Cultural Maps of the World

Abstract

The cross-cultural literature contains many examples of cultural maps of the world, showing proximities and distances between multiple countries in a two-dimensional cultural space. As a rule, these maps are drawn on the basis of results of paper-and-pencil studies: values, beliefs, and other self-reports. Our map represents an innovation as it is based not only on paper-and-pencil studies but mostly on national statistics reflecting important behavioural variables, such as murder rates, adolescent fertility, road death tolls, transparency versus corruption, and more. The map evidences two dimensions that reflect national culture and create clear geographic clusters. This demonstrates that national statistics can represent meaningful cultural indicators similar to those from paper-and-pencil studies and creating interpretable country maps.