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Cartographic Views of the 2024 US Presidential Election

Worldmapper — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 12:00:41 +0000

When Donald Trump first took office in 2017, he famously highlighted his election win by sharing maps with expanses of red to showcase Republican victories, particularly in rural America. Despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, his narrow Electoral College victory in 2016 rested on just 78,000 votes across key battleground states. The red-dominated maps Trump displayed emphasised the Republican win but inflated the importance of sparsely populated areas, giving a skewed view of the electorate. By comparison, population-weighted cartograms, which resize regions based on population, offered a more balanced perspective by expanding space for densely populated urban areas, traditionally Democratic-leaning. This approach illustrated the enduring political split between rural, Republican areas and urban, Democratic strongholds – a division evident in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.
The 2024 election, however, offered a different story. Trump’s win this time around was both decisive and unexpected, with polling organisations largely failing to predict the scale of his victory. Election maps, whether conventional or population-weighted, now tell a straightforward narrative of a clear-cut win, rendering some of the regional nuances less critical than in previous years.
Maps play a crucial role in visualising election results and shaping public perception. Traditional geographic maps continue to dominate print and broadcast media because of their simplicity in displaying state-level outcomes. However, online platforms and social media have embraced more innovative mapping techniques, from interactive visualisations to alternative formats like cartograms, to reveal subtler patterns.

US Presidential Election 2024, Results by state

This series of maps presents an early snapshot of the 2024 election, with most states reporting nearly complete vote counts by November 8. Each map provides a different view of the outcome. The conventional map uses colour to indicate state winners but can be misleading by overstating large, sparsely populated areas. The population-weighted cartogram resizes states based on population, highlighting the urban centres that often lean Democratic. Finally, a hexagon cartogram standardises states into hexagonal shapes proportional to their Electoral College votes, delivering a clear representation of the election result.
The population-weighted cartogram further uses colour gradients to depict vote shares across states, with the strongest victories for each candidate prominently marked. Notably, Maine and Nebraska stand out, given their unique system of splitting Electoral College votes. This map underscores growing political polarisation in the US: whereas many states had narrow margins in past elections, 2024 saw Trump win with a vote share of over 55% in 23 states, while Kamala Harris achieved similar dominance in just 13 states. Only 14 states had close contests, with Trump ultimately prevailing in most battleground states that usually determine the outcome of a presidential election in the US.
As county-level data emerges, the polarisation underlying this election will become even more pronounced, illustrating persistent social and political divisions. Despite efforts by Joe Biden during his presidency, these divides remain deep-seated. The implications of Trump’s return to office on this fragmented political landscape are still unfolding.
The hexagon cartogram arguably provides the most straightforward view of the Electoral College outcome, with each state represented by its electoral value and shaded for the winning candidate. This map also highlights states that shifted party allegiance since the 2020 election, offering a concise picture of the electoral majority that will see Trump assume the presidency once more.
This series of maps reveals the power of visualisation in interpreting election results. By approaching the outcome from multiple angles, these maps bring forward insights into voter density, geographic reach, and political power. Together, they reflect the complex contours of American democracy – a landscape defined by both vast geographic expanse and concentrated population centres. As Trump returns to the White House, the 2024 election maps remind us that the dynamics of US politics are anything but a simple divide between red and blue. These maps capture the underlying fabric of a deeply polarised nation, a story that will continue to shape American democracy in the years ahead.

