandemic as central banks cut interest rates to prop up economies.

Now, rates have returned to levels last seen before the Global Financial Crisis. On average, rates have increased four percentage points in many major economies. Roughly three-quarters of the countries in the BIS dataset witnessed negative year-over-year real house price growth as of the fourth quarter of 2022.

Interest rates have a large impact on property prices. Cross-country evidence shows that for every one percentage point increase in real interest rates, the growth rate of housing prices tends to fall by about two percentage points.

When Will Housing Prices Fall?

The rise in U.S. interest rates has been counteracted by homeowners being reluctant to sell so they can keep their low mortgage rates. As a result, it is keeping inventory low and prices high. Homeowners can’t sell and keep their low mortgage rates unless they meet strict conditions on a new property.

Additionally, several other factors impact price dynamics. Construction costs, income growth, labor shortages, and population growth all play a role.

With a strong labor market continuing through 2023, stable incomes may help stave off prices from falling. On the other hand, buyers with floating-rate mortgages face steeper costs and may be unable to afford new rates. This could increase housing supply in the market, potentially leading to lower prices.

The post Mapped: The Growth in House Prices by Country appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

]]> https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-growth-in-house-prices-by-country/feed/ 0 158599 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/military-spend-around-the-world/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/military-spend-around-the-world/#respond Mon, 05 Jun 2023 05:36:59 +0000 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/?post_type=cp&p=156799 Which countries have the highest military spend relative to their economy? This visual breaks down the amount spent in each country by GDP.

The post Interactive: Comparing Military Spend Around the World appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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Comparing Military Spend Around the World

One of the easiest ways to identify a nation’s priorities is by tracking its expenditures, and military spend is no different.

Usually spending is measured, and ranked, in absolute amounts. For example, countries around the world collectively spent $2.1 trillion on their militaries in 2021, with the most coming from the U.S. ($800 billion), China ($293 billion), and India ($77 billion).

But these eye-popping figures are best understood in the context of each country’s economy. Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Varun Jain has visualized 158 countries’ military expenditures, both as a percentage of their total GDP as well as in average per-capita spend.

Countries’ Military Spend as a Percentage of their Economy

To begin, Jain identified three categories of military expenditure as a percent of GDP, using the five-year (2018‒2022) average for more consistent data:

Military Spend	% of GDP	Countries
High	Above 5%	7
Medium	2‒5%	44
Low	Below 2%	107

Under this categorization, the stand outs are the countries spending an outsized amount of their economic output on military, rather than the highest total spenders in absolute terms.

At the top of the table is Ukraine, which has earmarked a staggering average of 9.46% of its total economic output on defense over the past five years. That’s well ahead of second-place Saudi Arabia, which is slightly above 8%.

In Ukraine’s case, its high ranking shows how quickly priorities can change. From 2018 to 2021, the country spent 3.2-3.8% of its GDP on its military, but the outbreak of war with Russia saw its expenditures jump to one-third of economic output.

Other countries from the Middle East and North Africa follow in this tier, with Oman third at 8.11% and Qatar fourth with 5.88%. Rounding out the top seven high spenders are Algeria, Kuwait, and Israel.

