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Environment and Energy infographics

This hub covers the natural world and how we use it, including temperature records, rainfall, water use, waste and recycling, deforestation, wildlife decline and emissions, with a section on energy and oil. Each page shows the original graphic with credit, gives its data as text and compares older figures with current sources. Well used pages include global water consumption and water footprints, the highest temperature ever recorded in each country, how bees help us, annual CO2 emissions by country and the largest oil reserves by country.

Sections of Environment and Energy
32 infographics
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Paper Boss infographic titled Every country in the world ranked by how much trash they produce per person and how much of that is recycled, with a world map, a ranked list of 164 countries from Bahrain at 907 kg to Ethiopia and Kenya at 110 kg, and a bar chart of the 20 countries recycling most per person led by Germany at 290 kg
Environment and Energy

Which Country Recycles the Most Waste

By Paper Boss

Germany recycles the most of its household and municipal waste of any country with comparable official data: 69% in 2024, according to Eurostat, ahead of…

What this collection covers

The 32 infographics here fall into a few groups. Weather and climate pieces cover record temperatures, world rainfall patterns and every US hurricane landfall from 1851 to 2024. Resource and waste pieces cover where Earth's water is and how much we use, recycling rates by country, electronic waste, ocean plastic, sand extraction and forest loss in the Amazon. Others deal with CO2 emissions, how many Earths different lifestyles would need, bees, orchids, flower names and US crops. The largest group is about energy and oil: production, reserves, China's crude imports, gas output, electricity prices and energy use per person.

Where to start

The Highest Temperature Ever Recorded by Country, World Map from Al Jazeera (AJLabs) puts the top reading at 56.7C (134F) at Death Valley, California, in 1913, and says at least 22 countries have reached 50C. Africa's record on the same map is 55C at Kebili, Tunisia, in 1931.

Two pieces on water work well together. David McCandless of Information is Beautiful shows in Global Water Distribution Infographic, Water World Chart that oceans hold 96.5% of Earth's water and only 2.5% is fresh. Global Water Consumption, Water Usage Statistics and Footprints puts the average footprint at about 1,240 cubic metres per person a year and says 70% of fresh water goes to farming. On waste, the Paper Boss ranking Which Country Recycles the Most Waste, Every Country Ranked puts Germany first at 290.0 kg per person a year, with Singapore recycling the highest share, 59%.

For oil, Civixplorer's Largest Oil Reserves by Country, the Top 10 Ranked puts Venezuela first with 304,000 million barrels in 2023 EIA figures. Ehsan Soltani of Econovis maps Oil Production by Country 2023 on a World Map, with the United States leading at 12,927 thousand barrels per day out of a world total of 82,757, ahead of Russia with 10,554 and Saudi Arabia with 9,609.

More graphics on oil, gas, electricity and energy use are grouped in the Energy section.

Questions about environment and energy infographics

Which country produces the most oil?

The United States, according to the Econovis map Oil Production by Country 2023 on a World Map. It produced 12,927 thousand barrels per day in 2023. Russia was second with 10,554 and Saudi Arabia third with 9,609.

Which country emits the most CO2 each year?

China, on Susan Stroud's No Bull chart Annual CO2 Emissions by Country, Top 10 Emitters 1800 to 2023. China ends at about 12 billion tonnes in 2023, ahead of the USA at 4.9 billion and India at 3.1 billion.

How are the infographics in this collection checked?

Each page writes out the graphic in text, checks its claims against sources listed on the page and corrects mistakes in a note. Where a graphic uses older figures, as the Global Water Consumption infographic does, the notes give the current numbers.

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