Commander-in-Tweet: A Map Analysis of Joe Biden’s Social Media Activity

Worldmapper — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:55:56 +0000

What do Joe Biden’s tweets say about his presidency, and his approach to foreign policy?
Donald Trump’s use of Twitter (also known as X) as a medium for political communication was unprecedented. The former US President’s tweets, numbering over 50,000 during his time in office, were a direct channel to the public, bypassing traditional media which he often labelled as ‘Fake News’. Through Twitter, Trump made significant policy announcements, managed personnel, and influenced both domestic and foreign policy, reflecting key events and priorities of his administration.
Trump’s term culminated in the 6 January Capitol riots spurred by his inflammatory tweets and refusal to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Three years after Trump’s suspension from the social media platform (by now reinstated but not used by him anymore), the relevance of X has arguably declined with its new owner Elon Musk’s rather erratic takeover and handling of the platform.
Nevertheless, X is still a widely quoted tool of direct political communication. For many politicians still on X, the medium is used as an instrument of crafting a particular political narrative and image of the politician using it, which is just as true for US politics as it is in the UK.
While Trump has moved to his own Truth Social platform, his prospective rival in the 2024 US election, Joe Biden, is a frequent presence on X. The incumbent US President uses both the official presidential account (@POTUS) as well as his personal account (@JoeBiden), the latter of which is arguably more personal as well as more polemic and often targeted at a domestic audience. In both accounts he and his media team have put a strong focus on celebrating the successes of his ongoing presidency, and the overall language differs considerably from the communication that his predecessor was known for.
Focusing on the tweets (i.e. messages sent on X) made by Biden and his team through the official presidential POTUS account since taking office in January 2021, offers a fascinating glimpse into the President’s political messaging, especially ahead of the widely expected Biden v Trump re-run in November. On social media, Biden often focuses on a narrative of economic recovery, adopting an overall conciliatory tone while still trying to actively differentiate his politics from those of his Republican opponents.

Biden posted around 2,500 tweets containing more than 80,000 words from 2021 to the end of 2023, a fraction of his predecessor’s communication through the platform. An overview of the most frequently mentioned keywords confirms some of the priorities that Biden wanted to be seen, with keywords such as ‘jobs’, and ‘economy’ dominating his messages.
Trump actively made politics through Twitter, while Biden’s tweets can rather be seen as reflections of his politics. Here lies the value in analysing his activity on a platform that Trump used on a daily – and often unfiltered – basis while he was on office.
Biden’s tweets also show where his geopolitical priorities were during his first presidential years. While the President uses X heavily for domestic statements, he did make active references to countries from around the world when it was most important to his political messaging. More than 1,200 references were made to another country during his first three years in office. The countries that dominated his global agenda from January 2021 to December 2023 were Ukraine (mentioned in 228 tweets), Russia (204), Israel (78), Palestine (74), Japan and South Korea (49 each). The United Kingdom follows in eighth place (40 mentions) after Ireland (45).
This list of countries is primarily a clear reflection of the global political issues of the ‘western’ world, particularly the Ukraine war and in the conflict in Israel/Palestine. This is a clear deviation from his predecessor’s geopolitical priorities, from Trump’s domestic agenda of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, to trade wars with China and his engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Biden’s global engagement appears much more responsive to escalating conflicts (where he sees an American interest) rather than more actively trying to reshape the world.
This could be seen as a re-alignment of presidential priorities to a more domestic policy agenda following the Covid years, but also an era of reactive rather than proactive re-setting of US foreign ambitions in a more pragmatic and at times more western-centric way. This reactive approach to foreign policy is also reflected in the temporal shift of references to countries over Biden’s three years in office.

In 2021, Afghanistan was the main priority following the Taliban’s return to power there, with references to other countries – mainly political allies such as the UK, Canada, or Germany – having played a minor additional role in Biden’s tweets. In 2022, as the Ukraine war came to dominate foreign policy, Biden tested Trump-style messaging, using the phrase ‘Putin’s Price Hike’ in repeated remarks about gas price hikes, clearly playing to a domestic audience. In 2023, Ukraine remained relevant but was later taken over by references to Israel and Palestine and the ongoing conflict there. In that year Biden also made unusually many references to Ireland around St Patrick’s Day and in the run-up to his state visit to Ireland in April.
Biden’s foreign policy, as interpreted from these tweets, suggests a strategy that is more aligned with traditional US diplomatic practices of coalition-building and responding to crises in line with American interests. This approach could imply a steadier but less transformative US influence on the global stage, with a focus on managing existing alliances and international norms rather than pursuing radical changes. The implications of this shift could mean a more predictable and multilateral US foreign policy if Biden stands and wins in November, but also raises questions about America’s ability to lead on new global challenges and shape future geopolitical landscapes. With a presidential election on the horizon, the direction of US foreign policy may become unpredictable yet again.

Cartographic Views of the 2024 General Election

Worldmapper — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 11:00:45 +0000

The 2019 general election saw Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party achieve a sweeping victory in Labour heartlands. However, subsequent political upheavals led to three different Conservative Prime Ministers within the same parliamentary period. When Rishi Sunak, the most recent Conservative Prime Minister, called for a general election, it marked a significant moment to reassess the UK’s political geography. Influenced by years of Conservative infighting, the electorate responded with a landslide victory for the Labour Party under Keir Starmer’s leadership, visibly changing the political landscape.
This cartographic analysis uses three primary types of visualizations to assess these changes: geographic views, constituency views, and population views. Each offers distinct insights for a comprehensive understanding of the election results and their geographic distributions.

