One of the things that has always struck me about the US is what a spectacularly wealthy country it is. Or alternatively, how pathetically poor New Zealand is by comparison. Occasionally data crops up that depressingly reinforces this impression.
The cunning cartographers responsible for this map of the US have replaced the name of each state with the name of a country that generates similar GDP.
Embarrassingly, it turns out that New Zealand’s GDP roughly approximates that of Washington DC (population 580,000, area 177 square km).
Not true. Properly measured, Washington D.C.’s GDP is negative.
New Zealand produces all sorts of interesting things. The Yike Bike comes to mind…