Making Sense Of The World, One Map At A Time
You have Sweden and much of Western Europe as being in yellow (Level 2: Exercise increased caution) the same as South Africa.
However, just looking at homicides Sweden’s rate is 1/6th that of US, while South Africa’s is 46x times higher than Sweden and 7X higher than the United States.
You can see the latest rankings for all countries here.
But here are the categories used for making the map:
The map above is just a fun look at the Google Trends for Brilliant Maps compared to Terrible Maps over the past 12 months.
Congrats to Michael Howe at Terrible Maps for winning the US, my home country of Canada, Australia and the biggest map prize of all New Zealand.
My only consolation is that I “won” 3 out of the 4 countries I’ve ever lived in.
Here is the relative share by country:
| Country | brilliant maps: (8/12/25 - 8/12/26) | terrible maps: (8/12/25 - 8/12/26) |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 0% | 100% |
| Australia | 38% | 62% |
| Belgium | 100% | 0% |
| Brazil | 100% | 0% |
| Canada | 41% | 59% |
| Chile | 0% | 100% |
| Czechia | 0% | 100% |
| Egypt | 0% | 100% |
| France | 49% | 51% |
| Germany | 55% | 45% |
| India | 51% | 49% |
| Indonesia | 100% | 0% |
| Iraq | 100% | 0% |
| Italy | 57% | 43% |
| Japan | 100% | 0% |
| Mauritius | 100% | 0% |
| Mexico | 51% | 49% |
| Netherlands | 56% | 44% |
| New Zealand | 0% | 100% |
| Poland | 30% | 70% |
| Romania | 100% | 0% |
| South Korea | 100% | 0% |
| Spain | 56% | 44% |
| Turkey | 100% | 0% |
| United Kingdom | 57% | 43% |
| United States | 42% | 58% |
| Vietnam | 100% | 0% |
Although the fact that there is no data for most of the world is probably the most interesting stat of all.
More about each of them below:
The map above shows an odd fact, it includes New Zealand (frequently left off maps) BUT removes Poland for some bizarre reason.
Here’s the story from redditor Derisiak:
The Main Types of American BBQ Explained. The main thing to know is that American barbecue isn’t one single style, it changes dramatically depending on where you are.
Here are five of the most famous traditions:
One important caveat: Franklin was not laying out a systematic racial map of Europe.
It is essentially the U.S. Army’s enormous fictional geopolitical universe for training exercises.
More about it:
The flag of Corsica (Corsican: A bandera testa mora or simply A Bandera) shows a black Moor’s head in profile wearing a white bandana (or headband) tied above the eyes, set against a plain white background.
Although it looks like a severed head, its exact origin is uncertain and surrounded by several competing legends.
Why?
The map above shows a rather sunrising fact: as of mid-2026 two countries in the world still have people alive who served as Heads of State for their country during World War 2.
The two men:
The map above shows what British Isles looked like during the First War of Scottish Independence (1296 – 1328).
According to the map author: