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This Map Shows the Most Extreme Comparison of Population Density We’ve Seen

Published

7 years ago

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You may have heard that the majority of the world’s population actually lives within a relatively small circle that covers China, India, Japan, and other parts of Southeast Asia.

That’s a pretty extreme example of population density – but here’s one that is even more impressive.

It’s quite simple actually: it compares parts of the most expansive regions (Canada, Russia, non-coastal USA, Greenland, Australia, and others) with a tiny chunk of land that holds close to 400 million people.

An Extreme Comparison of Population Density

The following image comes to us from Metrocosm, the website of data visualization expert Max Galka.

Bangladesh and three provinces in India, which are highlighted in red, take up just 160,000 sq. mi (415,000 sq. km) – that’s smaller than California. Together they hold more population than all of the blue territories on the map.

An Extreme Comparison of Population Density

That’s right, the blue area contains the entirety of many significant countries, such as Canada, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia. The blue even includes parts of China, the United States, and most of Russia.

Getting More Extreme

Here’s the kicker – the disparity is only getting more intense. Take a look at the following map of the fastest growing cities, showing the rate of new citizens per hour:

Fastest Growing Cities

Dhaka, the largest city in Bangladesh, is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with a growth rate of 74 people per hour. Kolkata (India) is also up there, adding 32 citizens every hour.

Meanwhile, the cities within the blue area of the original map do not have the same kind of growth happening at all.

For the Numbers Geeks

Here are the original calculations, from Metrocosm, for the blue and red areas of the original map in case you are interested. It’s worth noting that the data was retrieved in 2015, so it is slightly out of date.

The “Blue” Regions

JurisdictionRegionPopulation
CanadaAll35,010,000
Saudi ArabiaAll28,123,000
AustraliaAll22,280,000
RussiaSiberian Federal District19,254,300
NigerAll18,124,000
KazakhstanAll16,137,000
MaliAll14,478,000
ZambiaAll14,440,000
RussiaNorthwestern Federal District13,583,800
ChadAll12,620,000
RussiaUral Federal District12,082,700
BoliviaAll10,610,000
SomaliaAll10,295,000
SwedenAll9,437,000
BrazilPará8,073,924
Papua New GuineaAll7,440,000
ParaguayAll6,844,000
RussiaFar Eastern Federal District6,291,900
Libyan Arab JamahiriyaAll5,918,217
ChinaQinghai5,626,722
TurkmenistanAll5,411,000
FinlandAll5,408,000
NorwayAll4,985,000
IrelandAll4,804,000
New ZealandAll4,436,000
Central African RepublicAll4,191,429
BrazilAmazonas3,873,743
MauritaniaAll3,623,000
Republic of the CongoAll3,609,851
UruguayAll3,412,000
BrazilMato Grosso3,224,357
LithuaniaAll3,173,000
OmanAll3,110,000
ChinaTibet3,002,166
United StatesUtah2,942,902
United StatesKansas2,904,021
MongoliaAll2,809,000
BrazilMato Grosso do Sul2,619,657
NamibiaAll2,352,000
LatviaAll2,210,000
BotswanaAll2,068,000
United StatesNebraska1,881,503
BrazilRondônia1,748,531
ArgentinaMendoza1,741,610
United StatesIdaho1,634,464
GabonAll1,597,000
BrazilTocantins1,496,880
EstoniaAll1,338,000
ArgentinaSalta1,215,207
ArgentinaChaco1,053,466
United StatesMontana1,023,579
ArgentinaCorrientes993,338
CyprusAll911,000
ArgentinaSantiago del Estero896,461
United StatesSouth Dakota853,175
FijiAll828,046
BrazilAcre790,101
GuyanaAll757,000
BrazilAmapá750,912
United StatesNorth Dakota739,482
United StatesAlaska736,732
ArgentinaSan Juan680,427
ArgentinaJujuy672,260
ArgentinaRío Negro633,374
GreeceCrete620,000
United StatesWyoming584,153
ArgentinaNeuquén550,334
SurinameAll540,000
ArgentinaFormosa527,895
Western SaharaAll507,160
ArgentinaChubut506,668
BrazilRoraima496,936
Solomon IslandsAll472,419
ArgentinaSan Luis431,588
ArgentinaCatamarca367,820
BahamasAll360,000
IcelandAll347,000
BelizeAll335,000
ArgentinaLa Rioja331,847
FranceCorsica322,000
ArgentinaLa Pampa316,940
ArgentinaSanta Cruz272,524
VanuatuAll267,000
New CaledoniaAll266,000
French GuianaAll250,377
GuamAll165,124
ChileMagallanes y la Antártica Chilena159,152
ArgentinaTierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur126,190
MicronesiaAll103,549
KiribatiAll102,351
ChileAysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo98,413
GreenlandAll57,475
Northern Mariana IslandsAll53,855
GalapagosAll25,000
PalauAll20,918
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)All3,000
SvalbardAll2,642
Norfolk IslandAll2,169
French Southern and Antarctic LandsAll0
South Georgia South Sandwich IslandsAll0

The “Red” Regions

JurisdictionRegionPopulation
BangladeshAll172,019,000
IndiaBihar99,000,000
IndiaWest Bengal90,320,000
IndiaJharkhand32,000,000

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Mining

Ranked: The World’s Top Diamond Mining Countries, by Carats and Value

Who are the leaders in rough diamond production and how much is their diamond output worth?
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Published

14 hours ago

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September 29, 2023

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A cropped chart showing the leaders in rough diamond mining and how much their diamond output is worth.

