Telegraph Travel has mapped the world in many ways – here are some of the most eye-opening.

1. Billionaires

The 2016 Forbes rich list revealed that the world possesses 1,810 billionaires. As the map below shows, by far the biggest chunk - 540 - hail from the same country: the United States. The country's wealth gap is truly depressing, with a 2014 study estimating that the top 0.1 per cent of American society possess as much wealth as the bottom 90 per cent. Hot on its heels, with 251 billionaires, according to Forbes, is China (it should be noted that the Shanghai-based Hurun Report, known for its own rich list, claims that China has overtaken the US, and leads by 568 to 535). Gemany, India and Russia complete the top five; the UK is seventh, with 50.

2. Death penalty

Fifty-three countries still have the death penalty. Every European country has abolished it, with one exception: Belarus. It may come as a surprise to many to learn that Japan, a nation associated with tranquil temples and modernity, still has it. The most recent countries to abolish capital punishment include Burkina Faso (2018), Guinea (2017), Benin (2016), and Madagascar (2015).

3. Beer consumption

On a lighter note, the Czech Republic has topped the per capita beer drinking table for 24 consecutive years. In 2016, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the Czechs drank 143.3 litres per person (up from 142.4 litres in 2015). That's the equivalent of 287 pints – or one every 30 hours. But, given that minors are unlikely to be contributing to that figure, it's safe to assume that the average beer drinker probably guzzles quite a bit more. Snapping at the Czech Republic's heels are the usual pretenders. Austria and Germany come third and fourth, Poland fifth and Ireland sixth.

4. Where tourists outnumber locals

We divided annual visitor numbers (2016 data) by each destination's population, to give the number of tourists per resident. The tiny principality of Andorra tops the charts (you'll need to zoom in to see it). It welcomed 2.36m tourists in 2014, but just 70,000 people call it home. That works out at 33.5 tourists per resident. Macau, the gambling hub, comes second, with 24.8 tourists per resident, followed by a pair of Caribbean gems: the British Virgin Islands (12.8) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (10.4). In total, there are 51 destinations where tourists outnumber locals.

5. Obesity

According to a 2017 report, more than 603 million adults and 107 million children (out of a global population of around 7.5 billion) are obese. That represents around five per cent of all children and 12 per cent of all adults. But which nations have the highest levels of obesity? American Samoa, where a whopping 74.6 per cent are considered to be obese, is number one, followed by a slew of other South Pacific nations: Nauru, Tonga, Samoa, Palau and Kiribati. In fact, Kuwait is the only country outside the region to feature in the top 10.

6. Frequent fliers

This map shows which nationalities are the most frequent fliers, according to 2014 data published by The World Bank. Unsuprisingly, given its size and wealth, the US is miles ahead of any other nation, with 9,553,214 departures from its airports. Next on the list is China with 3,356,756.

The other countries in the top 10 for 2014 are Canada (1,290,420 flights), the UK (1,069,420), Brazil (937,437), Japan (927,437), Germany (913, 156), Russia (747,804), Turkey (723,207) and India (720,050). Of those countries that feature (there was no data for Norway, Uruguay and Sweden, among others), the lowest number of flights was in Chad, with just 75.

7. Generosity

According to Charities Aid Foundation's 2017 World Giving Index, Myanmar is the world's kindest country. According to the research, 91 per cent of Myanmar residents give money to charity the previous year, 53 per cent said they helped a stranger, and 51 per cent claimed they had volunteered (for Britain, the figures are 58 per cent, 64 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively).

8. Urbanisation

This map shows the world according to urban population as a percentage of total population. Those countries or territories in dark blue have the most urbanised populations, those in lighter colours the least. There are seven places where 100 per cent of the population lives in urban areas, as defined by national statistical offices: Hong Kong, Singapore, Bermuda, Macao, Cayman Islands, Sint Maarten and Monaco. Other highly urbanised countries include Qatar, Kuwait, Belgium, Malta and Uruguay. The least urbanised populations are mostly in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, with Trindad and Tobago, Burundi, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Malawi, Nepal and Sri Lanka among the 10 most rural countries.

