Hundred Million Person Tribes

Each circle represents a region of the world with a population of about a hundred million people

Western USA

Northeastern USA

Southeastern USA

Mexico

Central America

Northern Andes

Southern Andes

Brazil

Southern Brazil

Britain

France

Italy & Iberia

Germany

Eastern Europe

Balkans

Russia

Turkey

Middle East

Iran

Central Asia

Pakistan

Punjab

Northern India

Rajasthan & Gujurat

Uttar Pradesh East

Uttar Pradesh West

Bihar

West Bengal

Bangladesh

East India

Orissa

Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra

Andhra Pradesh

Karnataka & Kerala

Tamil Nadu & Sri Lanka

Myanmar & Thailand

Vietnam

Sumatra

Java

Oceania

Philippines

Northwestern China

Northeastern China

Hebei

Shandong

Jiangsu

Anhui & Zhejiang

Henan

Hubei

Sichuan & Yunnan

Guangxi & Guizhou

Hunan

Jiangxi
& Fujian

Guangdong

Japan

Korea

North Africa

Egypt

Sahara

Ethiopia

West Africa

West Nigeria

East Nigeria

Congo

East Africa

Southeastern Africa

Southern Africa

100,000,000

Notes

Splitting the world population into equal chunks allows comparisons between regions at a glance

The disparity between the crowded Old World and the relatively sparsely populated New World is clear from the map. The Americas are represented by 9 circles, compared to 58 for the rest of the world.

The US population is represented by just 3 circles. With the spread of technology and ideas, it is not difficult to forsee a time when most people in the world are as productive as the average American. A quick glance at this map shows that when this happens, the US economy will be dwarfed by each of the economies of Africa, India and China.

There are many ways the US might prepare for this inevitable power shift. At the moment, US policy seems to be focused on preventing it from happening, by erecting trade barriers, enforcing bullying patents and demonstrating military might. Perhaps it would be better if the US just accepted that it's going to be one power among many, and concentrated on making friends rather than enemies.

Comments

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Diana ⋅ 3 December 2013

so many countries you named as balkans ARE NOT balkans!..balkans are those countries that belong to the balkanic half island..learn geography before you make something like this public

Mark Jeffery ⋅ 3 December 2013

You're right, Diana, the names I've given the tribes are rough and ready. Ireland and Scandinavia, for example, are definitely not part of Britain. In the same way, not all the countries I've grouped under the Balkans are strictly part of the Balkans, but I've named the tribe for the region where the larger part of the population lives.

Grouping Ireland with Britain, or Tamil Nadu with Sri Lanka, or Tibet with Northwestern China, or any part of the Balkans with any other part of the Balkans risks inflaming feelings in those parts of the world. On the other hand, imagining tribes based merely on geographical proximity does cut through political and cultural boundaries in interesting ways.

Kris Santos ⋅ 16 May 2021

This map is amazing! It must've taken a lot of effort.

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Compare this with the Trillion Dollar Economies map to contrast population with GDP

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