Rank	Country	Military Spend	% of GDP
1	Ukraine	High	9.46%
2	Saudi Arabia	High	8.19%
3	Oman	High	8.11%
4	Qatar	High	5.88%
5	Algeria	High	5.70%
6	Kuwait	High	5.66%
7	Israel	High	5.09%
8	Jordan	Medium	4.81%
9	Armenia	Medium	4.53%
10	Azerbaijan	Medium	4.53%
11	Lebanon	Medium	4.01%
12	Russia	Medium	3.98%
13	Bahrain	Medium	3.79%
14	Pakistan	Medium	3.75%
15	Morocco	Medium	3.72%
16	Uzbekistan	Medium	3.56%
17	U.S.	Medium	3.48%
18	Colombia	Medium	3.24%
19	Greece	Medium	3.15%
20	Namibia	Medium	3.09%
21	Brunei	Medium	3.09%
22	South Sudan	Medium	3.05%
23	Togo	Medium	3.03%
24	Mali	Medium	2.90%
25	Cuba	Medium	2.88%
26	Singapore	Medium	2.86%
27	Botswana	Medium	2.86%
28	Myanmar	Medium	2.76%
29	Burkina Faso	Medium	2.70%
30	Iraq	Medium	2.69%
31	South Korea	Medium	2.69%
32	Republic of Congo	Medium	2.68%
33	Chad	Medium	2.66%
34	India	Medium	2.58%
35	Tunisia	Medium	2.58%
36	Ecuador	Medium	2.34%
37	Iran	Medium	2.32%
38	Viet Nam	Medium	2.28%
39	Cambodia	Medium	2.26%
40	Mauritania	Medium	2.24%
41	Niger	Medium	2.21%
42	Burundi	Medium	2.21%
43	Turkey	Medium	2.19%
44	Poland	Medium	2.17%
45	Latvia	Medium	2.14%
46	Lithuania	Medium	2.13%
47	Estonia	Medium	2.13%
48	United Kingdom	Medium	2.12%
49	Uruguay	Medium	2.11%
50	Serbia	Medium	2.06%
51	Uganda	Medium	2.02%
52	Croatia	Low	1.97%
53	Australia	Low	1.93%
54	Chile	Low	1.92%
55	France	Low	1.91%
56	Cyprus	Low	1.90%
57	Romania	Low	1.87%
58	Bulgaria	Low	1.85%
59	Eswatini	Low	1.82%
60	Norway	Low	1.81%
61	Central African Republic	Low	1.78%
62	Sri Lanka	Low	1.77%
63	Portugal	Low	1.77%
64	Taiwan	Low	1.76%
65	China	Low	1.72%
66	Georgia	Low	1.71%
67	Slovakia	Low	1.67%
68	Guinea-Bissau	Low	1.65%
69	Kyrgyzstan	Low	1.62%
70	Guinea	Low	1.61%
71	Finland	Low	1.60%
72	Senegal	Low	1.58%
73	Honduras	Low	1.56%
74	Gabon	Low	1.56%
75	Mozambique	Low	1.56%
76	Lesotho	Low	1.56%
77	Montenegro	Low	1.54%
78	Fiji	Low	1.54%
79	Jamaica	Low	1.49%
80	Angola	Low	1.48%
81	Italy	Low	1.48%
82	Hungary	Low	1.48%
83	Bolivia	Low	1.46%
84	Seychelles	Low	1.43%
85	Netherlands	Low	1.41%
86	Sudan	Low	1.39%
87	Rwanda	Low	1.39%
88	Nepal	Low	1.36%
89	Denmark	Low	1.36%
90	Albania	Low	1.34%
91	Spain	Low	1.34%
92	Thailand	Low	1.33%
93	Afghanistan	Low	1.33%
94	New Zealand	Low	1.32%
95	Canada	Low	1.32%
96	Germany	Low	1.31%
97	North Macedonia	Low	1.30%
98	Brazil	Low	1.29%
99	Belize	Low	1.28%
100	El Salvador	Low	1.28%
101	Bangladesh	Low	1.26%
102	Zambia	Low	1.25%
103	Equatorial Guinea	Low	1.24%
104	Guyana	Low	1.22%
105	Cote d'Ivoire	Low	1.22%
106	Egypt	Low	1.20%
107	Peru	Low	1.20%
108	Belarus	Low	1.18%
109	Sweden	Low	1.17%
110	Kenya	Low	1.13%
111	Slovenia	Low	1.10%
112	Timor Leste	Low	1.08%
113	Tanzania	Low	1.05%
114	Cameroon	Low	1.04%
115	Tajikistan	Low	1.03%
116	Japan	Low	1.03%
117	Belgium	Low	1.02%
118	Liberia	Low	1.00%
119	Malaysia	Low	0.98%
120	Philippines	Low	0.96%
121	Paraguay	Low	0.95%
122	Kosovo	Low	0.95%
123	South Africa	Low	0.94%
124	Malawi	Low	0.92%
125	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Low	0.84%
126	Kazakhstan	Low	0.83%
127	Austria	Low	0.78%
128	Gambia	Low	0.76%
129	Trinidad & Tobago	Low	0.75%
130	Indonesia	Low	0.74%
131	Switzerland	Low	0.73%
132	Czech Republic	Low	0.71%
133	Dominican Republic	Low	0.70%
134	Mongolia	Low	0.69%
135	Madagascar	Low	0.68%
136	Dem. Rep. of Congo	Low	0.64%
137	Nigeria	Low	0.64%
138	Ethiopia	Low	0.64%
139	Sierra Leone	Low	0.64%
140	Argentina	Low	0.63%
141	Luxembourg	Low	0.61%
142	Mexico	Low	0.61%
143	Nicaragua	Low	0.60%
144	Cape Verde	Low	0.54%
145	Benin	Low	0.54%
146	Malta	Low	0.48%
147	Guatemala	Low	0.45%
148	Ghana	Low	0.43%
149	Papua New Guinea	Low	0.38%
150	Moldova	Low	0.36%
151	Ireland	Low	0.27%
152	Zimbabwe	Low	0.26%
153	Venezuela	Low	0.20%
154	Haiti	Low	0.17%
155	Mauritius	Low	0.16%
156	Costa Rica	Low	0.00%
157	Iceland	Low	0.00%
158	Panama	Low	0.00%

