A whole new world: The amazing map based on population that shows Britain is still a big player




It is a world away from the world we know. But this is how the countries of the world look if maps are based on population size rather than land mass.



Academics came up with the startling images after throwing away 500 years of conventional cartography. The result was this very different global landscape.

The map below shows the distribution of the Earth's population, with the size of each territory showing the relative proportion of people living there. India, China and Japan loom large as they have the largest populations.

Britain bulges beyond recognition while Australia, one of the world's largest countries, is relegated to pipsqueak status.



New world view: China and India are the big players in this population based map as opposed to land mass

The world we know: The more traditional land mass map

Individual maps of countries tell the same story, with London, Sydney, Paris and Dublin all bulging out as the most populated areas. Interestingly, a look at the U.S. map shows a more even distribution of big-name cities, with Chicago taking a prominent place alongside New York and Los Angeles.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield created the online atlas of 200 maps using population distribution data.



Benjamin Hennig, a postgraduate researcher at the University's Department of Geography, was part of the team.



He said the new projections gave an 'interesting insight into different countries'.





Bulging: The map shows how the population of London and the South-East dominating the rest of the UK. And, right, the kind of map of Britain, based on land mass, that we are all more familiar with

'The map of Afghanistan, for example, shows a country dominated by Kabul and a few other urban centres,' he said.



'The UK on this new global projection is a tale of London and the other cities.



'The United States, on the other hand, has much more variety to its human geography, while the new projection of China shows a sea of humanity bubbled up into a thousand cities in the Eastern part of the country.

The images were created as part of a Leverhulme Trust project to remap the world and extend the Worldmapper project.

The maps can be viewed at www.worldmapper.org/countrycartograms/

Distorted: New York and Los Angeles swell bigger than the other cities in the U.S. with the Mid-West looking relatively empty



These maps of Australia and Ireland show how population is concentrated in urban areas with virtually no people registered in the north and centre of Australia



Again, the capitals of France, left, and Afghanistan bulge out as they have the densest population levels in their respective countries