Geographic Views: These maps present data based on actual locations, showing where parties have won and highlighting regional voting trends. They are intuitive and correspond to real-world locations, helping readers understand how local issues influence voting behaviour.
Constituency Views: Commonly seen in media, these maps display each constituency as a uniform unit, such as a hexagon, avoiding spatial distortions from varying constituency sizes. They emphasize the distribution of votes and party support without the bias of large, sparsely populated areas, reflecting the equal weight of each vote.
Population Views: These maps scale geographic areas to reflect population size, highlighting urban areas with more voters and reducing the visual impact of rural areas. They offer a more accurate representation of voting power, showing how densely populated areas influence election outcomes.
Shown below are a series maps that go beyond depicting the winning party in each constituency, showing second-place candidates, vote shares, and overall turnout. Labour’s historic 412-seat majority with only 33.7 percent of the vote share is notable. Many constituencies were won by narrow margins, and the rise of smaller parties, capturing 42.5 percent of votes nationwide, is significant. Additionally, the election saw a historically low turnout of 60 percent, indicating voter disillusionment.
The 2024 general election has significantly reshaped the UK’s political landscape. While Labour achieved a landslide victory, Keir Starmer’s parliamentary majority remains fragile. The rise of smaller parties raises questions about the future dominance of the major parties in upcoming elections.

Map Animation: CO₂-Emissions 1970-2016

Worldmapper — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 00:42:24 +0000

COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, is held from 31 October to 12 November 2021 hosted in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Having been postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, pressure has been mounting to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Global carbon dioxide emissions through humankind have been rising steadily since the 19th century. But it was the second half of the 20th century that saw annual emissions accelerate exponentially. From below 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year in the middle of the 20th century, total tripled to 15 billion in 1970, reached 30 billion in 2005 and crossed the 35 billion threshold in the middle of the past decade, as documented by the Global Carbon Project. In 2015 the atmospheric CO₂ concentration crossed the 400 parts per million (ppm) threshold, unprecedented in the history of modern humans on this planet. This map animation gives an overview of the rise of carbon dioxide emissions in this most dynamic period between 1970 and 2016, showing the growth in emissions globally as the map keeps growing in size, and also showing the changing shares of countries in contributing to the increase in emissions:

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Map Animation 1970 to 2016

The animation shows each map proportional to the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions per year, growing in size with the growing amount of emissions. Each country is also proportional to its total emissions in that year. The emissions documented here show the countries where they occur, so that major producers for the global markets (especially China) keep growing considerably in that time period as they become integral part of the globalised markets and major producers for the consuming countries in the wealthy world, mostly Europe and North America.
The time series is based on data published in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research by the European Commissions Joint Research Centre, an independent, global database of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollution on Earth.

Bundestagswahl 2021: Map Views of the German Federal Election

Worldmapper — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 09:00:49 +0000

Germans went to the polls to elect a new parliament and along with it a new government and a new chancellor. Since outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel did not stand for re-election after 16 years in office, this election marked a turning point in German politics. Without her standing as ‘Spitzenkandidat’, the election campaign turned into a heated fight for voter support with three parties having led the polls at times in the run-up to the election (CDU/CSU, SPD and the Greens). The final result saw the Social Democrats (SPD) winning the race after having trailed in the polls for a long time. They started catching up a few weeks ahead of the election and ended up securing 25.7 percent of the votes in the list vote (Zweitstimme) that determines the proportional distribution of seats (5.2% more than in 2017, resulting in 206 seats of the 735 seat strong parliament).
Having lost 7.9 percent points, CDU came second with 18.9 percent of the list vote (151 seats). The Green party (Grüne) came third with their best-ever result in a federal election, winning 14.8 percent of the list vote (up 5.8%, 118 seats), yet far lower than the mid-20s they polled in earlier in the year. FDP remained at a stable 11.5 percent (up 0.7%, 92 seats). The extreme right ‘Alternative for Germany‘ (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) re-entered federal parliament (Bundestag) but with a smaller vote share of 10.3% (down 2.3%, 83 seats). CSU, the Bavarian sister-party of CDU won 5.2 percent (down 1%, 45 seats) Die Linke went down to 4.9% of the list votes but remains in parliament through the number of directly elected seats from the constituency vote (39 seats). Danish minority party SSW reached 0.1 percent in the list vote but gained one seat through special rules for parties representing minorities. Other parties not represented in parliament accounted for 7.2 percent of the valid votes.
Coalition talks are ongoing so that it is not clear yet, which parties are going to form the next government and who will become the 9th Federal Chancellor since 1949. This gives time to ponder over all the political changes that happened across the country – what better way to do so than through a series of maps, such as the 18 maps shown in this blog that dissect over 22,000 data points in cartographic form. Let’s start with an overview: The following pair of maps shows on the left the winning parties of the constituency vote (Erststimme) which directly elects a constituency into parliament and on the right the strongest party in the list vote (Zweitstimme) which determines the proportional representation for each party in the new parliament. These results are shown in large as gridded population cartograms which are proportional to the respective population there, accompanied by a small ‘conventional’ land area map:

Equal population projection map of the First and list vote Results in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Ergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

How significant these results are can be seen when viewing the list vote winners of the previous 2017 and this year’s 2021 general election side by side:

Equal population projection map of the Constituency Vote Results in the 2017 and 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Erststimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahlen 2017 und 2021

In these cartograms, each transformed grid cell reflects the total number of people living in that area. The following topographic cartogram provides a reference for the electoral maps above:

Since Germany’s electoral system is based on proportional representation, the above shown election maps reveal only part of the changes that were unfolding in this year’s general election since they focus on the strongest party only. The following cartogram series provides a detailed look into the changed political landscapes of Germany following the 2021 Federal election in September. The cartograms give a clearer picture of the vote share distribution for each major party, as well as an overview of turnout and spoilt votes. The vote shares determine the constitution of parliament, in combination with the gained seats from the constituency vote that are counted against the vote share of the list vote for each party.
Despite an increased turnout, which went up to 76.6 percent (from 76.2 percent in 2017), non-voters are the single-largest group in German politics. With 14.3 million eligible voters who decided not to vote, this group is even larger than the total number of votes of the largest party (SPD), which received 12.2 million total votes in the list vote (Zweitstimme). The following two maps show the distribution of turnout and also the distribution of the 499,163 spoiled votes on an equal-population projection:

Equal population projection map of turnout and invalid votes in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Wahlbeteiligung und der ungültigen Stimmen bei der Bundestagswahl 2021

The above two maps as well as the vote share in the following maps shows the underlying data divided into decile groups based on the country’s 299 constituencies. This means that 10 percent of the constituencies fall into each of the 10 classes depicted in the maps. This allows for a better understanding of each party’s strongholds across the country and therefore gives a picture of the new political landscapes that are going to shape German politics in the forthcoming years.
The following maps visualise the vote share of all parties that are represented in the new parliament. A party needs to reach 5 percent of the vote share to enter parliament unless it manages to secure a direct seat through the constituency vote. Not shown here is the map for Südschleswigsche Wählerverband (SSW), a Danish minority party in Northern Germany for which the 5 per cent rule does not apply and which secured one seat in the new parliament. In order to also understand how these political landscapes have shifted and changed since the last election, the map on the right shows, how each party’s vote share has changed in percent point compared to the 2017 general election). The classes in the change maps remain constant in all maps which allows these changes to be seen in comparison across all parties. The maps below are ordered in decreasing order of each party’s vote share at the 2021 election:

SPD (25.7% / 206 seats)

Equal population projection map of the SPD vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der SPD Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

CDU/CSU (18.9/5.2%, 151/45 seats)
Shown in a combined map since the two sister parties do not compete:
CSU stands for election in Bavaria only, where CDU does not operate

Equal population projection map of the CDU/CSU vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der CDU/CSU Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

Die Grünen (14.8% / 118 seats)

Equal population projection map of the Gruene vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der Gruenen Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

FDP (11.5% / 92 seats)

Equal population projection map of the FDP vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der FDP Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

AfD (10.1% / 83 seats)

Die Linke (4.9% / 39 seats)

Equal population projection map of the LINKE vote share in the 2021 German General Election / Bevölkerungsrastertransformationskarte der LINKE Zweitstimmenergebnisse der Bundestagswahl 2021

Covid-19: Chronology of a Pandemic – Part 2

Worldmapper — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 00:00:32 +0000

Last Update of this page: 6 January 2021
You can find previous updates in part 1 of this chronology

On this page you find our rolling coverage and updates of the pandemic as it continues to unfold. In our map archive we keep all the most recent updates, while you can view previous versions of these maps in this blog (consisting of part 1 for 2020 and part 2 for 2021). Please note that for the relative data displays the colours have changing values since the case and mortality incidence rates are highly dynamic and keep evolving as the pandemic progresses. It is also important to keep in mind that the picture provided here reflects the situation as it is reported by the individual national health authorities. Case numbers have throughout the course of the pandemic believed to be higher than the reported cases, while the unknown figures may vary significantly between countries. Numbers from poorer countries, especially on the African continent, are believed to be highly underreported. This can – amongst other issues (including political ones) – partly be explained through different testing strategies.

