The Economist has surprised everybody by doing something fun, using the United Nations’ World Drug Report 2012 (released yesterday) to generate a map of the world’s heaviest weed users. The Pacific island of Palau wins easily, with nearly a quarter of people aged 15 to 64 having smoked pot in the past year. South Africa does okay, too.

Presumably they chose the colour scheme based on how red the eyes of surveyed citizens were.

Says The Economist,

Italians and Americans also like to get high, with rates of 14.6% and 14.1% respectively. In Uruguay, where plans to legalise cannabis are being mooted, the rate is 5.6%. While consumption is stable or falling in much of the developed world, it is rising in parts of Asia and Africa. Production is harder to measure but, according to the report, cannabis cultivation in Afghanistan in 2010 was almost twice as lucrative as growing opium poppies.

The first draft of their article called it ‘the reefer’ and ‘wacky tabbacky.’

[Source: The Economist]