The medium group consists of 44 countries and is led by four nations (Jordan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Lebanon) that all spend more than 4% of their GDP on their militaries. Other familiar countries known to have large military budgets, like Russia, Pakistan, the U.S., India and the UK, are also in this category.

The low spend group has a total of 107 countries, but also contains some surprises. For example, China, France, and Germany—all in the top 10 countries by absolute military spend—actually have similar amounts of military spend as a percent of GDP as Georgia, Cyprus, and North Macedonia respectively.

At the bottom of the table are countries with either low military importance, or strange technicalities. For example, Mauritius is one of the countries with the lowest military budgets because it doesn’t officially have a standing military, instead relying on two paramilitary forces (a special mobile force and a Coast Guard).

Similarly, Iceland allocates 0% of its GDP towards military spending. In place of a standing army, the country maintains a specialized peacekeeping force, a substantial Coast Guard, and relies on security alliances within NATO, of which it is a member and provides financial support to.

Ranking Defense Spending Per Capita

While the measure above equalizes military spend on economic strength, per-capita military spending shows how much countries allocate while accounting for population size.

On a per-capita basis (again using a five-year average), Qatar leads the ranks with a per-capita spend of $4,564, well-ahead of Israel at $2,535, and Saudi Arabia at $1,928.

Rank	Country	Per Capita Spend ($)
1	Qatar	$4,564
2	Israel	$2,535
3	Saudi Arabia	$1,928
4	Singapore	$1,837
5	Kuwait	$1,815
6	U.S.	$1,815
7	Norway	$1,438
8	Oman	$1,254
9	Australia	$1,131
10	Brunei	$959
11	UK	$913
12	South Korea	$894
13	Bahrain	$863
14	Denmark	$861
15	France	$811
16	Finland	$801
17	Netherlands	$765
18	Luxembourg	$694
19	Sweden	$662
20	Switzerland	$647
21	Canada	$645
22	Greece	$629
23	Germany	$623
24	New Zealand	$610
25	Estonia	$535
26	Taiwan	$495
27	Italy	$494
28	Belgium	$487
29	Russia	$467
30	Lithuania	$463
31	Portugal	$417
32	Latvia	$405
33	Cyprus	$399
34	Japan	$398
35	Spain	$395
36	Austria	$393
37	Poland	$359
38	Uruguay	$354
39	Slovakia	$334
40	Lebanon	$334
41	Slovenia	$302
42	Ukraine	$302
43	Croatia	$294
44	Chile	$292
45	Romania	$258
46	Hungary	$248
47	Ireland	$235
48	Seychelles	$230
49	Azerbaijan	$226
50	Algeria	$219
51	Armenia	$217
52	Botswana	$215
53	Jordan	$207
54	Turkey	$199
55	Colombia	$197
56	Bulgaria	$194
57	China	$183
58	Malta	$175
59	Czech Republic	$175
60	Iran	$169
61	Namibia	$159
62	Iraq	$145
63	Ecuador	$138
64	Montenegro	$137
65	Serbia	$133
66	Trinidad & Tobago	$131
67	Gabon	$124
68	Morocco	$122
69	Equatorial Guinea	$112
70	Malaysia	$109
71	Brazil	$107
72	Thailand	$97
73	Guyana	$92
74	Tunisia	$91
75	Fiji	$83
76	North Macedonia	$83
77	Kazakhstan	$82
78	Peru	$81
79	Georgia	$80
80	Belarus	$80
81	Jamaica	$77
82	Albania	$76
83	Eswatini	$72
84	Sri Lanka	$69
85	Argentina	$66
86	Belize	$60
87	Mexico	$59
88	Dominican Republic	$58
89	Viet Nam	$58
90	South Africa	$56
91	El Salvador	$54
92	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$54
93	India	$53
94	Republic of Congo	$53
95	Paraguay	$52
96	Bolivia	$51
97	Pakistan	$49
98	Uzbekistan	$44
99	Angola	$43
100	Kosovo	$42
101	Mauritania	$42
102	Honduras	$42
103	Egypt	$41
