World Population Flags
Authors: Ansgar Wolsing
Read the closeread article: World Population Flags
Reproducible repo: population-flags/docs at main · bydata/population-flags · GitHub
Abstract
What if we displayed the countries as circle-shaped flags and sized them proportionally by their population?
This project visualizes global population data through a unique lens: country flags transformed into proportional circles. Each flag is sized according to the population of its country, creating an intuitive representation of relative population sizes. The circles are arranged in a Dorling cartogram, maintaining proportional size while loosely reflecting geographic continents.
The Scrollytelling approach provides a snapshot of global demographics and an easy way to explore population distribution. Scroll through to explore the world's population, one continent at a time.
Full Description
Technical background
This Scrollytelling piece is based on a Quarto document using the Closeread Quarto extension. The maps were created using Observable Plot and then embedded in Quarto.
The public Observable notebook can be accessed via Population Flags / Ansgar Wolsing | Observable
Additionally, the Closeread CSS was adapted for smooth transitions from one highlighted continent to another.
The positions of the flags in the Dorling cartograms were calculated using the {cartogram} package in R with the population the countries as the weights.