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infobeautiful.bsky.social
Information is Beautiful
@infobeautiful.bsky.social
7.1K followers 35 following 930 posts
Data visualizations & information graphics by David McCandless. Plus favourite finds & graphics from around the web. Making sense of the world - well, trying to - since 2009.

https://linktr.ee/infobeautiful
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infobeautiful.bsky.social
Visualizing the USA's $29 trillion economy by state. California is now the 4th largest economy in the world, recently surpassing Japan.

www.voronoiapp.com/economy/Visu...
Pie chart titled "AMERICA'S $29T ECONOMY BY STATE". The chart is segmented by US regions (New England, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Plains, Southeast, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Far West) and further divided to show the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of each state within those regions. Each state segment is labeled with its name and GDP in trillions or billions of dollars. California has the largest economy at $4.1T, followed by Texas at $2.7T and New York at $2.3T. Smaller states like Delaware ($104B) and Vermont ($41B) have proportionally smaller slices. An additional segment indicates "$160B Overseas Activity*". The source is listed as the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, with data as of Q3 2024.
November 25, 2025 at 7:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Interesting. The evolution of conflict in literature / society

(by Instagram user: @grantdraws)
www.instagram.com/p/DBOlpAuRj9c/
A nine-panel cartoon grid titled "CONFLICT IN LITERATURE" depicts different types of conflict, categorized into "CLASSICAL," "MODERN," and "POSTMODERN" literary periods. Under "CLASSICAL," panels show "MAN vs. NATURE" (a person with a pitchfork against a pack of wolves), "MAN vs. MAN" (two people in a sword fight), and "MAN vs. GOD" (a person pointing a stick at a giant hand from the sky). The "MODERN" column shows "MAN vs. SOCIETY" (a person standing alone against a crowd with protest signs), "MAN vs. SELF" (a person facing a mirror image of themselves), and "MAN vs. NO GOD" (a person pointing a stick at an empty sky). The "POSTMODERN" column depicts "MAN vs. TECHNOLOGY" (a person with a baseball bat facing an array of computer screens), "MAN vs. REALITY" (a person standing in a surreal landscape of melting colors and shapes), and "MAN vs. AUTHOR" (a person standing on an open book, looking up at a giant hand holding a pen). The artist's signature, Grant Snider, is at the bottom right.
November 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
EU elevation map

(by @cstats)
www.instagram.com/p/DOrJw6DjKgl/
This image is a detailed three-dimensional relief map of Europe, visualizing the continent's topography and elevation. The map uses a vibrant color palette and simulated height to represent the landforms. Lower elevations, such as the vast European Plain covering much of Eastern and Northern Europe, are shown in a light, smooth blue. As the elevation increases, the colors transition to deeper blues, greens, and finally to warm oranges and yellows for the highest mountain ranges. Prominent high-relief areas include the orange and yellow peaks of the Alps stretching across Central Europe, the mountainous regions of the Balkans and the Carpathians in Eastern Europe, the ridges along the Scandinavian Peninsula, and the rugged terrain of the British Isles. The map is highly textured, giving a tactile sense of the landscape. In the bottom right corner, a small legend or credit indicates the map was "made in rayshader" and the data is from "NOAA ETOPO1."
November 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Participatory tax return from Australia shows exactly where one's tax money goes...

(from Reddit user: u/heapsgoods)
This graphic shows Australian government spending breakdown based on where personal tax was allocated during 2018-19 budget estimates, displaying gross debt levels of $533 billion this year compared to $501 billion last year with $16.3 billion in interest payments on gross debt this year, followed by a horizontal bar chart showing spending categories with welfare receiving the largest allocation at $846 billion including aged care at $346 billion, disability at $200 billion, families at $196 billion, unemployed at $60 billion and other welfare at $44 billion, while health received $420 billion, defence $203 billion, education $183 billion, general public services $105 billion, interest on government debt $92 billion, transport and communication $50 billion, fuel and energy $41 billion, industry assistance $32 billion, foreign affairs and economic aid $30 billion, housing and community $29 billion, public order and safety $28 billion, immigration $21 billion, recreation and culture $21 billion, and other purposes $89 billion, with the total tax assessed shown as $2190 at the bottom right, along with a note that figures include transfers to state and local governments except for GST and other economic affairs, with estimates and categories based on information from the Department of Treasury, and a reference to visit www.ato.gov.au/taxreceipt for more information.
November 25, 2025 at 1:55 AM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
How reliable is the US weather temperature forecast? Didn't know that about Florida.
A chloropleth map of the USA plots by colour the accuracy of the temperature forecast. Most westerly regions are 5-6 days accurate, easterly 3-4 while central regions are only accurate to 2 days out. South Florida is the most accurate with spot-on forecasts up to 7 days.
November 24, 2025 at 7:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
www.linkedin.com/posts/alasda...

It's noted in the comments elswhere that it shows that elevation and wind direction play a big role.

by LinkedIn user: www.linkedin.com/in/alasdair-... (unsure about how to represent LinkedIn users as they don't use @)
This image is a detailed three-dimensional relief map of the United Kingdom, visualizing rainfall levels rather than elevation, though it uses a similar topographical style. The map shows the outline of Great Britain and part of Ireland (only Northern Ireland's northern coast is visible at the top right) with varying heights representing the amount of annual rainfall. The color palette is a gradient of greens and yellows, with taller, darker green peaks indicating higher rainfall and flatter, paler yellow areas indicating lower rainfall. The map vividly highlights the classic UK weather pattern: the highest rainfall occurs in the western and northern mountainous regions, particularly the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District in England, and the mountains of Wales, where dramatic, tall peaks dominate the landscape. In contrast, the Eastern side of England, especially the southeast, appears much flatter and paler, indicating it is the driest part of the country. The visual effect makes the rainfall data look like a highly textured landscape.
November 24, 2025 at 12:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Beautiful UK rainfall map

(elevation and wind direction play a big role)

(By Alasdair Rae @@undertheraedar)
www.linkedin.com/posts/alasda...
This image is a detailed three-dimensional relief map of the United Kingdom, visualizing rainfall levels rather than elevation, though it uses a similar topographical style. The map shows the outline of Great Britain and part of Ireland (only Northern Ireland's northern coast is visible at the top right) with varying heights representing the amount of annual rainfall. The color palette is a gradient of greens and yellows, with taller, darker green peaks indicating higher rainfall and flatter, paler yellow areas indicating lower rainfall. The map vividly highlights the classic UK weather pattern: the highest rainfall occurs in the western and northern mountainous regions, particularly the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District in England, and the mountains of Wales, where dramatic, tall peaks dominate the landscape. In contrast, the Eastern side of England, especially the southeast, appears much flatter and paler, indicating it is the driest part of the country. The visual effect makes the rainfall data look like a highly textured landscape.
November 24, 2025 at 12:45 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Some good UK deals on our beautiful books out there
📘 63% off Beautiful News- just £9! geni.us/BNEWS
📕 20% off Information is Beautiful geni.us/IIBbook
📙 25% off Knowledge is Beautiful geni.us/KIB25

Info bit.ly/IIB-Books
The cover images of three infographic books by David McCandless: Beautiful News, Knowledge is Beautiful and Information is Beautiful
November 23, 2025 at 12:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Hard agree
The Witcher series poster with three characters and episode ratings table for four seasons. Episode ratings range from 4.0 to 8.8 displayed in colored blocks. Episodehive logo and tagline 'View episode details at episodehive.com' at the bottom
November 21, 2025 at 7:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Do have flu, COVID, RSV or just a nasty cold? source: New York Times
Comparison chart of symptoms for Cold, Flu, Covid-19, and RSV. Shows frequency (rarely, sometimes, often) of 12 symptoms including cough, breathing difficulty, fatigue, fever, headaches, muscle pain, loss of taste/smell, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, vomiting, and wheezing. Source: CDC. Shows symptoms overlap but vary in frequency across illnesses.
November 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
WARNING! This image may trigger PINSecurity. From an analysis of 3.4m PIN codes leaked from several data breaches informationisbeautiful.net/visualizatio...
A heatmap reveals the most common 4 digit PIN numbers, visualised from the data leaked from several large data breaches. The horizontal axis plots the frequency of the first two digits, the vertical axis the second two digits. Clear (and somewhat predictable) patterns emerge from the dataset. A diagonal line of ‘heat’ from bottom left to top right reveals people choosing double digits (2323, 6868 etc). A strong horizontal line at the 19 point shows people using their birth year as a PIN code (1971, 1998 etc). And a large amount of heat in the bottom left shows how people commonly use their birthdate in a MM/DD or DD/MM format. The most common code in the set is 1234.
November 21, 2025 at 3:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Thanksgiving Week Calendar (by Matt Surelee)
www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1...
A simple diagram amusingly plots some of the typical experiential highlights of the Thanksgiving week's calendar
November 20, 2025 at 7:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Planets sliced in half. (Not sure how scientifically acccurate this is)

By TikTok user: @crispcut
www.tiktok.com/@crispcut/vi...
November 20, 2025 at 3:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
INTRODUCING: our new online store where you can buy high-quality art prints of our most popular infographics & visualisations
bit.ly/IIBStore
Homepage of Information is Beautiful (IIB) store showing sample data visualization prints, including a left-right comparison chart, a colorful circular diagram, and a word cloud of books. The page includes store navigation, environmental notes about sustainable printing practices, and a welcome message introducing David McCandless's work
November 20, 2025 at 1:55 AM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
How popular are America's 10 richest people?
A bar graph titled "How popular are the 10 richest Americans?" presents polling data from Reuters/Ipsos. The graph lists the ten richest Americans by net worth, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and others. For each individual, the graph displays four horizontal bars representing the percentages of U.S. adults with a favorable view, those who have never heard of them, those who did not answer, and those with an unfavorable view. The graph provides a visual comparison of public perception of these billionaires.
November 19, 2025 at 7:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
#Dataviz books everyone should read 📚 - a community sourced #charticle informationisbeautiful.net/visualizatio... Created in association with @‌DataVizSociety #iibwab
A screenshot of a scrolling array of books on data-visualisation divided into several categories: creative works, curated collections, how to and theory book. Over 169 titles.
November 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
China’s westernmost point is closer to Germany than to its easternmost point!

