The Worldmapper project's depiction of global public spending on health

A new set of maps basing the relative size of countries on socio-economic data rather than land area clearly shows gross inequalities in global public health.

The innovative maps, published in PLoS Medicine this week (30 January), were developed by the Worldmapper project.

The project aims to show each country sized according to public health variables derived from UN data such as population density, disease distribution and healthcare spending.

By using these variables instead of landmass, the maps give a clearer picture of how health problems affect different parts of the world.

A standard map of global malaria distribution, for example, will show a relatively small area of the world affected by the disease.

But according to Danny Dorling of the UK-based Sheffield University, who led the study, malaria is "a disease of people, not of land".