World Breast Cancer Rates Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

World Map of Breast Cancer Rates Available from Ball State University Libraries

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  The Ball State University Libraries’ Atlas Collection and GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) feature atlases, maps, and other cartographic resources that detail the rates of breast cancer and other diseases around the world.

The map above (click to enlarge) shows the rates of breast cancer per 100,000 women in each country from 2002-2007, and is from the Penguin Atlas of Women in the World available from the Atlas Collection and the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library.  According to the atlas, “breast cancer is highest in the industrialized countries.  Europe and North America, home to under one-fifth of the world’s women, account for half of the world’s breast cancer cases.”

The map shows the darker green countries having the highest rates of breast cancer.  The lowest rates are the countries in bright yellow.  The map also shows the number of women who die each week (using data from 2002), with the United States and India holding the highest numbers.

The Atlas Collection and the atlases included in the GRMC cover a wide-ranging list of topics and themes and geographic locations from all over the world.  The Atlas Collection houses over 2,500 atlases, and the topical maps from atlases can be easily scanned and inserted into papers and presentations for the classroom or research—adding visual interest and impact.

For more information about using atlases, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.