(by @amazingmap)
A satellite view of Earth centered on Asia, showing three labeled points: Fuyuan, HL (China) to the east, Akto, XJ (China) in the center, and Görlitz, SN (Germany) to the west. Lines with distance measurements in kilometers connect Akto to Fuyuan (4876km) and Akto to Görlitz (4624km). A large white arc spans across the globe connecting Fuyuan and Görlitz, passing near Akto, suggesting a great circle route.
November 18, 2025 at 3:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/co...

(by Reddit User: u/ProfessorPlush)
good geeky discussion about the subtleties of mapping this landmass
www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/co...
A digitally rendered map of Antarctica without its ice cover, revealing the underlying landmass in shades of green and brown. The image shows a rugged, mountainous terrain with snow-capped peaks, vast plateaus, and numerous bodies of water filling low-lying areas. The continent appears fragmented, with coastal regions featuring islands, peninsulas, and fjord-like inlets, giving it a dramatically different appearance compared to its typical ice-covered depiction. The dark blue ocean surrounds the landmass, highlighting its shape and topography, while variations in elevation suggest tectonic activity and ancient geological formations beneath what is usually a frozen expanse.
November 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Child's play
(creator unknown)
A parody image of a LEGO Excel set, featuring a LEGO minifigure in business attire looking at spreadsheets across three monitors on a desk. The desk includes office supplies and the box has typical LEGO set styling with a piece count range of "4-J" and other mock product details.
November 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Charting human migration over deep time

(via outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.org/media/2013-0...)
A map titled "A WALK THROUGH TIME" showing human migration patterns from Africa across the globe over 200,000 years. The route is color-coded in rainbow bands from red (oldest, 200-60 thousand years ago) through yellow, green, blue, to pink (most recent, 15-10 thousand years ago). A white line traces the 21,000-mile walking route from East Africa ("Start") to South America ("Finish"). The map uses Fuller projection to straighten the circumglobal route.
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Africa is BIG
An infographic showing the true size of Africa (30.4m km²) compared to other major countries and regions. Six maps overlay different regions on Africa's outline to demonstrate scale: Russia (17.1m km²), U.S. (9.8m km²), China (9.6m km²), Brazil (8.5m km²), Europe excluding Russia (5.9m km²), and India (3.3m km²). Each comparison is color-coded and labeled with its area.
November 17, 2025 at 12:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Should you trust that doctor? (maybe more relevant today than ever)

(by instagram user @sheadoodles)
A humorous infographic titled "Should You Trust That Doctor?" from CollegeHumor. The infographic categorizes various fictional and real-life doctors based on their qualifications and trustworthiness. It features a range of doctors, including Dr. Huxtable, Dr. Quinn, Dr. Strange, Doogie Howser, Dr. Seuss, Doc Brown, Doc, J.D., Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Spin Doctors, Dr. Fishman, Dr. Dre, Dr. Mario, Dr. Oz, Zoidberg, Dr. Horrible, Dr. Phil, Doctor Venture, Dr. Spaceman, Dr. Robotnik, Doctor Octopus, Doctor Evil, Dr. Pepper, and Hannibal Lecter. The infographic uses a visual scale to indicate levels of trust, ranging from "Trust with your life" to "Run. Run very far.
November 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
Quick! What's 6 x 8? 7 x 6? The trickiest multiplications for kids aged 5-8. How many do you still struggle with?
A heatmap highlights the multiplications kids aged 5-8 most struggle with. 11 times 11, 8 times 4, 8 times 6, 12 times 8, and 6 times 8 are all the most challenging.
November 14, 2025 at 12:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
World's most contagious falsehoods

See all 70
bit.ly/IIB-Mythconc...

data & sources
bit.ly/KIB_Mythconception
ALT: An infographic titled "Common MythConceptions: World's most contagious falsehoods" debunks popular myths. Examples include: Napoleon wasn't short; sharks can get cancer; bulls don't hate red; bananas grow on plants, not trees; bats aren't blind; goldfish have more than a 3-second memory; and MSG doesn't cause headaches. Each myth is represented by an icon and a brief explanation. Bubbles vary in size based on the myth's popularity. Created by David McCandless from the "Information is Beautiful" project.
November 13, 2025 at 5:55 PM
infobeautiful.bsky.social
One of humanity's greatest achievements
informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnew... #bnews
A line chart plots a dramatic trend in the % of children dying before the age of 5 worldwide. In 1820, the figure is 43%, which stays fairly constant until the beginning of the 1900s and then plummets dramatically to just 3.7% in 2020. A spike to 38.5% in 1918 marks the outbreak of the 'Spanish Flu'
November 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM