Author: Adam DuVander

Over 70% of our planet is covered by the ocean. The ecosystems living under the sea are immensely important for those of us above water, as they can help reduce the impacts of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to protect the most important ecosystems, they’re classified as marine protected areas (MPAs), which restricts human activity such as fishing.

In the U.S., the nearly 1,000 marine protected areas make up around 26% of the surrounding waters, including the Great Lakes. Marine protected areas vary widely in size, year established, and design, as you’ll see on the map below.

View Marine Protected Areas in a full screen map

Largest Marine Protected Areas: Papahanaumokuakea & More

If you add up all of the 979 U.S. marine protected areas, they total over 1,573,511 square miles. Of course, the 10 largest on the table below make up almost 95% of that.

Marine Protected Area Name	Area (square kilometers)
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument	1,515,720
Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument	1,277,860
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument Particularly Sensitive Sea Area	363,687
Marianas Trench Marine National Monument	248,517
Mariana Trench National Wildlife Refuge	205,562
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge	84,092
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge	79,933.1
National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa	35,373.7
Rose Atoll Marine National Monument	35,004.6
Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge	18,396.6

Established in 2006, Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is the largest marine protected area in the U.S. Named for the Hawaiian creator goddess Papahānaumoku and her husband Wākea, Papahanaumokuakea is home to around 7,000 species. Among these include many endangered animals, such as the hawksbill sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seal, among others.

The monument and its surrounding waters span nearly 585,223 square miles—more than all of America’s state parks combined. It’s slightly larger than Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, approximately the size of Germany.

Within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is a 363,687 square kilometer Particularly Sensitive Sea Area, which is the third-largest MPA on the list above. This serves as an additional layer of protection for the important marine resource.

Moreso than this single large monument in Hawaii, the Pacific Remote Islands are home to four large marine protected areas. The largest of these (and the second-largest in the entire U.S.) is the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which is nearly twice the size of Texas.

While the largest area for individual MPAs is interesting, you may have noticed something else on the map: some areas have considerably more MPAs than others.

The Most U.S. MPAs Are in Florida

Hawaii and the Pacific Remote Islands may be home to the largest marine protected areas, but are they where the most are located? The following list contains the U.S. states with more marine protected areas than any other.

• Florida – 216 marine protected areas
• California – 196
• Washington – 64
• North Carolina – 44
• Puerto Rico – 37
• Oregon – 32
• Hawaii – 30
• Virginia – 28
• New Jersey – 26
• New York – 25

Florida may not be the largest state nor the most populous. What the Sunshine State does have is the most marine protected areas in the country. Altogether, Florida’s MPAs are made up of 60 state parks, 35 aquatic preserves, and 27 wildlife management areas, among others.

The largest of Florida’s MPAs is the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary at 9901.11 square kilometers. The 6253.26 square-kilometer Everglades National Park is the second-biggest MPA in Florida.

Meanwhile, Florida’s oldest marine protected areas include Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (1903), which is also the oldest MPA out of the 979 in the U.S. Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge (1905) is the next oldest in FL, though another state’s national wildlife refuge is older, as we’ll see when we dive further into the age of these marine protected areas.

Oldest Year Established

As we mentioned, the first marine protected area in the U.S. was established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The name of the 21.9905 square kilometer MPA, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, comes from the Brown pelicans the refuge houses. Let’s look at the other oldest MPAs:

Marine Protected Area Name	State	Year Established
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge	FL	1903
Breton National Wildlife Refuge	LA	1904
Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge	FL	1905
Huron National Wildlife Refuge	MI	1905
Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge	LA	1907
Key West National Wildlife Refuge	FL	1908
Pine Island National Wildlife Refuge	FL	1908
Matlacha Pass National Wildlife Refuge	FL	1908
Island Bay National Wildlife Refuge	FL	1908
Robert Moses State Park – Long Island	NY	1908

Joining Pelican Island among Florida’s oldest include previously discussed Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge, along with four more, all established in the same year.

Louisiana’s 113.803 square kilometer Breton National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1904, making it the second oldest, along with the much smaller Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge (0.015896 square kilometers) in 1907. Notably, Huron National Wildlife Refuge is the first marine protected area in the Great Lakes.

Don’t forget to group the map by Design to see which of the 979 marine protected areas are national wildlife refuges, state parks, aquatic preserves, and more, along with Fishing Restrictions.

For more maps about ocean and land conservation, visit Endangered Animals on a Map.

Financial success can be measured in many ways. Net worth, emergency funds, and debt are all taken into account. Anyone or anything can owe money, which is why there are different types of debts—from personal to those incurred by an organization or government.

In this post, we’ll highlight the highest average household debt (Switzerland) and public debt (Japan) of the 84 countries on the map below, the biggest changes throughout the years to see how the two types of debts compare.

View Countries by debt in a full screen map

Switzerland Is Not Switzerland & Other High Household Debts

The map shows how much amount of money all adults in a country’s household owe financial institutions, including consumer debt and mortgage loans as a percentage of GDP—called household debt—of 84 countries in 2018 and 2010. The highest of these, as of 2018, are as follows:

Country	Household debt as a % of GDP (2018)	Household debt as a % of GDP (2010)	Percentage change between 2018 and 2010
Switzerland	128.7%	111.53%	15.39%
Australia	120.14%	109.9%	9.32%
Denmark	115.15%	135.29%	-14.89%
Netherlands	103.42%	118.74%	-12.90%
Canada	100.68%	92.44%	8.91%
Norway	100.35%	81.85%	22.60%
Cyprus	98.94%	118.27%	-16.34%
New Zealand	94.04%	90.28%	4.16%
South Korea	91.93%	73.17%	25.64%
Sweden	87.87%	77.08%	14.00%

Switzerland certainly fails to live up to its reputation of neutrality—at least where household debt is concerned. While the middle ground household debt of all 84 counties on the map is about 39.88% of GDP, this is one average Switzerland surpasses—along with the household debt of every other country. The country is known for being the world’s wealthiest per capita, but it’s also one of the most expensive countries in the world. Understandably then, late payments (of taxes, insurance premiums, rent, mortgage interest, utilities, etc.) are the most common reason for Switzerland’s high household debt being the highest.

However, this wasn’t always the case. In 2010, Denmark’s household debt (135.29% of GDP) was far greater than Switzerland’s (111.53%), though the Danish managed to decrease that significantly by 2018. However, this is far from the biggest change, positive or negative, in household debt between 2010 and 2018.

Biggest Changes in Household Debt Over the Years

In the case of debt, being negative is actually a positive. There are quite a few countries that, like Denmark, managed to lower their household debts in the eight years between 2010 and 2018. The greatest decreases include:

• Ukraine (-70.85% household debt decrease)
• Ireland (-62.19%)
• Latvia (-58.27%)
• Afghanistan (-55.94%)
• São Tomé and Príncipe (-55.67%)
• Hungary (-54.64%)
• Sri Lanka (-41.89%)
• Sierra Leone (-41.03%)
• Spain (-29.50%)
• Iceland (-29.42%)

In 2010, Ukraine’s household debt was 19.42% of GDP. By 2018, the country managed to lower that number by 70.85% to just 5.66, the 11th lowest in the world. Both Afghanistan and Sierra Leone’s debt decreases also placed them among the top 10 countries with the least amount of debt. Afghanistan’s decrease of 55.94% makes it the #1 country with the lowest debt on the entire map (0.63% of 2018’s GDP). Similarly, Sierra Leone reigns at #2 with 1.61% of GDP thanks to their citizen’s thrifty ways between 2010 and 2018.

On the opposite end of the debt spectrum are the giant increases of certain countries from 2010 to 2018. Myanmar (+322.22% household debt), the Republic of the Congo (+170.08%), Chad (+117.19%), and Lesotho (+101.64%) all saw an increase in household debt of over 100 percent.

You can view the world’s current lowest household debts, such as Ukraine’s, when you sort the map by “Household debt (2018)” and select the “3.07 – 0.63” and “11.21 – 3.38” groups. For now, let’s move on to the highest of a different kind of debt.

Household vs. Government Debts: How Do They Compare?

Now let’s see how public or government debt compares.

Of the countries with the most debt in this category, just one also made the top 10 list in high household debt: Canada. In the country, this amounts to $44,348 per person. Here’s the rest of the top countries by public debt:

1. ​​Japan: $102,503 Purchasing power parity (PPP)
2. Singapore: $97,852
3. Qatar: $77,278
4. Greece: $50,562
5. Italy: $49,060
6. Ireland: $47,822
7. Belgium: $47,291
8. United States: $46,645
9. Canada: $44,348
10. Bahrain: $43,659

Japan’s overall debt is clearly the highest. Meanwhile, the United States, which has a National Debt clock in New York City’s Times Square, only comes in 8th overall when it comes to public debt.

Find your own insights on the map above when you group by any date field. Then bring your own data to life with our free mapping tool.

What do nearly 600 million people around the world have in common? Hablan español—that is, they speak Spanish. Included in that number is an impressive amount of native Spanish speakers, who, as children, learned to speak the language of their birthplace place. Spanish is only surpassed by English, Mandarin, and Hindi in popularity.

As such, you can find Spanish speakers on nearly every continent in the world, from Africa to Oceania. There are 45 countries where Spanish is either an official language or a significant Spanish-speaking population—and not only in Spain and Latin America, as you’ll find on the map below.

View Map of Spanish-Speaking Countries in a full screen map

Spanish-Speaking Continents

As the fourth most popular language in the world, Spanish is spoken across most continents. But which are home to most of the 45 Spanish-speaking countries?

1. South America (11 Spanish-speaking countries)
2. Caribbean (7)
3. Central America (7)
4. Europe (7, including Turkey)
5. Africa (4)
6. Oceania (3)
7. North America (3)
8. Asia (4, also including Turkey)

For nine of South America’s Spanish-speaking countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela), Spanish is an official language. Meanwhile, Spanish is spoken in Brazil and Trinidad & Tobago, though it’s not an official language. Within the continent, Colombia is home to the highest percentage of the population who speak Spanish natively (99.2%) while Paraguay is home to the least (68.2%).

While the majority of South American countries all have a high amount of Spanish speakers, technically North America is the continent with the most. Though many separate the Caribbean and Central America (including the source of our data), they’re both a part of the same continent as Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

Of those three, only Mexico lists Spanish as its official language—and 96.8% speak it natively. Meanwhile, just 1.94% of Canadians, or 732,110 people speak Spanish whether natively or non-natively. Though a small percentage, Canada is the country with the 5th most number of Spanish speakers, for which it isn’t an official language. The U.S. boasts 17.15%—56,757,391 people—of the same statistic, which is actually the highest among the countries where Spanish isn’t an official language.

Altogether, 17 North American countries speak Spanish, and it’s the official language of 10 total, including many of the countries with the most native Spanish speakers we’ll discuss below.

Countries with the Most Native Spanish Speakers

While you can find Spanish speakers on every continent aside from Antarctica, there are certain places where you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t speak Spanish. The countries where Spanish is an official language in the following table are home to almost 100% native Spanish speakers.

Country	Flag	% of population who speak Spanish natively
Cuba	🇨🇺	99.8
El Salvador	🇸🇻	99.7
Costa Rica	🇨🇷	99.3
Colombia	🇨🇴	99.2
Puerto Rico	🇵🇷	99
Honduras	🇭🇳	98.7
Uruguay	🇺🇾	98.4
Argentina	🇦🇷	98.1
Dominican Republic	🇩🇴	97.6
Venezuela	🇻🇪	97.3

If you’re visiting Cuba and don’t speak Spanish, you may have some trouble, seeing as 99.8% of the population speaks the language natively. That leaves just 22,660 of Cuba’s 11.33 million residents who aren’t native speakers.

Yet while Spanish is the official language of Cuba (as is the case for all of the top 10), it isn’t the only language spoken in the country. Many Cubans also speak Haitian Creole, Lucumi, Galician, and Corsican.

Additionally, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Puerto Rico also fall into the 99th percentile of native Spanish speakers, followed closely by the rest of the countries on the table.

You can see where the other countries fall when you group the map by “% of population who speak Spanish natively”, which includes details about the Spanish-speaking country in Africa where 74% are native speakers.