Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
one in every 13 people. Most of these people live in the rich triad, but the map in Figure 5.25
also shows that there are also a notable proportion of people with these earnings living in
South America, Australia, China, Russia, South Africa, Middle Eastern and Eastern European
territories.
Text Box 5.23: Living on $50-100 a Day
The majority (61%) of the population of Japan live in households which rely on between
US$50 and US$100 in purchasing power parity (PPP). North America, Western Europe
and Japan are particularly large on this map because large numbers of people live on
PPP US$50-100 a day.
Southern Asia and Central Africa have almost completely disappeared. Indonesia,
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Timor-Leste and
much of Southeastern Africa are not visible. This is because very few people there live
on PPP US$50-100 a day.
It's as though the people of India have been rounded up and loaded onto two con-
voys of trucks . . . The tiny convoy is on its way to a glittering destination . . . The
other convoy just melts into the darkness and disappears
(Arundhati Roy, 2002)
5.2.23 Living on $100-200 a day
Only one person in every 32 has between $100 and 200 to live on, every day. That makes
a total of 203 million people shown on this map (Figure 5.26). This map is very simi-
lar to that of people living on $50-100, in that most of the same territories have enough
area that they are visible. Yet there have been more subtle alterations in the distribution
of this very rich group of people. The United States has expanded, whilst China, South
Korea, Tunisia, Algeria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey and Hungary have shrunk.
The socio-economic comparisons between these maps are interesting, but the relatively
subtle nature of the difference between these maps also demonstrates how the algorithm
behind the maps stretches territories so their relative positions and shape behave elas-
tically. As China shrinks, it pulls Russia inwards with it. The expansion of the United
States pushes Alaska past the artificial divide this map shows as slicing through the Pacific
Ocean, off the far left of the map and onto the far right. Simultaneously, South Amer-
ica seems to have been compressed so its shape becomes slightly wider, and Western Eu-
rope moves Eastwards to make space for the United States and the sea that it displaces.
As the total map area remains constant, territories between Europe and Asia have lost
area, which was necessary for the United States to be able to compress Eurasia from both
sides.
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