24 maps that will change the way you see the world

It’s incredible how much information you can convey with a single map, and the internet age has given us the ability to create maps to convey all sorts of information on them. For example, never before could you so starkly illustrate the fact that 15 countries in Africa offer the pill for free to their citizens, while only 2 in North America (and those two aren’t the United States or Canada). Never before could you look at a map of the entire universe.

Or, to use a slightly less consequential example, never before could you see how many countries have red in their flags versus how many countries have blue in their flags. Regardless of the information they convey, you can learn a lot from maps. Here are 24 maps that will make you look at the world in different ways — or, possibly, will just amuse you a little bit.

PLACES THAT WILL GET A SOLAR ECLIPSE, 2005-2025

Are you going to get to see a solar eclipse in the next ten years? Image via

COUNTRIES THAT LOOK LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES

Our country (and state) shapes aren’t as unique as we think. Image via

WHICH COUNTRY EACH COUNTRY IMPORTS THE MOST FROM

EUROPEAN VOTING DIVIDES

If you think the United States is the only country that’s polarized politically, think again. Image via

“ISLANDS OF MAN”: PLACES WITH MORE THAN 30 PEOPLE PER SQUARE MILE

There are plenty of places on earth you can go to escape humankind. Image via

WHERE PEOPLE TOOK PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM WITHIN AN HOUR OF MIDNIGHT ON NEW YEAR’S

Outside of the places you’d expect to have big New Year’s celebrations, it looks like North Carolina was the place to be. Image via

THE UNITED STATES OF BRO

How do we refer to our bros? Check out the interactive map on Quartz to see who says “buddy,” “fella,” “dude,” and “pal” as well.

“UM?” OR “UH?” MAP

Which do you prefer? Uh or um? Image via

COUNTRIES THAT USED TO OWN U.S. LAND

We’ve expanded a lot since our humble beginnings. Image via

THE WORLD’S COUNTRIES BY WEALTH

THE GLOBAL TERRORISM INDEX FOR 2014

While we tend to get pretty hysterical about terrorism in the west, the countries that experience the worst brunt of terrorism are in the Middle East. Image via

THE LEAST MURDEROUS AMERICAN CITIES

Which city should you live in if you really don’t want to get murdered? Image via

COUNTRIES WITH RED IN THEIR FLAGS

Way more countries have red in their flags than have blue in their flags. Image via

COUNTRIES WITH BLUE IN THEIR FLAGS

It’s information that you just couldn’t have gone without knowing. Image via

2% OF THE AUSTRALIAN POPULATION

Australia is huge, but most of its space is unused. Image via

MOST COMMONLY USED WORD’S IN EACH COUNTRY’S WIKIPEDIA PAGE

Least surprising goes to Russia, with “Vladimir.” The most surprising goes to the UK, for “devolved.” Image via

IF INDIA HAD AS DENSE A POPULATION AS THE U.S.

India, the world’s second largest country by population, is also incredibly dense. Here are the countries it would take up (in red) if it had the same population density as the U.S. The green shows how much space the U.S. would take if it had the same population density as it currently does, but with India’s population size. Image via

STATES BY NUMBER OF PRISONERS

While the United States is home to only 5% of the world’s population, it’s home to 25% of the world’s prisoners. Image via

COUNTRIES WHERE THE PILL IS FREE

The biggest surprise is probably how serious Africa is about birth control — when compared to the west. Image via

THE WORLD’S MOST HONEST CITIES

While your first impulse might be to say that clearly poorer cities would have lower return rates, and thus it’s not a proper measure of what makes an “honest” city, you’ll notice that the city of Mumbai had a 9/12 return rate, while the much better off city of Madrid was only 2/12. Image via

TEENAGE BIRTH RATES BY STATES

The states with darker greens are the states with higher teen pregnancy rates. Image via

THE WORLD’S MUSLIM POPULATION BY COUNTRY

Where do the world’s Muslims live? Image via

ADOLESCENT BIRTHRATES WORLDWIDE

To prove we aren’t just picking on the south, here’s the birth rates for the rest of the world. Image via

MAP OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE

This muddled mass is the entire known universe. The actual scale of this map is practically incomprehensible: the diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light years apart, meaning it would take traveling at the speed of light for around 7 times longer than the universe has actually existed to get from end to end. Image via