Simon Kuestenmacher

Random geography trivia: There are exactly 90 non-overlapping 50km radius circles with over 10 million people. India has 27 of then and China 16. HT @OwenWntr

This wonderful animation by @milos_gis shows a full year of the Iberian peninsula as seen from space. Spain and Portugal change their colours less intensely than areas in central Europe where the seasons are more distinct.

Wow, I had no clue. It explains though why I felt that some highly rated movies I saw were pretty average...

Latin America is only becoming a bit more atheistic. Mostly it’s becoming more evangelical. HT @latinometrics (a must follow account if you think Latin America is interesting)

A #geographyteacher might want to show this #badgeographyjoke to their class. The rest of us can just giggle…

Data from India is pretty clear: get phones out of schools. The findings show that restricting phone use can support learning, particularly among lower-performing students. Source: buff.ly/2YSDXza

Data shows 12 names that completely flip genders across borders. For example, Jean is a boy's name in France (1.9M+) but a female name in the US. Kim is a boy's name in Norway but a girl's name everywhere else. Great fun! Source: buff.ly/jIaF3on

This 260-year demographic timeline of Poland’s Jewish population reveals the devastating scale of the Holocaust. Source: buff.ly/MEHJWla

Reservation and trust land currently makes up only 3.8% of the lower 48 US states. This animated map by @mappedearth (a must follow account) illustrates how the native land was taken over time, starting from the first colonial coastal counties. Great map.

Before standard time zones, the Netherlands used Dutch (Amsterdam) Time: GMT+0:19:32, based on solar time at the Westerkerk tower. Rounded to +0:20 in 1937, it kept clocks and train schedules 20 minutes off until abolished in 1940. Weird. Source: buff.ly/w0G5msX

US imports from Russia rose 24% in 2025 to over $4 billion. Exports dropped to under $600 million (making imports 6.8x higher by value). Over 90% of those imports came down to just three categories: fertilizers, inorganic chemicals, and precious metals. Source: buff.ly/DxV45fJ

Housing affordability has shifted dramatically worldwide. In 1985 a home in the US took 3.7 years of full-time pay to buy. Now you pay 6.4x. Meanwhile, Hong Kong remains the least affordable at over 20 years. Source: buff.ly/Aerd2IV

Your country might be great but does it follow Australia’s lead by colour-coordinating its currency with the nation’s favourite snack foods?

Sports culture in the US feels different, maybe a bit too showy, to Europeans. It’s however great fun. This map represents the US pretty well. HT @JoshuaBarzon

This is exactly how I learned German geography in primary school. The Football Bundesliga taught me more geography than geography class 😉 We see the changing landscape of German top tier football. HT @tulparmaps

The share of households where the man isn’t the main breadwinner keeps declining. We know this trend will continue because women outperform men in education by a country mile now. Education is still the best indicator for income. Source: buff.ly/0pndYwD

I don’t consider this good news. Growth is essential for China’s internal stability. An unstable is more likely to act irrationally. Also, I live in a country that sells lots of resources to China…

Additional context: the cheap Patriot missile sets you back $2-4 million while the fancy ones cost $4-6 million. Using 1800 in just 7 months isn’t cheap. Takes forever to be replaced as the US builds about 600 per year atm. Production meant to reach 2000 by 2030.

Last year, Donald Trump dismissed the decline in international visitors to the US as “not a big deal.” Now, with the tourism industry feeling the pinch, he’s changing his tune and trying to reassure the sector. Source: buff.ly/xL3nPJD%E2%8...

This chart probably mirrors your felt experience since 2016 pretty well…

What national / commonwealth identity do British people hold?

Travel was slower, more expensive, and simply more annoying two and a half centuries ago. This map shows the travels of Beethoven throughout his life. I love that the relevant empires are visible on the map.

This interactive tool shows you want your country would look like if it was to the same degree under Russian occupation as the Ukraine is today. The German scenario looks eerily familiar... Source: buff.ly/sBtB842

Since 2000 the number of US High School seniors that said they “didn’t drive at all during an average week” doubled from 15% to 30%. HT @ryanburge

This map shows the share of the population that drinks alcohol at least once per week across Europe. Dear residents of Poland, please help me to understand your super low share of regular drinkers. What's going on? Are you all living as clean and healthy as Robert Lewandowski?

How empty is your US State outside of the dominant metropolitan area?

This feels 100% correct. There are plenty of gorgeous orange cities on the map but you need to earn well above the median wage to have a financially stable existence there. HT @thealepalombo

When I lived there, I considered all residents of Oklahoma as Oklahumans though...

You only sit on that much cash if you think there will be a sale soon 📉 Buckle up…?!

This map shows popular hangover cures across Europe. In Germany I was brought up with the concept of the repair beer (Konterhalbe) as well. The Spanish are clearly the wisest drunks in Europe: Churros are fatty and delicious. HT @terriblemaps

Good news: US opioid deaths halved over the last 4 years. Bad news: They still kill more than one Stamford Bridge (44,564) worth of people. Source: buff.ly/kKxR8Na

In just four years ChatGPT reached a billion weekly users. That's crazy fast! Facebook took 8.5 years to reach that milestone. Source: buff.ly/nqAiwM3

The wages at many tech firms are eyewatering. Imagine switching industries after haveing gotten used to that type of income...

Iceland is a tiny country. Only 400,000 people live there. It is therefore understandable that someone who hasn't been to Iceland can name exactly one Icelandic city - even if they get the spelling wrong...

This is the new fast train network planned across Europe. The new travel times are listed on the map too.

In light of recent events it might be particularly interesting to see how far away from Paris you can travel by train within 24h... Source: buff.ly/xn3swc6

YouTube had a very good two years…

What share of typical monthly income is needed to rent 100 m² of housing across Europe? Denmark looks attractive.

Being 20 ain’t easy…

I guess that’s one way of showing that the Trump brand became political poison… HT @nytgraphics

On this map @joshuabarzon predicts what happens once the US government collapses. We see the country split into various little empires each ruled by a fast food chain. Not an unlikely scenario I must say…

The Baltic Sea from a different angle. Perspective matters. This looks vastly different and more involved than a standard map of Europe. Source: buff.ly/PvqiVck

Social activities keep declining in the US. Going to rock and pop concerts is up - I’d guess that’s because older folks can afford tickets to see their teenage favorites?

All foreign embassies in Paris. What are the best diplomatic neighbours? The Brazilians and Germans can talk about football (with the exception of that one game...). The Czechs and Aussies can drink. Source: buff.ly/Usj5Dew

Rockets are cool. The Starship is a great piece of technology. via FlightAtlas.org HT @apostructura

You've read a lot about how much China reduced extreme poverty but without much international recognition Indonesia hasn’t been far behind the Chinese! Respect.

I am 43 and so far this chart (albeit based on data from the US while I live in Australia) is a fair representation of my life. Source: buff.ly/3MnYVxj

Fewer Americans socialise on any given day. In just two decades the number of regular socialisers fell by a quarter. The people who continue to socialise spend the same amount of doing so than twenty years ago. There are just more excuses to not socialise I guess... Source: buff.ly/GeqVp57

I've never visited Portugal but its geography is pretty familiar to me thanks to watching European football...

This graphic shows when first snow can be expected across the US based on data from the last three decades. In Wyoming they can already (9 Oct) expect to see snow! Source: buff.ly/QEEqto5