9. Height

The map below shows 98 nations colour-coded according to the average height of its male residents (no reliable data is available for those countries that appear in grey). It will suprise no-one to see The Netherlands at the top of the table. The Dutch are well known for their lofty stature. Other countries among the 10 tallest include Denmark, Norway, Germany and Croatia. Britain, whose men are 1.77m, on average, comes in at 26th. At the other end of the scale, the shortest countries are mostly in Asia and South America.

10. Forest

The map below shows those countries with the highest percentage of forest area, according to World Bank Open Data. Unsurprisingly, the tropical lands of South America, the Caribbean, Africa, south-east Asia and the South Pacific dominate, with Suriname, Micronesia, Palau, Gabon, Guyana, American Samoa and the Solomon Islands all in the top 10. But some more northerly countries fare well too, with Finland (72.9 per cent forest area), 11th, Sweden (69.2 per cent) 15th, and Japan (68.6 per cent) 17th. And the least tree-filled countries? There are four with no forest whatsoever, according to World Bank's definition - San Marino, Qatar, Greenland and Oman - while in a further 12 places there is less than one per cent.

11. Railways

This map shows the world's nations according to their railways. Those shown in dark blue have the most extensive networks, those in lighter colours the smallest. Unsurprisingly, the largest and most populous countries dominate, with the USA, China, Russia, India and Canada making up the top five. There are some more surprising findings, however. The British attachment to rail travel is clear. It has the world's 17th largest rail network, at 17,732km, despite being just the 78th largest nation by land area. That figure was once as high as 34,000km. Romania's 22,298km network is also impressive, putting it 15th on the list, even though it is only the world's 81st largest country. Many countries don't have any railways at all, often due to the harsh, mountainous or densely forested surroundings. They include Iceland, Greenland, Yemen, Oman, Bhutan, Libya and Papua New Guinea.

12. Road deaths

Each country on this map is colour-coded to reflect the number of road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Most of the bottom 10 - including Eritrea, the deadliest driving destination, Libya (40.5) and Iraq (31.5) - are unlikely to feature on the travel itineraries of most Britons. But a couple - Thailand (38.1) and South Africa (31.9) - are popular holiday destinations. Relatively risky roads can also be found in Ecuador, Vietnam, Brazil, Paraguay, Kenya and Laos. The safest places to drive include the Maldives (1.9 deaths, though the lack of roads probably helps), Norway (2.9), Denmark (3), Sweden (3) and Switzerland (3.4). Britain is just behind, with only 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year.

13. Prices

Numbeo's cost of living survey takes into account the price of around 50 items, including a wide variety of accommodation, food and drink from both supermarkets and restaurants, clothing, taxi fares, leisure activities, utility, internet and mobile phone bills. The cheapest country to feature in the study is India, with a cost of living index of 24.14, followed by Moldova, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Nepal. Should none of those appeal, a little further down the list you'll find Colombia, Serbia, The Philippines, South Africa and Romania.

14. Connectivity

The map below shows the world according to average connection speed in Mbits/s, as recorded by Akamai, the content delivery network (CDN) responsible for serving between 15 and 30 per cent of all web traffic.

A couple of places appear surprisingly high up. The Norwegian island pairing of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, for example, has an average connection speed of 36.5Mbits/s - the highest of all. But it only has one unique IP address, so the result is somewhat skewed. The lofty positions of The Vatican (3rd) and Antarctica (27th) are also due to the low number of readings.

Akamai's official rankings only take into account countries or regions with a unique IP count of at least 25,000, which gives South Korea the true top spot, followed by Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden, The Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. Norway, Latvia and Finland complete the top 10. The UK is 23rd in the ranking, the US 20th, Australia 50th and China 111th.

15. Happiness

The Happy Planet Index ranks 140 destinations according to "what matters most - sustainable wellbeing for all". GDP takes a back seat; instead it's all about judging "how well nations are doing at achieving long, happy, sustainable lives". It means that Switzerland, Denmark and Australia, traditionally considered among the best places in which to live, are down in 24th, 32nd and 105th, respectively (for the 2016, while Costa Rica takes the top spot for the second year running - ahead of Mexico and Colombia. Norway is the highest ranked European country, at 12th, the UK trails in 34th, while the US limps home in 108th.