It is the time of year again to present the most subjective list of them all, the Best of 2014. These are the twenty charts I have chosen, from the ‘short’ list of 133, which can be found here. If that does not fill your appetite, you can always check out the previous editions as well: 2013, 2012 and 2011. (and yes, 2010 is still missing…)

Here goes.

Number 20: the pain in Spa… Greece

https://markcliffe.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/trade.pdf

Number 19: We should have known: the euro reached puberty…

https://twitter.com/fmirw/status/428651548508291074

Number 18: Oil producing countries put into perspective

Number 17: Speeding things up…

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/03/daily-chart-7 

Number 16: How to lie with statistics

http://www.businessinsider.com/spurious-correlations-by-tyler-vigen-2014-5

Number 15: The incredible rise of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund

http://qz.com/252753/norways-gargantuan-sovereign-wealth-fund-by-the-numbers/

Number 14: The positive impact of the oil price decline

http://www.businessinsider.com/societe-generale-oil-price-drop-effects-2014-11

Number 13: At the butcher, ten years from now. Order your printed meat!

Number 12: Some perspective on emissions

http://www.vox.com/2014/9/22/6805513/un-climate-talks-in-seven-charts

Number 11: the world is going down the drain (and some more brilliant street-art)

http://brekend.nl/2014/05/21/15-x-street-art-die-met-de-omgeving-speelt/

Number 10: Population density in China.

https://twitter.com/Amazing_Maps

Number 9: So much for that lost decade…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/07/italys-triple-dip-recession-has-wiped-out-all-its-growth-since-2000/

Number 8: What it takes to be a good investor

http://www.businessinsider.com/mindblowing-facts-warren-buffett-2014-8

Number 7: No comment…

http://priceonomics.com/why-you-should-never-read-the-comments/

Number 6: The rise and (ongoing) fall of Newspaper ads..

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/no_good_news_for_newspapers_in.php

Number 5: The shape of terrorism…

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/07/each-dot-on-this-map-represents-an-act-of-terrorism-since-1970/

Number 4: Economic costs of various events (although I think civil war is somewhat more costly at times)…

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/09/economics-disasters

Number 3: Independence from the UK: the Scots said no.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/140915/map-formerly-united-kingdom-independence-from-britain

Number 2:  The incredible cement consumption by China…

http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Making-the-Modern-World

AND THE WINNER IS:….How big the stock markets of Emerging Markets really are.

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21594476-scarce