The document discusses mental maps and perceptions of countries in the Middle East and around the world. It provides statistics about GDP, life expectancy, infant mortality rates, literacy rates, and other indicators for several countries. Students are assigned a country to research using sources like the CIA World Factbook and a website that compares facts about their country to the United States. They analyze where their assigned country ranks in human development.

3. Turkey’s Aegean Coast

4. Dome of the Rock, as seen through the qanatir (arcade), Jerusalem

5. Modern buildings along the Dubai Creek at night, Dubai

6. “ Mental Mapping” Are our “mental maps” of the world accurate?

8. Which countries have the best standard of living ? Iceland Japan Belgium Israel Kuwait United Arab Emirates Cuba Bahamas Venezuela Saudi Arabia Iran China South Africa India Nigeria Afghanistan DISCUSS AS A CLASS: What influenced your decisions?

11. You’ll also be looking for… Majority Religion Imports/Exports (top 2 commodities) Suffrage (Who can vote?) # Cell phones per person And one statistic of your choice and compare it to the United States!

15. How do these countries stack up In the Human Development Report (HDR)? HDI= GDP, Life Expectancy, Literacy Rate 1-38 = Very High Human Development 39-83 = High Human Development 84-158 = Medium Human Development 159-182 = Low Human Development source: UN 3. Iceland 10. Japan 13. United States 27. Israel 31. Kuwait 35. United Arab Emirates 51. Cuba 52. Bahamas 58. Venezuela 59. Saudi Arabia 88. Iran 92. China 129. South Africa 134. India 158. Nigeria 181. Afghanistan