Ranked: World Diamond Mining By Country, Carat, and Value

Only 22 countries in the world engage in rough diamond production—also known as uncut, raw or natural diamonds—mining for them from deposits within their territories.

This chart, by Sam Parker illustrates the leaders in rough diamond production by weight and value. It uses data from Kimberly Process (an international certification organization) along with estimates by Dr. Ashok Damarupurshad, a precious metals and diamond specialist in South Africa.

Rough Diamond Production, By Weight

Russia takes the top spot as the world’s largest rough diamond producer, mining close to 42 million carats in 2022, well ahead of its peers.

ℹ️ Carat is the unit of measurement for the physical weight of diamonds. One carat equals 0.200 grams, which means it takes over 2,265 carats to equal 1 pound.

Russia’s large lead over second-place Botswana (24.8 million carats) and third-ranked Canada (16.2 million carats) indicates that the country’s diamond production is circumventing sanctions due to the difficulties in tracing a diamond’s origin.

Here’s a quick breakdown of rough diamond production in the world.

RankCountryRough Diamond
Production (Carats)
1🇷🇺 Russia41,923,910
2🇧🇼 Botswana24,752,967
3🇨🇦 Canada16,249,218
4🇨🇩 DRC9,908,998
5🇿🇦 South Africa9,660,233
6🇦🇴 Angola8,763,309
7🇿🇼 Zimbabwe4,461,450
8🇳🇦 Namibia2,054,227
9🇱🇸 Lesotho727,737
10🇸🇱 Sierra Leone688,970
11🇹🇿 Tanzania375,533
12🇧🇷 Brazil158,420
13🇬🇳 Guinea128,771
14🇨🇫 Central
African Republic		118,044
15🇬🇾 Guyana83,382
16🇬🇭 Ghana82,500
17🇱🇷 Liberia52,165
18🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire3,904
19🇨🇬 Republic of Congo3,534
20🇨🇲 Cameroon2,431
21🇻🇪 Venezuela1,665
22🇲🇱 Mali92
Total120,201,460

Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated.

As with most other resources, (oil, gold, uranium), rough diamond production is distributed unequally. The top 10 rough diamond producing countries by weight account for 99.2% of all rough diamonds mined in 2022.

Diamond Mining, by Country

However, higher carat mined doesn’t necessarily mean better value for the diamond. Other factors like the cut, color, and clarity also influence a diamond’s value.

Here’s a quick breakdown of diamond production by value (USD) in 2022.

RankCountryRough Diamond
Value (USD)
1🇧🇼 Botswana$4,975M
2🇷🇺 Russia$3,553M
3🇦🇴 Angola$1,965M
4🇨🇦 Canada$1,877M
5🇿🇦 South Africa$1,538M
6🇳🇦 Namibia$1,234M
7🇿🇼 Zimbabwe$424M
8🇱🇸 Lesotho$314M
9🇸🇱 Sierra Leone$143M
10🇹🇿 Tanzania$110M
11🇨🇩 DRC$65M
12🇧🇷 Brazil$30M
13🇱🇷 Liberia$18M
14🇨🇫 Central
African Republic		$15M
15🇬🇾 Guyana$14M
16🇬🇳 Guinea$6M
17🇬🇭 Ghana$3M
18🇨🇲 Cameroon$0.25M
19🇨🇬 Republic of Congo$0.20M
20🇨🇮 Cote D'Ivoire$0.16M
21🇻🇪 Venezuela$0.10M
22🇲🇱 Mali$0.06M
Total$16,290M

Note: South Africa’s figures are estimated. Furthermore, numbers have been rounded and may not sum to the total.

Thus, even though Botswana only produced 59% of Russia’s diamond weight in 2022, it had a trade value of nearly $5 billion, approximately 1.5 times higher than Russia’s for the same year.

Another example is Angola, which is ranked 6th in diamond production, but 3rd in diamond value.

Both countries (as well as South Africa, Canada, and Namibia) produce gem-quality rough diamonds versus countries like Russia and the DRC whose diamonds are produced mainly for industrial use.

Which Regions Produce the Most Diamonds in 2022?

Unsurprisingly, Africa is the largest rough diamond producing region, accounting for 51% of output by weight, and 66% by value.

RankRegionShare of Rough
Diamond Production (%)		Share of Rough
Diamond Value (%)
1Africa51.4%66.4%
2Europe34.9%32.9%
3North America13.5%52.8%
4South America0.2%2.4%

However diamond mining in Africa is a relatively recent phenomenon, fewer than 200 years old. Diamonds had been discovered—and prized—as far back as 2,000 years ago in India, later on spreading west to Egyptian pharaohs and the Roman Empire.

By the start of the 20th century, diamond production on a large scale took off: first in South Africa, and decades later in other African countries. In fact between 1889–1959, Africa produced 98% of the world’s diamonds.

And in the latter half of the 20th century, the term blood diamond evolved from diamonds mined in African conflict zones used to finance insurgency or crime.

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