People Powered Maps...

Most of you will, by now, have seen the fantastic Worldmapper maps, put together by a team of geographers from Sheffield University. (If you haven't, you should go and have a look now... And even if you have, go and have another look, as there are now almost 700 maps available.)

However, Professor Danny Dorling has been busy producing a new set of cartograms showing population density for various different countries. This is the UK one, and you can find out more about the project and look at some of the other maps in this BBC article, or view the full set of maps on the Worldmapper website:

Wifeless future for Chinese men...

Yet another article from the BBC today (thanks Rob) about the problems China is facing as a result of the One Child Policy...

By the time these children - in a school where, according to the headteacher, one class has 39 boys and only 8 girls - are thinking about settling down, there may be 30 million men of marriageable age who will not be able to find a wife...


Click on the picture for the full story from the BBC. What do you think are the possible solutions? Is there anything China can do?

Chinese men struggle to find wives...

According to China's State Population and Family Planning Commission, there will be 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in China by 2020, which could lead to "social instability".

This is one of a range of problems in China, blamed on the One Child Policy which was introduced by the Chinese government in 1980 to reduce the rapidly increasing population.


Click on the picture for the story from the BBC, where there is also an excellent "In Depth" guide looking at lots of other China stories...