5 Maps And Charts That Will Surprise You By Ezra Klein

In the article,”5 Maps and Charts That Will Surprise You”, the author, Ezra Klein, writes,”These 22 charts and maps were, at least for me, in that category: all of them told me something I found surprising.”(Klein). Personally, the chart that left me flabbergasted, was the one about Africa being large. The map demonstrated that Africa was considerably more vast than I had foreseen. Furthermore, the chart entitled,”Switzerland is the best place to be born”(Klein), was a shocking revelation to me. In summary, the chart exhibited that Switzerland, Canada, and Australia are among some of the unparalleled places to inhabit on Earth. The notion that Africa is more preponderant than most people have anticipated surprises me, because on a majority
of maps, Africa seems to be about the same size as Greenland. However, in reality Africa is,”...bigger not just than Greenland, but than China, the United States, India and Western Europe put together.”(Klein). The size of Africa is herculean, compared to the size most people thought it was.
Another fact that surprised me is that Switzerland is, overall, the best place to be born. The article states,”The final measure factors in everything from income to geography to demography. When all is said and done, Switzerland leads the list, with Australia and Norway close behind.”(Klein). This is a phenomenon to me for multiple reasons. The first reason is that Switzerland is the safest country, when I always pictured one of the countries with a stronger military, such as China or Europe to be safer. In addition, the fact that Australia is the second safest country in the world absolutely bewilders me. It surprises me, because I had the mindset that Australia has such dangerous wildlife, that it could never be in the top safest countries.
In conclusion, there are many facts that one can learn, that could possibly change the way they think about the world.