WHERE IT'S HAPPENING

Whenever I come across an article or image of interest, I bookmark it for future reference.  Some items hang around, lose their appeal, and get deleted.  Others remain until they get filed into a folder with similarly-themed items, or until they are referenced individually.  Today I'd like to share a cluster of demographic maps (maps being one of my passions).

• A Revealing Map of Who Wants to Move to the United States ~ people in 154 countries were asked if they would like to live in another country, and if so, where.  An estimated 138 million would like to relocate to the U.S. (see map above, click to enlarge) Click on the link for a more detailed analysis.
• 20 Countries with the Most Flirtatious People ~ this is actually a slide show rather than a map, but it's fun to flick through, and contains a few surprises.  The rankings are based on how many women initiate contact with men, so assumptions may not apply.
• The Map that Shows You What America REALLY Looks Like ~ the continental U.S., with state and county borders shown, color-coded by median family income.  You can compare 1980 to 2010.  Twelve income levels are delineated, ranging from Monied Burbs to Military Bastions, Industrial Metropolises to Tractor Country.
• What Your State Is Good At, and What It's Lame At ~ this pair of maps is a real eye-opener.  Which state has the highest breast-feeding rate, the most academic research funding, the highest number of black-owned farms?  Which state has the most avalanche deaths, the most endangered species, the most trash per capita?  Check it out.
• Which Kills More People in Your State ~ Cars or Guns? ~ In 2010 in the U.S., there were 32,885 traffic fatalities and 31,672 gun fatalities (of the latter, 19,392 were suicides).  The map indicates those states in which total gun deaths exceeded traffic deaths, and also those states where gun suicides alone exceeded traffic deaths.  You can tease out the numbers for a particular state by hovering your cursor over that state on the map.  It would be exceedingly interesting to have this data for every decade going back to, say, 1910, just before mass production of cars began.
• How Connected Is Your Community? ~ Measuring access to high-speed Internet access, the U.S. ranks 15th in the world, with only 68.2 percent of households having the option of a broadband connection, and our broadband is more expensive than in other nations?  This is a national scandal.  87 percent of the households in Iceland have broadband, as do 97.5 percent of those in Korea.  In addition to this resource, you can learn whether your specific community has high-speed access by checking the National Broadband Map, where an entire suite of maps and data await you.

There, that should keep you busy for a while.  If you have similar maps or information sources, please share them at the "comments" prompt below.