The Snowball of Debt

This is a superb graphic to promote discussion on the causes and effects of a country having a high public debt (in relation to GDP).

Countries closest to the middle of the snowball have the highest debt per capita and it is also colour coded in terms of debt as a percentage of GDP. It throws up a few surprises and is a great tool for teaching the reasonably dry (for many students) topic of budget surpluses and deficits.

The graphic can be found here and the how much.net site has a number of other great data visualisations that can be used for discussion.