But which country ranks the highest in screen addiction? And is it primarily due to endless scrolling through TikTok?

I used data from DataReportal.com to create maps of the most digitally connected and screen-dependent nations.

Key Findings

• In terms of desktop and mobile usage, South Africa leads the pack, with internet users spending an average of nearly 10 hours per day online. Following closely behind are Brazil, the Philippines, Argentina, and Colombia, all averaging more than nine hours a day.
• South Africa also takes the top spot for internet usage via computers, with users spending almost 4.5 hours per day online. Russia, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia are not far behind, hovering around the four-hour mark.
• When it comes to mobile usage, the Philippines takes the lead, with users spending over 5.5 hours per day online. Brazil, Thailand, South Africa, and Indonesia closely follow suit.

Countries that spend the most (and least) time on their screens (Desktop + Mobile)

Earning the distinction of the world’s most dedicated internet users, South Africa stands out with an impressive daily average of 9 hours and 38 minutes spent online. Surprisingly, this commitment stems from just 72.3% of the population embracing internet usage, indicating a deep-seated attachment among those who have adopted it in South Africa.

Closely trailing behind is Brazil, claiming the second spot on our list with an average daily internet usage of 9 hours and 32 minutes. Despite not being renowned for its lightning-fast internet speed, Brazil’s residents enthusiastically capitalize on its benefits, showcasing a resilient tech spirit.

Rounding out our top three is the Philippines, where individuals devote a combined total of 9 hours and 14 minutes to online activities each day. The absence of internet censorship in this country, alongside an elevated cost of living, likely contributes to Filipino residents spending extensive hours immersed in online pursuits.

The world map below shows the average amount of time (in hours and minutes) that internet users aged 16 to 64 spend using the internet each day on any device.

Countries that spend the most (and least) time on their computers

When it comes to time spent in front of computer screens, South Africa takes the lead, averaging 4 hours and 25 minutes daily. Russia follows closely in second place, with Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia rounding out the list.

Here is the map displaying the average amount of time (in hours and minutes) that internet users spend online each day, using laptops, desktops, or tablets.

Countries that spend the most (and least) time on their mobiles

In mobile internet usage, the Philippines leads the pack, devoting a significant 5 hours and 31 minutes per day. Brazil and Thailand closely trail behind, underscoring the crucial role that mobile devices play in these nations.

The map of the world below shows the average amount of time per day that users aged 16 to 64 spend using the internet on mobile phones.

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While Instagram has evolved into a platform for reminiscences and ‘content,’ Flickr is where photographic quality and technique set the agenda. Although Flickr lost some attention when camera phone photography and social media became popular in the late 2000s, it remains a gathering place for professionals and enthusiasts to share their ideas and discoveries.

The technique is hard won, but comprehending the camera, lens, f-stop, etc., that a photographer used to get a particular effect narrows down the variables. And, thanks to the metadata-storing capabilities of digital camera devices, the photographers on Flickr have a tendency to share their set-up by copying the metadata of their photo files alongside their snaps.

According to the SimpleGhar team, this data reveals the most popular cameras and camera phones used by photographers on Flickr around the world.

Key findings

• The most popular photography device brand worldwide is Apple, accounting for 150,787,710 photos on Flickr – 31.79% of the total.
• The most popular model is the iPhone 11, which has 13,212,135 tags on the Flickr website.
• The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the most popular camera phone in the United States.
• The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is the world’s most popular standalone camera, with 11,761,586 photos on Flickr.

The Most Popular Camera Devices in Every Country

In 1990, the Dycam Model 1 became the first digital camera available for purchase in stores. However, it would take some time before digital cameras would become widely accessible, affordable, and of high quality. As late as 2001, photographic films were still the norm among professionals. However, digital workflows and the urgency to swiftly distribute images on the internet propelled the technology’s advancement. By 2004, digital SLR camera sales reached annual sales of 2.5 million. The year following, Sony and Konica Minolta united, leading the industry to unprecedented growth.

The world map below shows that, nowadays, Canon cameras lead in 38 countries, including the United States, where the EOS 5D Mark IV reigns supreme.

The top Japanese brand today, however, is not Sony, but Canon. The Canon EOS R3 is a mirrorless camera with high-performance capabilities designed for sports, wildlife, and journalism. Capable of stunning action photography, thanks to its Eye Control autofocus that selects the focus point by tracking your human eye and a top shutter speed of 1/64,000sec.

But while Canon is the camera brand of choice in 38 nations, only Ireland and Sweden share the R3 as their most frequently used along with Japan. Boasting 11.7 million photos on Flickr, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is the most popular of all, topping a ranking that counts 11 other Canon models. ExpertPhotography.com writes that Canon’s “image quality and contrast are consistently excellent.” Sony’s A7 III is the second-most popular, a camera given an outstanding five-star rating by PCMag.

The Most Popular Camera Brands Used to Photograph the World

Although Japanese camera brands might dominate the most frequently used camera models on Flick, but open the field up to camera phones, and things get a little more international. The top 10 brands of photography devices used on the site include Apple and Google (U.S.), Samsung (South Korea), and Huawei (China) – but all other brands are Japanese.

Over half of all Flickr photos are taken by Apple and Canon. Apple iPhones 11 through 13 are responsible for the lion’s share. For information, Apple has been the most used camera brand on Flickr since 2015, when measured by the percentage of photographers using Apple devices rather than the number of photos they took.

The Most Popular Camera Phones in Every Country

Phones with in-built cameras were once the cutting edge, but nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find a smartphone without one.

According to the map below Apple iPhones dominate worldwide.

Honing in on South Korea — where an Avast study found that people store more phone snaps than any other country — the iPhone 12 Pro takes the crown. Not every country is enamored with the iPhone, though — Samsung camera phones take the top spot in 13 countries.

As reflected in Flickr data, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is the most popular camera phone in the United States, and models from the iPhone 7 to the 14 Pro are the most popular in 62 of 87 countries.

The new 14 Pro boasts achingly sharp images and better light handling than previous models thanks to Apple’s Photonic Engine and hardware tweaks.

Despite being superseded by newer models and being the most popular camera phone in only five countries, the iPhone 11 takes more photos than any other device. It helps that it outperforms the popularity chart in China.

Methodology

To determine the most popular camera brands, camera devices, and camera phones used worldwide, the SimpleGhar team considered more than 470 million photos that have been uploaded to Flickr and tagged with the name of the machine that was used to photograph.

To find the most popular camera and camera phone used to photograph in every nation, the team studied up to 5 thousand of the most recent photos uploaded to Flickr.com in the world’s 100 most populated countries. They then rated which camera and camera phone model was tagged most often as the gadget used to take the photos within each nation.

Their final rankings removed any nations that were heavily skewed (50 percent or more photos) by one Flickr user.

The data for this analysis was gathered in March 2023.

The post The Most Popular Cameras, Based on Millions of Flickr Photos appeared first on Vivid Maps.

How Did We End Up With These Numbers?

Picture yourself in the 1950s. International calling is the next big thing, but engineers need a way to organize it. Their solution? Give faster-to-dial numbers to countries that are making lots of calls. Since everyone used rotary phones back then (those old phones where you had to spin a dial), lower numbers meant faster dialing. That’s why the US and Canada got the easiest number: +1.

The engineers also tried to keep things logical by grouping nearby countries together – like creating postal codes for the entire planet. Europe got +3 and +4, Africa got +2, and so on.

The World’s Hidden Phone Map

Take a look at this map. Those colors show how our world is split into nine phone zones, each with its own story:

The North American Family (+1): The US and Canada share this prime number, with Caribbean nations joining their club.

Africa’s Zone (+2): Almost an entire continent under one number, plus some surprising guests like Greenland (geography can be weird sometimes!).

Europe’s Double Space (+3 and +4): Europe needed two zones because, well, Europeans really like having their own countries – lots of them.

Hidden Patterns in Phone Codes

These numbers highlight some intriguing aspects of geography and history. Take a look at how countries connect through their codes – you’ll spot some unexpected relationships in the full list below.

A few interesting patterns jump out from this list:

• Kazakhstan kept Russia’s +7 after the Soviet Union split up – a phone number that outlived an empire
• The Vatican decided not to bother with its own code, just borrowing Italy’s +39 instead
• Most Caribbean islands use North America’s +1, showing old connections that still shape modern communications
• Tiny territories like Diego Garcia got their own codes (+246), while some major regions share numbers

The really interesting part? These oddities often trace back to politics, technology limitations, or just practical choices made decades ago. Even today’s new nations have to fit into this system – South Sudan took code +211 when it became independent in 2011.

Do These Codes Still Matter?

You might think, “Who cares about country codes when we have WhatsApp?” But these numbers are still quietly running the show behind the scenes. Every time you make an emergency call abroad, dial a business overseas, or use your phone in another country, you’re using this invisible map.

If you’re fascinated by geography, here are some beautiful world maps available on Amazon:

• Rand McNally Classic Edition World Wall Map
• Swiftmaps World Premier Wall Map Poster
• Laminated World Map & US Map Poster

What’s your local phone code story? Drop a comment below – I’d love to hear how these invisible lines connect your corner of the world to the rest of us.

The post How International Phone Codes Map Our Connected World appeared first on Vivid Maps.

Leading smart home players, including Amazon, Google Nest, and Samsung, cooperate to develop ‘Matter,’ a standard to standardize all standards. Developments like Matter and our rekindled love for cozying-in post-pandemic have boosted the desirability of buying a ready-fitted smart home.

North America is leading the way, and the market is forecast to grow from $84.5 billion to $138.9 billion by 2026.

So, American Home Shield decided to find where all the pre-fitted smart homes are.

The team analyzed Zillow‘s real estate listings for every American state and the 100 most populous cities to reveal which places have the most innovative homes for sale and the highest density of smart homes on the market.

Using the search function, the team found the number of listings that contained the word “smart” in the description. Having recorded the total number of normal listings and smart home listings in each region, they calculated the proportion of smart homes per 1,000 listings for every city and state. American Home Shield found no guidelines for using trademark symbols when mentioning individual products or brands. Property remains that of the companies mentioned.

Which U.S. States have the Most Smart Home Listings?

In the United States Florida has the most hi-tech market, with 2242 Zillow smart home listings, while Alaska has the least, with only 8 listings.

The Top 10 States with the Most Smart Home Listings

The Top 10 Cities with the Most Smart Home Listings

Currently, New York City has the highest number of smart home listings, with 615 on the market.

The U.S. States with the Highest Proportion of Smart Home Listings

The map below shows how many smart homes per 1000 home listings on Zillow.com there are in each U.S. state. Iowa has the most, with 85 per 1000. In contrast, Alaska has the least, with 2 per 1000.

The Top 10 States with the Highest Proportion of Smart Home Listings

The Top 15 Cities with the Highest Proportion of Smart Home Listings

Madison in Wisconsin has the most smart homes per 1000 listings with 149.

Key Findings

• Florida has the most hi-tech market on a state level, with 2,242 smart home listings.
• Iowa has the highest proportion of smart homes, at 85 per 1,000 listings.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, NYC is the city with the highest number of smart home listings with615 on the market.
• But Madison, Wisconsin, has the highest density of smart homes of any big city – with 149 per 1,000 listings.

The post Which U.S. States and Cities Have the Most Smart Home Listings? appeared first on Vivid Maps.

But when judging the value of a country’s mobile data plans, you need to take all three variables into account. What use is cheap data if you spend minute after minute waiting for it to load?

It’s a question many of us asked as the world slowed down for the COVID-19 pandemic. If you thought your mobile connection had symptoms of coronavirus, you were right: the whole world got bored and went online at the same moment. Mobile broadband speeds fell to half their regular speed in the area around Wuhan,
China in January 2020. Two months later, New York’s broadband connections slowed by a quarter.

However, data is getting faster in general. The average mobile download speed rose from 22.81 Mbps to 27.69 Mbps in the 12 months up to July 2019. And 5G promises to deliver speeds over 1 Gigabit per second.

To figure the state of play, Top Dollar gathered the cost and speed of mobile data in every country. They compared the price to Mbps (megabits per second) to find the best value around the world and price-per-1GB to average local income to see where mobile data is most affordable.

Top Dollar collected the data on the price of 1GB of mobile data from Cable, national net income per capita from World Bank, and download speed of mobile data from SpeedTest. in May 2021.

Which countries get the best and worst value mobile data?

Based on a 10GB plan, people in Israel enjoy the best value mobile data in the world, paying once cent per 1Mbps download speed. Data is often 2G in the less populated areas of Namibia, with 3G only becoming available in bigger towns. Moreover, they pay over $11 for it.

Which countries get the best value mobile data?

Which countries get the worst value mobile data?

Which countries get the most and least affordable mobile data?

People in Israel get the most affordable data in the world. It costs just 0.02% of the average monthly paycheck to buy a 10GB mobile data plan. Meanwhile, in Malawi, the cost of mobile data equates to a shocking 841.78% of the average monthly wage.

Which countries get the most affordable mobile data?

Which countries get the least affordable mobile data?

Key Findings

● Israel has the best value mobile data in the world: US$0.01 for 10GB data per 1Mbps download speed.
● Namibia has the worst value mobile data globally: $11.36 for 10GB data per 1Mbps download speed.
● Mobile data is also most affordable in Israel, where 10GB costs the equivalent of 0.02% of the average monthly paycheck.
● Malawi has the least affordable mobile data globally, with 10GB costing 841.78% of the average monthly paycheck.
● Israel and China Among Countries with Fastest, Cheapest Mobile Data

The post Maps reveal what countries have the most affordable mobile data appeared first on Vivid Maps.

Java, renowned for its platform independence, remained a staple in the software development landscape, especially popular in enterprise applications, Android app development, and large-scale systems. C#, a language developed by Microsoft, held significant sway, often employed in Windows applications, game development using Unity, and various enterprise software solutions.

But what is the best programming language for earning money in the United States?

Average Python Developer Salaries 2019 by U.S. State

Top 10 highest-paying states for Python developers

1. California – $121,900 (Monthly jobs advertised – 1971)
2. New York – $120,777 (Monthly jobs advertised – 901)
3. Virgina – $113,934 (Monthly jobs advertised – 816)
4. New Jersey – $113,465 (Monthly jobs advertised – 331)
5. Maryland – $112,842 (Monthly jobs advertised – 600)
6. Delaware – $111,435 (Monthly jobs advertised – 108)
7. Alaska -$109,988 (Monthly jobs advertised – 179)
8. Texas – $109,487 (Monthly jobs advertised – 692)
9. Massachusetts – $109,003 (Monthly jobs advertised – 612)
10. Hawaii – $108,981 (Monthly jobs advertised – 54)

The average Python developer’s salary in the United States is $109,845.

Average JavaScript Developer Salaries 2019 by U.S. State

Top 10 highest-paying states for JavaScript developers

1. California – $114,893 (Monthly jobs advertised – 1172)
2. New York – $112,642 (Monthly jobs advertised – 632)
3. Maryland – $111,773 (Monthly jobs advertised – 519)
4. Washington – $109,427 (Monthly jobs advertised – 434)
5. Hawaii – $109,237 (Monthly jobs advertised – 59)
6. Delaware – $108,545 (Monthly jobs advertised – 110)
7. Arkansas -$107,880 (Monthly jobs advertised – 179)
8. Alabama – $107,302 (Monthly jobs advertised – 443)
9. Mississippi – $107,222 (Monthly jobs advertised – 27)
10. Virginia – $107,098 (Monthly jobs advertised – 777)

The average JavaScript developer salary in the United States is $103,670.

Average Java Developer Salaries 2019 by U.S. State

Top 10 highest-paying states for Java developers

1. New York – $123,702 (Monthly jobs advertised – 755)
2. California – $123,543 (Monthly jobs advertised – 1500)
3. Washington – $118,557 (Monthly jobs advertised – 686)
4. Maryland – $115,652 (Monthly jobs advertised – 843)
5. New Jersey – $115,388 (Monthly jobs advertised – 451)
6. Massachusetts – $114,758 (Monthly jobs advertised – 619)
7. Virginia -$114,749 (Monthly jobs advertised – 1036)
8. Delaware – $112,513 (Monthly jobs advertised – 193)
9. Alaska – $111,782 (Monthly jobs advertised – 289)
10. Idaho – $111,119 (Monthly jobs advertised – 69)

The average Java developer salary in the United States is $111,326.

Average Ruby Developer Salaries 2019 by U.S. State

Top 10 highest-paying states for Ruby developers

1. New Hampshire – $130,000 (Monthly jobs advertised – 2)
2. Vermont – $127,500 (Monthly jobs advertised – 2)
3. Washington – $126,402 (Monthly jobs advertised – 107)
4. California – $123,739 (Monthly jobs advertised – 218)
5. New York – $121,250 (Monthly jobs advertised – 78)
6. North Dakota – $120,000 (Monthly jobs advertised – 3)
7. Texas -$119,471 (Monthly jobs advertised – 85)
8. Virginia – $118,295 (Monthly jobs advertised – 88)
9. Maryland – $117,538 (Monthly jobs advertised – 65)
10. Alaska – $116,400 (Monthly jobs advertised – 25)

The average Ruby developer salary in the United States is $113,683.

The most highly paid programming language

The post The Highest Paying Programming Languages in the U.S. appeared first on Vivid Maps.

A glaring disparity can be seen on the map: Turkey had over 45% of its people who had never used a computer, compared to less than 10% in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

This discrepancy is caused by a number of factors. A sizable section of the population in some countries is elderly and may not have had any exposure to computers during their working lives. For example, older generations in Bulgaria and Italy are less likely to have used digital technologies because they grew up during periods of economic hardship and limited educational opportunities.

Divides between urban and rural areas also come into play. Major cities frequently had access to digital infrastructure and training before rural areas did, leaving some rural areas lacking in both skills and access. For instance, in Turkey, rural areas’ adoption of digital tools has been slowed by traditional lifestyles and unequal regional development.

Progress Since 2015?

Europe has seen an improvement in digital access since 2015. The European Union has taken a number of steps to close the digital divide, including the establishment of more than 200 European Digital Innovation Hubs to support digital transformation across regions and the Digital Decade Policy Programme, which aims for 80% of people aged 16 to 74 to have at least basic digital skills by 2030.

In addition, the European Regional Development Fund set aside more than €14 billion for digital investments from 2014 to 2020, with an emphasis on boosting digital skills, extending broadband networks, and assisting with digitalization in rural and isolated regions.

There are still issues in spite of these efforts. According to the European Parliament, inequalities still exist among member states, with roughly half of the elderly and less educated populations not regularly using the internet.

The post How Many Europeans Had Never Used a Computer in 2015? appeared first on Vivid Maps.

Source: learningrc.com

A number of registered hobby drones per 10,000 residents.

Source: learningrc.com 

Facts:
– Total number of Drone Registrations: 667,637
– U.S. State with the Highest number of Drone Registrants:  California, with 78,890 registrants
– U.S. State with the Highest per capita: Hawaii, with 16.92 registrants per 10,000 residents
– U.S. County with the Highest number of Drone Registrants: Los Angeles County, California with 17,560 registrants
– U.S. County with the Highest per capita: Prairie County, Montana with 82.95 registrants per 10,000 residents
– Number of U.S. counties with 0 Drone Registrants: 7

Data: faa.gov
Source: learningrc.com

The post Number of Drones in the United States per county appeared first on Vivid Maps.

The post Percent of households with a computer in the U.S. appeared first on Vivid Maps.

The best performing regions are Luxembourg, London and the capital regions of Sweden and Denmark, while the worst performing ones are all Romanian and Bulgarian regions (except the capital ones).

These regions are merged in a single region:
– Inner London, Outer London, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, Essex; -Region de Bruxelles, Vlaams-Brabant, Brabant-Wallon;
– Berlin, Brandenburg;
– Wien, Niederosterreich;
– Praha, Stredny Cechy

Reddit user: svizzero2016

Data are taken from the Regional Competitiveness Index,  2016.

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