Both lists are in descending order:
Top 10: Bangladesh, Moldova, Ukraine, India, Denmark, Hungary, Mauritius, Rwanda, Togo, Romania.
Bottom 10: Mongolia, Botswana, Solomon Islands, Paupa New Guinea (!), Mauritania, Suriname, New Caledonia (as opposed to French Polynesia, which is also near the bottom of the list), Oman, Iceland, Djibouti.
The United States of America, from whence come the bulk of our authors and readers, ranks 59th out of 198 nations or quasi-nations surveyed. We also have some authors and readers that I am aware of who hail from Canada (142nd), United Kingdom (41st), New Zealand (137th), Japan (90th), and Singapore (184th).
A surprise (to me) near the top: Malta ranks 28th. Two surprises (again, to me) near the bottom: Colombia, at 175th, and Paupa New Guinea, at 192nd.
If we get far enough in the clues, I’ll make the entire list available. I suspect that our crew of very smart people will not take very long to figure this one out, though.
Burt Likko is the pseudonym of an attorney in Southern California. His interests include Constitutional law with a special interest in law relating to the concept of separation of church and state, cooking, good wine, and bad science fiction movies. Follow his sporadic Tweets at @burtlikko, and his Flipboard at Burt Likko.
Percent of population displaced by floods over the last several years?Report
Drug imports?Report
How recently the nation’s constitution was last amended.Report
Olive oil consumption per capita?Report
Good guesses so far, but this one is eerie because I actually researched and contemplated using it. Turns out that, unsurprisingly, Mediterranean nations really dominate the curve, so I rejected the idea as too obvious.
Tuesday hint: we are indeed dealing with a ratio, but the denominator is not population. So it’s not “X per capita,” it’s “X per Y,” where Y is not the total population.
Also, much of my data is from 2005, so newer nations like South Sudan and East Timor are not included. I eliminated Faroe Islands as a nation kind of arbitrarily.Report
Percent of land under cultivation.Report
This is close enough. “Arable land” generally includes land that is fallow as well as under cultivation.
The current cumulative leaderboard is:
Randy Harris: 25.5
Mark Thompson: 20.833
Mike Schilling: 15.5
Johanna: 10
Mo: 7.5Report
Where was Namibia on this list? What about the Saharan countries? Australia?Report
Chris: 1.0
I’m coming for you Harris. I’m coming for you!Report