“Above all else, show the data.”
– Edward R. Tufte
We began publishing “money maps” in the 2014 Annual Wrap Up. We were inspired by the ease with which disinformation was misleading great people. A fundamental grounding in the basic statistics of population, geography, natural resources, economy and military will inform you about the world around you. It will also help protect you from an enormous amount of misleading financial and geopolitical commentary. This includes commentary specifically designed to harvest your time and money.
Here are “money maps” for (14) nations in the G-20 would help you power up the “geo” in your geopolitical discussions. As more and more investment managers and companies begin to assess allocations between regions based on an area’s percentage of global GDP, grounding in vital statistics is essential in a world where we are “trading places.”
This year we have added additional data regarding investment in outer space. As more global trade flows through the orbit above us, building your intelligence with the statistics of outer space will continue to grow in value.
Recommendation:
Digest the Solari Report money maps. Then turn off your TV. Get a good world almanac and read a chapter a week until you are through. Then send us an e-mail about what you would like us to add to the money maps for the next annual wrap up!
Population Data (2015) |
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| Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Russia | SAfrica | UK | US | |
| Population (MM) 2 | 22.7 | 204.2 | 35.0 | 1,367.4 | 66.5 | 80.8 | 1,251.6 | 61.8 | 126.9 | 121.7 | 142.4 | 53.6 | 64.1 | 321.3 |
| Urban Population 2 | 89.4% | 85.7% | 81.8% | 55.6% | 79.5% | 75.3% | 32.7% | 69% | 93.5% | 79.2% | 74% | 64.8% | 82.6% | 81.6% |
| Median Age (years) 2 | 38.4 | 31.1 | 41.8 | 36.8 | 41.4 | 46.5 | 27.3 | 44.8 | 46.5 | 27.6 | 39.1 | 26.5 | 40.4 | 37.8 |
| Billionaires ($USD) 9 | 27 | 54 | 39 | 213 | 47 | 103 | 90 | 39 | 24 | 16 | 88 | 7 | 53 | 536 |
| Internet Users (MM) (2014)18 | 18.4 | 103.7 | 29.6 | 668.1 | 54.0 | 68.1 | 375.3 | 35.9 | 109.7 | 51.6 | 87.5 | 23.7 | 56.9 | 266.4 |
| English Speaking 12 | 97% | 4.9% | 86% | 1% | 39% | 64% | 10% | 34% | – | 12% | 6% | 31% | 98% | 94% |
Space Programs (2014) |
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| Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Russia | SAfrica | UK | US | |
| Satellites in Orbit (2015)17 | 6 | 9 | 27 | 132 | 19 | 25 | 35 | 12 | 56 | 3 | 131 | 2 | 39 | 534 |
| Space Budget ($MM) 14 | 35 | 183 | 474 | 6,111 | 2,713 | 1,687 | 1,159 | 1,223 | 3,597 | 10 | 5,265 | 367 | 39,332 | |
| Space Program Founded | – | 2015 | 1989 | 1993 | 1989 | 1972 | 1969 | 1988 | 2003 | 2010 | 1955 | 2010 | 2010 | 1958 |
| Space Sector Personnel (000) |
300 | 32 | 7 | 250 | 250 | |||||||||
Natural Resources (2014) |
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| Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Russia | SAfrica | UK | US | |
| Land Area (MM sq km) 1 | 7,740 | 8,514 | 9,970 | 9,597 | 552 | 357 | 3,287 | 301 | 378 | 1,958 | 17,076 | 1,221 | 242,900 | 9,629 |
| Arable Land (%)2 | 6.2 | 8.5 | 4.3 | 11.6 | 33.5 | 33.2 | 47.9 | 22.6 | 11.2 | 12.9 | 7.1 | 9.9 | 24.9 | 16.2 |
| Renewable Water Resources (cu km, 2011) 2 |
492 | 8,233 | 2,902 | 2,840 | 211 | 154 | 1,911 | 191.3 | 430 | 457.2 | 4,508 | 51.4 | 147 | 3,069 |
| Coastline (km) 2 | 25,760 | 7,491 | 202,080 | 14,500 | 4,853 | 2,389 | 7,000 | 7,600 | 29,751 | 9,330 | 37,653 | 2,798 | 12,429 | 19,924 |
| Waterways (km)2 | 2,000 | 50,000 * | 636 ** | 110,000 | 8,501 | 7,467 | 14,500 | 2,400 | 1,770 | 2,900 | 102,000 | n/a | 3,200 | 41,009 |
