[169] Soil Degradation

Soil degradation is brought on by several factors, mostly predisposition for desertification, acid rain, need for fuelwood and food needs which are beyond the soil's capacity to support. This globe shows only areas where the population’s food needs lead to overexploitation and subsequently to soil degradation.

[167] Island Nations

[166] Labor Migration

This world is divided into richer and poorer countries. Highlighted countries are considered rich, as the personal income averages more than US $2,500/year. Anybody making less is part of the rest, the poor. Accordingly, there is a migration from poorer to richer countries. Inconsistent definitions of labor migration, and the untrackable nature of illegal migration has resulted in a scarcity of data on the subject. Arrows shown represent flows of at least 50,000 migrants in a given year between 1986 and 2003 as noted by the International Labor Organization.

[166-3] Labor Migration

[165] Historical Diasporas

[163] Moody’s Rating 1999

Moody's Investor Service as well as Standard and Poor rate not only corporations but countries as well. Most institutional investment firms have rules prohibiting them from buying government bonds issued by countries with a low rating. Only blue-chip (Aaa=light color) and high to medium grade countries (Aa-Baa3=dark) are considered investment grades, all other countries (Ba1 to C) do not even show up on the investors' radar.

[163-3] Moody’s Rating

Moody's Investor Service as well as Standard and Poor rate not only corporations but sovereigns, i.e. countries, as well. Most institutional investment firms have rules prohibiting them from buying government bonds issued by countries with a low, speculation-grade rating. Only blue-chip (Aaa=light color) and high to medium grade countries (Aa-Baa3=dark) are considered investment grades, all other countries (Ba1 to C) therefore do not even show up on the investors' radar.

[162] Nuclear Energy Dependency

Violet parts of a given country represent the proportional dependency on atomic energy. The remainder (yellow) represents the reliance on conventional energy sources.