What does the internet porn industry have in common with foreign aid given by major industrialised nations? They are both worth roughly the same amount in dollar terms. Well, at least according to this visualisation from the book ‘The Visual Miscellaneum – Ideas, issues and knowledge visualised‘ by David McCandless.
The visualisation below comes in for some stick due to some ‘artistic licence‘ of scale, however, the ability to put in proportion amounts of spending on various things illustrates our priorities rather well. In a world where we are bombarded by billion, and now trillion, dollar budgets it is easy to lose all perspective on money. Obviously, some care is needed with stats, but used well they can be very revealing. Unfortunately, this may work against NGOs as well as for them, as they tend to exaggerate, or work for minorities who will not be well represented via proportionate visuals.
If you are too tight to buy the book then you can check out more pics here including whether winning the Mercury Music Prize is good for a band’s sales and whether drugs can make you happy? You know the answer kids, Just Say NO!
Filed under: Graphics
