Distorting maps to display other information
Maps can be similarly distorted to make the areas of countries (or regions) proportional to many other measurements.
Map areas must represent a quantity that is 'part of a whole'. If two areas are combined, the value for the combined area should be the sum of their values.
For example, area should not be proportional to infant mortality rate in the countries — this would give unreasonable emphasis to very small countries. A better measurement to use for the map areas of countries would be the total number of infants dying.
WorldMapper
It is far from simple to construct such distorted maps, but software has been written to automatically produce them. The following maps were all drawn by WorldMapper. Although the resulting maps occasionally produce spidery distortions, the result is often excellent.
Rainfall volume
The map below shows where the world's rainfall occurs. Observe in particular the high rainfall in Brazil and Indonesia.
Electricity generation
The next map shows where the world's electricity is generated. The distortion of the shapes of countries in Africa is particularly severe.