European GDP in 2012

Use this diagram to explain that it is important to think carefully about what variables to display or analyse. Sometimes a ratio or difference between variables is more meaningful.

Select GDP and Population from the pop-up menu to display these variables on the map. The resulting maps indicates little more than which countries are large and small. GDP per capita is more informative:

GDP per capita   =   Country's total GDP
Population

Select GDP per capita from the pop-up menu to see the richest countries.

(Also see the other related examples in the General and African versions of this page — click the triangle at the top right of this page to select alternative versions of any page.)