Data Vis Dispatch, February 11: Super Bowl, minerals, and Baltic states
Welcome back to the 180th edition of the Data Vis Dispatch! Every week, we publish a collection of the best small and large data visualizations we find, especially from news organizations — to celebrate data journalism, data visualization, simple charts, elaborate maps, and their creators.
Recurring topics this week include the Super Bowl, minerals in Africa, and affairs in countries around the Baltic Sea.
On Sunday, the Super Bowl had a large part of the U.S. population and beyond under its spell. The world of data visualization was not left untouched. Visualizations depicted the size of the players and cleaned-up lyrics in the halftime show:


Three weeks into the Trump administration, data journalists focus their attention on cuts to U.S. foreign aid, the detention of immigrants at Guantánamo Bay, and different ways to measure how the country is faring:



Trump’s calls for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza have provided a fresh occasion to highlight the enormous destruction there:



It’s a good moment to remember the ongoing war and war crimes in Europe too:

Just two weeks until Germans cast their votes. Here’s the current state of the polls (you can now create such comparison column charts in Datawrapper, too!):
![Der Spiegel: <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/sonntagsfrage-umfragen-zu-bundestagswahl-landtagswahl-europawahl-a-944816.html"><strong>So würde Deutschland heute wählen</strong></a> [<em>How Germany would vote today</em>], February 10](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/0a4fe7cfc0-1740123239/image14-1.png)
![<br>Zeit Online: <a href="https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2025-02/bundestagswahl-wahl-o-mat-rechner-koalitionen#comments"><strong>Wer passt zu wem?</strong></a> [<em>Chart description: Percentage agreement between the parties' answers to the 38 Vote-O-Mat proposals.</em>], February 8](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/3a97c35745-1740123239/image17-1.png)
Zeit Online: Wer passt zu wem? [Chart description: Percentage agreement between the parties' answers to the 38 Vote-O-Mat proposals.], February 8
Moving north to the Baltic Sea — Sweden and Finland are privatizing forests, while Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are cutting their electricity links with Russia:


This week in cities — how to improve walkability, and how Los Angeles is recovering from its recent wildfires:



Last week, Le Monde published a fascinating series on the politics of minerals in Africa:
![Le Monde: <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2025/02/03/du-cuivre-au-cobalt-la-course-aux-tresors-strategiques-du-sous-sol-de-l-afrique_6528771_3212.html"><strong>La course mondiale aux métaux « stratégiques » dans les sous-sols encore inexploités de l’Afrique</strong></a> [<em>The global race for “strategic” metals in Africa’s still unexploited subsoils</em>], February 8](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/e1b38f3861-1740123239/image24-1.png)
![Le Monde: <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2025/02/07/en-angola-le-mirage-du-corridor-de-lobito_6535360_3212.html"><strong>De l’Angola à la République démocratique du Congo, le mirage du corridor ferroviaire de Lobito</strong></a> [<em>From Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the mirage of the Lobito railway corridor</em>], February 8](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/91e434b6f2-1740123239/image25-1.png)
![Le Monde: <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2025/02/04/en-republique-democratique-du-congo-la-mine-de-coltan-de-rubaya-condense-les-problemes-de-la-region_6530845_3234.html"><strong>En RDC, la mine de coltan de Rubaya condense les problèmes de la région</strong></a> [<em>In the DRC, the Rubaya coltan mine condenses the region's problems</em>], February 8](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/4ac388a662-1740123239/image26-1.png)
We came across several rising line charts this week:
![e15: <a href="https://www.e15.cz/byznys/reality-a-stavebnictvi/figl-makleru-na-nakup-draheho-bytu-v-praze-hypoteka-hned-po-skole-a-par-let-skromnosti-1422128"><strong>Fígl makléřů na nákup drahého bytu v Praze? Hypotéka hned po škole a pár let skromnosti</strong></a> [<em>Chart title: How housing has become more expensive in the Czech Republic compared to other European countries</em>], February 4](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/08bdfd99f7-1740123239/image4-1.png)
![La Nación:<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.lanacion.com.ar/seguridad/fuga-de-presos-con-60-detenciones-diarias-colapsan-las-comisarias-portenas-y-los-vecinos-viven-nid05022025/"><strong>Fuga de presos. Con 60 detenciones diarias, colapsan comisarías porteñas y los vecinos advierten sobre el impacto en sus barrios</strong></a> [<em>Chart title: Evolution of the prison population in police stations, jails, or waiting for accommodation</em>], February 5](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/7f0b63c09f-1740123239/image12-1.png)
![Nexo Jornal: <a href="https://www.nexojornal.com.br/grafico/2025/02/06/por-que-o-cafe-esta-tao-caro-no-brasil-preco"><strong>Por que o preço do café disparou em 2024 no Brasil</strong></a> [<em>Why the price of coffee soared in 2024 in Brazil</em>], February 6](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/a658838063-1740123239/image20-1.png)
Want to explore something on your own? Here are two interactive data visualizations on alcohol consumption and pensions in Germany:

![Zeit Online: <a href="https://www.zeit.de/geld/2025-02/rentenrechner-arbeit-ruhestand-geld-finanzen"><strong>So groß ist Ihre Rentenlücke</strong></a> [<em>How big is your pension gap</em>], February 7](https://datawrapper.de/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,width=1420,f=auto,fit=cover/https://kirby.datawrapper.de/media/pages/blog/data-vis-dispatch-february-11-2025/692040cc49-1740123239/image16-1.png)
Finally, two charts we couldn't pass up — the labor market gap between immigrants and natives in Europe, and wildfire risk in Canada:


What else we found interesting


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