A palm has no bark, no growth rings, and only one growing point for its whole life, yet roughly 2,600 species have found ways to survive everywhere from rainforest floors to Mediterranean cliffs.
Read more: The Native Range of Palm Trees Around the World
Taiwan is a mountainous island about the size of Belgium off the coast of mainland China, and for most of its history nearly all of it belonged to indigenous Formosan peoples. By 1895 that had reversed almost completely.
Read more: How Much Taiwan’s Population Shifted in 337 Years
Every few years, the Pacific reshuffles the world’s rainfall. Some regions flood. Others dry out. A WMO map tracks exactly where El Niño and La Niña shift precipitation patterns season by season — and right now El Niño is back and potentially heading toward record strength.
Read more: How El Niño Flips the World’s Rainfall Map
Ask ten geographers where Central Europe ends, and you may get ten different answers. This map combines 16 definitions into a single heatmap and shows which countries are almost always included.
Read more: Where Does Central Europe Begin and End? A Heatmap of 16 Definitions
Paris, Milan and a curved arc from England to northern Italy account for a disproportionate share of Europe’s population.
Read more: Europe’s Most Populated Regions
Three ethnic groups account for more than a quarter of everyone alive today.
Read more: The World’s Three Largest Ethnic Groups and Where They Live
Researchers at Purdue University found there’s a specific income level where more money stops improving how you feel about your life. That threshold is very different depending on where you live: $163,579 in Iceland, $134,827 across the U.S., and just $10,176 in Ethiopia. Only one country’s average wages actually cover the cost.
Read more: The Price of Happiness by Country
Most countries with Arctic coastlines view them as opportunities. Russia, Canada, Greenland, the Nordic countries all have access to Arctic waters and resources. But the population density map reveals something unexpected – some countries built actual cities while others barely settled their Arctic at all.
Read more: Population Density in the Arctic Mapped
In France, refusing to give a customer tap water can cost a restaurant €8,000. In Italy, a hotel recently refused to serve a guest tap water during dinner and Italy’s Supreme Court ruled the hotel did nothing wrong. In Germany, still water is priced like any other drink on the menu.
Read more: Free Tap Water Laws in Restaurants
Mallorca logged 47.2 million international overnight stays in 2023. The whole of Switzerland logged 27.7 million. Spain overall reached 329 million international overnight stays, more than double France’s 150 million, even though France had more total tourist arrivals.
Read more: Europe’s Most Visited Countries Mapped
Greenland is 81% glacier, home to 56,000 people, with no roads between most towns. It also holds 25 of the EU’s 34 critical raw materials.
Read more: What Lies Under Greenland’s Ice
38% of US adults hold a college degree. But among immigrants, the numbers go from 82% (India) to 9% (El Salvador), depending on where they were born.
Read more: Percentage of Immigrants in the United States with a College Degree, by Country of Birth
Seventy million years ago, no ice covered either pole, sea levels were about 170 meters (560 feet) higher than today, and large parts of what is now Europe lay beneath shallow seas.
Read more: The Earth 70 Million Years Ago