For all the flak China receives about its greenhouse gas emissions, the average Chinese produces less than a third the amount of CO2 than his American counterpart. It just so happens that there are 1.3 billion Chinese, and 0.3 billion Americans, so China ends up producing more CO2.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon monoxide, are produced from burning petrol, growing rice, and raising cattle . These greenhouse gases let in sun rays, but do not let out the heat that the rays generate on earth. This results in a greenhouse effect, where global temperatures are purported to be rising as a result of human activities.

The below map shows the per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases:

As you can see, the least damage is done by people in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. But these places also happen to be the poorest places:…

The Current Account Balance is a measure of a country’s “profitability”. It is the sum of profits (losses) made from trading with other countries, profits (losses) made from investments in other countries, and cash transfers, such as remittances from expatriates.

As the infographic shows, there isn’t much middle ground when it comes to a current account balance. Most countries have:

• large deficits (America, most of Europe, Australia, Brazil, India)
• large surpluses (China, most of Southeast Asia, Northern European countries, Russia, Gulf oil producers).

There are a few countries with

• small deficits (most Central American states, Pakistan)
• small surpluses (most Baltics)

…but they are largely outnumbered by the clear winners and losers of world trade.

The above is not a per-capita infographic, so larger countries tend to be clear winners or losers, while smaller countries are more likely to straddle the divide. Here is the per-capita Current Account Balance map:

This…