Misc
The Elevation Span of Every Country in the World
View a high resolution version of this graphic.
The Elevation Span of Every Country in the World
View the high resolution version of today’s graphic by clicking here.
Giant countries like Canada or Russia can take their sprawling landmasses for granted, but for smaller oceanic nations, topography takes on greater importance.
In the Indian Ocean, ringed by protective barriers, lies the island city of Malé – the capital of the Maldives. Malé has a thriving tourism industry and is one of the most urbanized islands in the world, but it has one major problem: its elevation (or lack thereof).
Over 80% of the nation’s landmass is below 3.3 ft (1m), leaving it acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. If sea levels continue to rise, the entire chain of islands, including the homes of half a million people, could be submerged in as soon as 30 years.
Breaking out the measuring stick
Today’s data visualization, via Fascinating Maps, is a global breakdown of every country’s elevation span, from the severe mountain peaks that dominate Bhutan’s landscape, to the sweltering Dead Sea depression that runs along the Israel–Jordan border.
By looking at the data, we see interesting patterns and unique situations emerge.
The Power of Zero: The median low-end land elevation of the world’s countries is zero. This is because shoreline typically makes up the lowest portion of a country’s terra firma. It’s easy to spot a landlocked country in the data set, as its lowest elevation is far more likely to be above sea level.
The Lowlands: In general, the smallest countries tend to have the smallest elevation spans, but some countries buck that trend. Denmark, which has a respectable 16,577 quare miles (42,933 sq. km) of land, has an elevation range of only 583 ft (178m). This means the highest point in the country is only 50m taller than its tallest building, Herlev Hospital, near Copenhagen.
The Highlands: Three countries – Nepal, Tajikistan, and Bhutan – have an average elevation that soars above 10,000 ft (3,050m). The latter country has the highest average elevation in the world.
Bhutan Elevation Map:
Supersized Elevation Span: China has the the largest elevation span of any country on Earth. The average elevation of the country skews high, thanks in part to the Tibetan Plateau. A number of the highest permanent settlements in the world exist in this region.
Technology
Charting Grand Theft Auto: GTA’s Budget and Revenues
Dive into the GTA budget through the years, with GTA VI set to be the most expensive video game of all time.
Charting Grand Theft Auto: GTA’s Budget and Revenues
Over 10 years since the launch of Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), the second most-sold video game in history, Rockstar Games has announced its sequel GTA VI will be “coming 2025.”
As the anticipation only grows for this next big entry in the franchise, we take a look at the GTA budget through the years. How much have the last two games cost to make, how much have they earned, and how do they compare with the latest entry?
Data for this visualization comes from Statista, TweakTown, and Twitch Metrics.
How Much Has GTA VI Cost to Make?
The GTA franchise has grown enormously in scale from humble beginnings as a top-down, 2D video game in 1997. Fifteen installments later, the upcoming release, GTA VI, is estimated to be the most expensive video game to be made yet.
Here’s a look at how much GTA VI and the last two major releases cost, and how much revenue they’ve earned as of August 2023.
| Year | Title | Production Costs ($) | Revenue ($) | Copies Sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (est.) | GTA VI | $2B (rumored) | N/A | N/A |
| 2013 | GTA V | $265M | $7.7B | 185M |
| 2008 | GTA IV | $100M | $2B | 25M |
In 2008, GTA IV cost around $100 million—already a budget that rivalled big Hollywood releases. However with 25 million copies sold, the game earned nearly $2 billion—a five-fold return on its production cost.
Five years later, GTA V (2013) cost more than $200 million to make—twice GTA IV’s budget. A decade after its release, GTA V has generated close to $8 billion, with hundreds of millions in annual revenue from subscriptions and in-game purchases—a model that its successor is sure to follow.
In fact, subscription fees and in-game purchases represented 78% of Take-Two Interactive’s (parent of GTA developer Rockstar Games) revenues in 2023.
Analysts estimate the to-be-released GTA VI’s costs at $2 billion, including marketing and other expenses. A massive open-world (set in the Miami-inspired “Vice City”), cutting edge graphics, and a reportedly brand-new game engine are all reasons for the game’s outsized budget.
For comparison, the current most expensive games to have been made include Red Dead Redemption 2 (also by Rockstar) and Star Citizen, both reportedly with a $500 million budget.
Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive shares are up more than 50% for the year.
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