@Wegmans: The strangemaps site is indeed entertaining and informative. Thanks for the link!

bosskev

Hungary wins with $2.9 billion

Tweak

@tarrantm:

no it's just straight gross spending.

nutbastard

Does that take population into account?

tarrantm

@Joseph:

none that THEY paid for.

to Nicholas Negroponte:

thanks? (we want Eee's, asshole!)

-Africa

nutbastard

Wow... Compared to the US, the UK is tiny, but we spend a huge amount. Our nicely rounded box is the second biggest!

will

"But what might be surprising is Japan, who spends more on recreation than clothing, househould items and electronics combined-pretty interesting for such a style- and gadget-conscious nation."

Shouldn't be surprising. How do you think they got the stereotype of camera toting tourists? Like the Australians, they want to be anywhere but home.

Noobs-R-Us

cool, then again my country does not exist... we just spend in churros and pupusas

mpar

I think I spend more than some of those nations!

siville

please see [strangemaps.wordpress.com] for more interesting maps similar to this! If you like maps thats a great place to spend some time

Wegmans

No electronics in Africa?

Joseph

@G-Ram: Who wouldn't? Oh wait...are we talking about cigarettes?

Tweak

What I find interesting is that Japan spends more on alcohol and tobacco than they do on clothing and footwear. They'd rather smoke than have shoes.

G-Ram

@JohnnySLC: I would have to agree.

tarrantm

@nutbastard: LMAO!!!

Joseph

Hmm. Is that NAD83 or WGS84?

ripfire

The SIZE of the box shows absolute spending but the COLOR shows spending per capita.

Personally, I think the spending per capita is a more relevant statistic that overall spending.

JohnnySLC

@mpar: El Salvador?

cipotefello

Look at Norway... seems to be in the high end of the per capita scale on every count

Roams

@heroineworshipper: Because a simple bar graph doesn't take into account geographic distribution/spending.

TonyRockyHorror

Shiesh. What's wrong with a simple bar graph to get the point across? US needs a good dose of socialism to put it in its place with everyone else.

heroineworshipper

It's interesting how much they ALL grow when you get to the recreation tab...

Sorzante

The word you're looking for instead of visualization is a cartogram. Just FYI.

dilpickies

@mpar: Que deliciosos son sus churros y papusas. But yeah, you pretty much don't exist to us 'merkins unless we need something from you.

mildretard

@JohnnySLC: Yeah, this graph as far as the size of the box is useless. America spends a lot! Well, we have a lot of people. The color is the only useful information and its only broken down into four categories. Interesting though that Ireland drinks more than most. ;)

Another example of a flashy but ultimately useless graph from the NYT.

conception

@tarrantm:

No, but you bring up a good point. Edward Tufte covers this in his first book, "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information".

The data is unfortunately being distorted here by not adjusting for population size.

Of course it appears that the US spends more than Great Britain (for example). The US has a population of ~305 million compared to Great Britain's ~60 million. We may spend the same per citizen, but since the US has five times the population, it appears that we're spending more. Again, the visualization is distorting the data. Tufte would go apesh*t over this.

Still, it might not have been the intent of the designer to make this type of comparison, it might have just been a raw numbers sort of deal, but nevertheless, alot of folks might take it the wrong way.

Ken

*fires up Lee Greenwood*

Ron-Mexico

Wow! US spends about the same as all of Europe! I wonder how a graphic representing the inverse would look, showing each country's earnings on electronics.

misterwho

unfortunately 95% of that total is p.o.s. crap seen on infomercials. stupid americans.

sdsviet

This is probably why statistics should not be presented to laymen. First you have G-Ram making an either-or conclusion (rather smoke therefore can't afford shoes). It could also mean there's luxury income to buy many things. Average geeks are dangerous with averages.

grimes

I find it interesting that Canada isn't even labeled lol.

dryk

Wouldn't a per capita map give a better picture?

stormsweeper

It looks pretty but when you look under the hood it is a bit misleading.

Take for instance spending on recreation. Yes the US spends a lot more as a whole but if you look at it compared to per capita or GDP you will see Britain spends much more per person and as a percentage of their GDP.

Size of the boxes only represent total spending by the country. Per capita is arranged in huge spreads by color. FYI the Brits are a bunch of huge boozers too, they spend $984 per person compared to our $683. One last rant, the Times never specifies currency, I would assume its USD but who knows.

Looks like the Times is shooting for USA Today readers. Or maybe they just want to drive home that the US is evil and we over consume.

StephenB

US is getting majorly ripped off. The same thing in China probably cost 1/4 of the price if not less.

lsim001

This map has got to bee so off with the amount of gear I buy in cash.

Crowbot

Maybe that's just because recreation is so damned expensive in Japan.

Jesse in Japan

Ohh Please, take the Chinese graph and with the low prices of everything there, think the massive number of things which they bought there and the quality is improving - They probably get a 100 items for our 100 dollars for which we just get 1 ( hardly ) !!!

NYJATT911