Overview of monthly cases and deaths – see accumulated figures in the updates below
Corona cases month-by-month:

Corona deaths month-by-month:

STATUS UPDATE 1 January 2021
2020: A year in review
The monthly maps of new registered cases – and deaths – shows how the pandemic developed geographically, first, second and third waves are better recognisable than in our maps with accumulated cases and deaths. During the January of 2020 the disease spread further within China and also started to venture into neighbouring (and some further away) countries. During February new regional hotspots developed in South Korea, Italy and Iran. During March the disease spread further mostly in Central and Southern Europe and the USA. In the month of April the disease continues to spread in the USA, and within Europe the United Kingdom is taking center stage and Turkey and Russia are joining the group of new regional hotspots. Quickly growing numbers in Brazil and Peru are putting South America on the map in May, India does the same for South Asia. In June Brazil overtook the USA in terms of new confirmed cases. In July the USA took the first place again and South Africa joined the top five. In August India had the highest number of new infections and Colombia and Peru joined the top five and a second wave pushed Spain back in the top 10 countries. In September the top 3 countries remained unchanged: India, the USA and Brazil. With Spain and France two European countries entered again the centre stage. This showed the trend for October when Europe becomes again the epicentre of the pandemic. While India and the USA still have the highest amount of new cases, France is moving to third place, the United Kingdom is now on fifth place. Spain, Italy, Belgium, Czechia, Germany and the Netherlands also moved into the Top 15. In November the USA and India switched places again. Italy, France and Brazil complete the top 5, followed by Russia, Poland, UK, Germany and Spain. There is no real trend change in December: most new cases are still registered in the USA (6.3 million), followed by Brazil (1.3 million), Russia (863,643), India (834,983) and the UK (815,561). Turkey, Germany, Italy, France and Ukraine complete the top 10. You can see how the pandemic evolved throughout the year in our Covid-19 Map Animation.

After almost a year of living with COVID-19, the highest number of total cases is recorded in the United States of America (19,147,627), followed by India (10,244,852), Brazil (7,504,833), Russia (3,131,550) and France (2,530,400). United Kingdom (2,382,869), Italy (2,067,487), Spain (1,893,502), Germany (1,687,185) and Colombia (1,603,807) complete the top 10.

Accumulated Coronavirus cases as of 01 January 2021 (above)

Highest per capita cases are often found in states with smaller populations where testing may lead to more detected cases. The highest number of reported cases per 100,000 people is now found in Andorra (10,249), followed by Montenegro (7,654), Luxembourg (7,362), San Marino (6,874) and the Czech Republic (6,552). Of the countries with very high total case numbers, the United States of America have a count of 5,785 cases per 100,000 people (with a total of 19 million cases), followed by India (10 million total, 742 relative) and Brazil (7.7 million total, 3,531 relative).

Reported Coronavirus case rates (per 100,000 people) as of 01.01.2021 (above)

The map of the total deaths due to Covid-19 varies only slightly from the map showing the total cases. Especially remarkable is the case of Mexico, with a high mortality rate. The highest number of deaths recorded now in the United States of America (332,423), followed by Brazil (191,570), India (148,439), Mexico (122,855), Italy (73,029), United Kingdom (71,567), France (63,701), Russia (56,426), Iran (54,946) and Spain (50,442).

Accumulated Coronavirus deaths as of 01 January 2021 (above)

The highest mortality rates (reported deaths per 100,000 people) are found in San Marino with 174, followed by Belgium (168), Slovenia (126), Bosnia and Herzegovina (123) and Italy (120). 14 countries currently have a mortality rate of 100 or above, including Spain (108), the United Kingdom (105) and the United States of America (100).

Reported Coronavirus mortality (deaths per 100,000 people) as of 01.01.2021 (above)

The highest case mortality rates (reported deaths per number of confirmed cases) are found in Yemen with 29.1%, followed by Mexico (8.8%) and Montserrat (7.7%).
China now has a reported case mortality rate of 5%, while the United States reported a mortality of 1.7%. Of the countries with many reported cases, India, Brazil and France have relatively low reported case mortality rates (1.4%, 2.6% and 2.5% deaths of all reported cases).

Coronavirus case mortality (% deaths per reported cases) as of 01.01.2021 (above)

Find previous updates in part 1 of this chronology

Map animation: Covid-19’s spread across the world

Worldmapper — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 19:13:36 +0000

“#China has reported to WHO a cluster of #pneumonia cases —with no deaths— in Wuhan, Hubei Province 🇨🇳 . Investigations are underway to identify the cause of this illness.” This tweet sent out by the World Health Organization (WHO) one year ago broke the news of what was to become the defining global health challenge in 2020. Two and a half weeks later (21.01.2020) WHO started releasing regular situation reports of this previously unknown virus disease that was first reported to the organisation’s country office in China on 31st December 2019. First broadly referred to as Coronavirus, the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January. The disease is now called COVID-19 (transmitted through the SARS-CoV-2 virus) and has been characterised as a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 due to the ‘the alarming levels of spread and severity.’ One year after the (known) outbreak in China (as of 4 January 2021) there have been 83,910,386 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, including 1,839,660 deaths, which were reported to WHO.
The following map animation documents the spread of the disease during the first 12 months of WHO data reporting, covering the period from 21 January 2020 to 01 January 2021. In this animation, each cartogram is shown proportional to the number of cases reported in each country. The absolute number of reported cases visualised in each map is documented in the number that is shown in the bottom left corner of the animation. Please note that loading the animation may take a moment. Due to its size, this animation takes a moment to load. An enlarged version without the red bars around it (approx. 40MB) can be viewed through the magnifier icon in the top right corner.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) Map Animation 21.01.2020-01.01.2021

This cartogram maintains the same area over time, rather than grow in size. The animation shows that of reported cases, so it may reflect the places that have tests and can afford to test and choose to test, as much as the actual spread of the disease itself.
While the disease seemed contained within China over the first weeks of its existence – only few small occurrences such as in France and Germany are briefly visible – but then starts spreading towards Europe towards the end of February until two months on the cases outside China by far outweigh the ones that have been reported within China. Towards the end of April, the USA are growing in size quite considerably and turn into the new main hotspot of the epidemic. After mid-2020, growing shares of cases can also be observed in South America (especially Brazil) and Russia, followed by a growth of cases in India. Towards the end of the year the resurgence and second wave hitting Europe becomes visible by its again increasing size.

As noted in our main blog article related to Covid-19, it is important to keep in mind that the picture provided here reflects the situation as it is reported by the individual national health authorities. Case numbers have throughout the course of the pandemic believed to be higher than the reported cases, while the unknown figures may vary significantly between countries. Numbers from poorer countries, especially on the African continent, are believed to be highly underreported. This can – amongst other issues (including political ones) – partly be explained through different testing strategies.

Support Worldmapper!

Worldmapper — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 18:00:12 +0000

The new Worldmapper website was launched in April 2018 during the 125th Anniversary Conference of the Geographical Association in Sheffield (UK) where we presented a fully redesigned online platform and the first 125 new maps. Since then Worldmapper has been growing constantly: Within less than two years we crossed the 1000 maps mark in early 2020 and keep adding content and work on new projects with our many supporters and partners, such as in our recent collaboration for the Bodleian Libraries’ Talking Maps exhibition. Wherever we can we try to help making sense of current topics, such as recently our regularly updated coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic which cost us many evenings of work on processing and updating the latest data and turning it into our unique visualisations.

The new website is proving more popular than ever before. Shortly after the relaunch we switched to a new web server in order to cope with the increased usage. As we are doing most of the work in our spare time and receive no external funding, we have to rely on commercial users being willing to support us through licensing or commissioning maps. This makes it sometimes difficult to fund only our running costs of an own server and equipment, not even mentioning our work and effort that we spend on Worldmapper all in our free time while having other jobs for a living.

Therefore we need your help, too. If you like our work and want to show your appreciation, please consider a donation that will help us to keep Worldmapper running and expanding.

Your support – as small or large as it may be – would really make a difference in helping us to keep Worldmapper going as an educational resource for everyone to enjoy.