104	Cambodia	$36
105	Myanmar	$35
106	Philippines	$33
107	Mongolia	$33
108	Indonesia	$31
109	Bangladesh	$27
110	Timor Leste	$27
111	Mali	$26
112	Senegal	$24
113	Cote d'Ivoire	$23
114	Togo	$21
115	Kenya	$21
116	Kyrgyzstan	$20
117	Burkina Faso	$20
118	Guinea	$19
119	Lesotho	$19
120	Cape Verde	$19
121	Guatemala	$19
122	Chad	$18
123	South Sudan	$18
124	Sudan	$18
125	Uganda	$18
126	Zimbabwe	$17
127	Zambia	$16
128	Mauritius	$16
129	Cameroon	$16
130	Nepal	$15
131	Nigeria	$14
132	Nicaragua	$12
133	Guinea-Bissau	$12
134	Tanzania	$12
135	Cuba	$11
136	Rwanda	$11
137	Moldova	$11
138	Papua New Guinea	$10
139	Niger	$10
140	Tajikistan	$9
141	Central African Republic	$8
142	Mozambique	$8
143	Ghana	$8
144	Benin	$7
145	Burundi	$7
146	Afghanistan	$6
147	Gambia	$6
148	Ethiopia	$5
149	Venezuela	$5
150	Malawi	$4
151	Sierra Leone	$3
152	Madagascar	$3
153	Dem. Rep. of Congo	$3
154	Liberia	$3
155	Haiti	$2
156	Costa Rica	$0
157	Iceland	$0
158	Panama	$0

Measured this way, we get a perspective of how small defense budgets can be per person, even if the total expenditure is large.

For example, India has the fourth-highest total defense expenditure in 2022, but because of its massive population only sets aside $53 per resident for its military, putting it solidly at the bottom third of the per-capita rankings.

Patterns Revealed By Measuring Military Spend

Changing how we look at a country’s military budget can reveal a lot more than just looking at absolute numbers.

For example, the Middle East is the region with the highest spenders on defense as a percentage of their GDP, giving us insight into regional security concerns.

Countries from the medium group of military spending—including parts of Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia—highlight past or recent conflict zones between neighbors, countries with internal strife, or countries wary of a regional aggressor. Ukraine’s average per capita military spend, for example, was just $122.4 from 2018 to 2021. The next year, it jumped nearly 10 times to $1,018.66 per person after Russia’s invasion.

In fact, European military spending saw its sharpest one-year jump in 30 years as a direct result of the war.

Alongside European anxieties, ongoing tension between China and Taiwan has also contributed to increased military spending in Asia and Oceania. Will these budgets continue their dramatic ascent or will they rise evenly alongside their relative economies in 2023?

Data note: For these comparisons, the creator is calculating five-year averages (using data from 2018-2022) for military spending as a percentage of GDP and per-capita military spending for each country. The military expenditure data is pulled from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Data for some countries is missing or may vary significantly from official figures. Countries with up to
two years of missing data had averages calculated on the years available, while countries with three or more years of missing data have been removed from this dataset, including: Djibouti, Eritrea, North Korea, Laos, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Turkmenistan, UAE, and Yemen.

Please see SIPRI’s methodologies page for more details on how they collect their data and create estimates.

The post Interactive: Comparing Military Spend Around the World appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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