National Geographic Education is currently featuring an interactive infographic comparing the diets of people around the world. What the World Eats features a pie chart of six categories of food; sugars & fats, produce, meat, dairy & eggs, grain, and other. Click on the pie chart to see what percentage of the average person’s diet is comprised of foods from each category. Clicking the chart will also show you a comparison of diets across countries. For example, you can compare the diets of people in China with those of people in the U.S.

Below the pie chart on What the World Eats you will see a play icon. Click the play icon to see how the composition of diets has changed since 1961. The playback will show the change in diets of the world as a whole and the change in diets in individual countries.

Applications for Education
What the World Eats is an interesting infographic to use in a lesson that incorporates elements of health education and social studies education. I would consider having students examine how the composition of diets has changed since 1961 then ask them to research some of the causes of the changes. For example, I would like to see if students can make the correlation between China’s industrialization and its increase in meat consumption over the same time period.