| Crude Oil (bbl, Jan, 2015) 2 | 1.1 B | 15.3 B | 172.5 B | 24.6 B | 84.0 MM | 226.8 MM | 5.6 B | 544.5 MM | 541.6 MM | 9.8 B | 80.0 B | 15.0 MM | 2.9 B | 36.5 B |
| Natural Gas (cu m, Jan, 2014) 2 |
1.219 T | 388.7 B | 1.88 T | 3.3 T | 9.6 B | 116 B | 1.4 T | 59.4 B | 20.9 B | 483.5 B | 47.8 T | 15 B | 241 B | 8.734 T |
Infrastructure |
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| Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Russia | SAfrica | UK | US | |
| Railways (km)2 | 38,445 | 28,538 | 46,552 | 86,000 | 29,640 | 41,981 | 63,974 | 20,255 | 27,182 | 17,166 | 87,157 | 20,192 | 16,454 | 224,792 |
| Roadways (paved, km) 2 | 356,343 | 212,798 | 415,600 | 3,453,890 | 1,028,446 | 645,000 | n/a | 487,700 | 973,234 | 137,544 | 927,721 | 62,995 | 394,428 | 4,304,715 |
| Pipelines (km, gas / oil) 2 | 30,931 / 3,791 |
17,915 / 9,553 |
n/a | 48,511 / 38,410 |
15,322 / 8,023 |
27,022 / 7,313 |
15,644 / 20,032 |
20,223 / 2,967 |
4,456 / 278 |
2,102 / 16,832 |
165,372 / 94,518 |
1,387 / 2,452 |
29,173 / 10,605 |
1,984,321 / 240,711 |
| # of Mobile Phones (Year Varies) 7 |
20MM | 284 MM | 28 MM | 1,276 MM | 72 MM | 107 MM | 1,003MM | 88 MM | 121 MM | 101 MM | 256 MM | 59 MM | 83 MM | 327 MM |
| Smartphone Penetration 16 |
65% | 26% | 56% | 47% | 42% | 40% | 19% | 41% | 25% | 37% | 36% | 40% | 62% | 56% |
Finance |
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| Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Russia | SAfrica | UK | US | |
| GDP (trillions, 2014 est.) 2 | $1.1T | $3.2T | $1.5T | $18.0T | $2.5T | $3.7T | $7.4T | 2.1T | $4.7T | $2.1T | $3.5T | $0.6T | $2.5T | $17.3T |
| GDP Per Capita (2014 est.) 2 | $46,600 | $16,200 | $45,000 | $13,200 | $40,500 | $46,200 | $5,800 | $35,100 | $37,500 | $18,000 | $24,400 | $13,100 | $39,800 | $54,400 |
| Debt (% of GDP, 2014 est.) 2 | 42% | 59% | 95% | 15% | 96% | 74% | 58% | 132% | 232% | 42% | 13% | 49% | 89% | 74% |
| Exports (2014 est.) 2 | $240.8B | $224.6B | $478.4B | $2.343T | $584.5B | $1.492T | $329.6.2B | $513.7B | $699B | $398.3B | $497.8B | $92.5B | $480.8B | $1.633T |
| Outstanding Equity (2014) 10 | $1.2T | $843B | $2.0T | $6.0T | $2.0T | $1.7T | $1.5T | n/a | $4.3T | $480B | $385B | $933B | $3.1T | $26.3T |
| Gold Reserves (tonnes, 2015) 3 | 79.9 | 67.2 | 3.0 | 1,054.1 | 2,435.4 | 3,384.2 | 557.7 | 2,451.8 | 765.2 | 122.7 | 1,208.2 | 125.2 | 310.3 | 8,133.5 |
Military |
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| Australia | Brazil | Canada | China | France | Germany | India | Italy | Japan | Mexico | Russia | SAfrica | UK | US | |
| US Military Personnel Deployed (Sept, 2014) 13 |
178 | 139 | 37,704 | 11,697 | 48,828 | 9,074 | 1,142,288 | |||||||
| Military (% of GDP, 2013) 15 | 1.8% | 1.3% | 1.0% | 2.1% | 2.2% | 1.2% | 2.4% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 4.5% | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3.5% |
| Nuclear Warheads11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 260 | 300 | 0 | 110-120 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7,500 | 0 | 215 | 7,200 *** |
| # of Aircraft Carriers 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Sources:
1 worldometers.info, 2 World Factbook, 3 The World Gold Council, 4 wikipedia.org, 5 satellitedebris.net, 6oecd-ilibrary.org, 7wikipedia.org, 8wikipedia.org, 9wikipedia.org, 10The World Bank 11icanw.org, 12wikipedia.org, 13wikipedia.org, 14OECD Library, 15The World Bank, 16wikipedia.org, 17Union of Concerned Scientists, 18Internet Live Stats
* Most in areas remote from industry and population.
** Saint Lawrence Seaway of 3,769 km, including the Saint Lawrence River of 3,058 km, shared with United States.
*** (5) European nations host U.S. nuclear weapons on their soil as part of a NATO nuclear-sharing arrangement: Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey.