The Unknown Pleasures of Maps

This Worldwide Population map is rather beautiful. The map uses d3.js to create a map of the world which represents population density by latitude.

The map uses population data from NASA. You can select to view the population densities for a number of different years, which means that you can view how the global population has changed over the last twenty years. The map was inspired by James Cheshire’s Population Lines. If you find this type of population visualization as beautiful as I do you can buy prints of James' map from his website.