So what I’m getting here is that while they look the same…

with one tiny chomping Bangladesh eats Suriname, and it probably doesn’t even quell the hunger of all the Bangladeshis!

I would depict this differently. If this is disturbing, please note it and concentrate, think, innovate and suggest an improvement because I really don’t have enough good ideas or time to refine them.

Firstly, I’d animate it slightly, like live videos. About 1-2 seconds of animation. Maybe 3 or 4 if it’s incomprehensible.

Then I’d have the 2D representative of the country turn 3D and go side on. Bangladesh would be seen as massively thick, Suriname as impossibly weak. This could also be done by shrinking and expanding them.

Then of course you have Bangladesh turn into something with teeth and chomp on or step on Suriname, to highlight how tiny it is in population, insignificant. That would be memorable.

How would I do this without animation or disturbing things like visual imagery where a nation eats another?

Hmm.

Maybe fun, to create insight and an appreciative ‘oh that’s why’?

Ugh, hhm er,

Ok. An idea.

Physically, people understand piles. Loose stuff that supports itself under gravity.

It’s instinctive and instantly understood.

Piles have an advantage, they can be seen. Like.. piles of dirt. A hill or mountain. A pile of stones - A pyramid. Also as the base is wide you can fit bigger volumes in a pile than is more pyramidal that in a pile that is cylindrical.

So, you could present it with the nations or states on one side, one above the other. Hmm nah

That’s probably going to make people think one country is better than another.

Hows this. Two tone.

The existing map stays the same but is shaded or faded out at 50%.

Then you get rid of the arrows and the thick lines representing populations.

Then you create a dual hourglass shape. Or 4 triangles. You have the different populations represented by the teardrop shape of a horizontal or vertical hourglass, or by piles, hills or pyramids. And you have them doubled up and reversed so that it’s clear you aren’t indicating that one is above another or only left of another or right of another in the altered visual depiction of the population. You could have them sort of.. fat bum to bum, offset so that they aren’t pointing to each other.

. D

Or

D .

Like here above. The D symbol is Bangladesh population. I use it as a ‘pile’ sitting horizontally.

The . symbol Is Suriname population.

This respects that you aren’t indicating that there’s a flow from one to another that passes through a tiny chokehold, that might indicate elitism or superiority or exclusivity or stressful junk messages like that.

Triangles or pyramids might also indicate the difference well. Offsetting them means they fit in the space given.

To do the pile vertically as if it’s created by, or subject to gravity, is better.

But that’s got to be reversed and duplicated as some people might think that one flows to another or is threatening another or is above another or might bury another.

Most people don’t think like that but some do, and that might mean the graphic becomes perception altering media, that heightens antagonism that further or spur rivalries or discontent. By ensuring you duplicate and flip the data without change you present it neutrally as you counterbalance the weighing caused by the physical positioning of the piles or pyramids relative to another.

Ok, but not fun. No smile with appreciation and compassion. No laughter. A chuckle with a grin that creates camaraderie on earth. This is tricky.

One person’s trivia is anothers hate or complication or distraction or waste of time. One person’s joke can be another one’s insult.

Hmmm

Maybe.. make the pyramids or teardrop or raindrop shapes showing population size in area,

But bring common human things in. Universally understood. Ahh, ummm.

Piles of birdseed? Hmm nah. Faeces? A bit iffy and sticky. Nopeing out of that.

Animals? Faces? No, the population of Suriname is too small to caricaturize the piles or drops or pyramids.

Resources like water or food? Nah. Not good. The issue there is that resource competition is sometimes aggressive, if not at the minister or administrator political level, then at the perception of wealth and unequal distribution.

There must be something you can use.

Fart gas? Anthropogenic Global warming and the livestock industry makes that traumatic for some, especially if sea levels rise rapidly to 60 Meters.

What about grains of sand? Piles of sand?

That might work. Sand is everywhere nearly.

‘If the people were as sand, this is their population’

Any better suggestions?