Why Warm Countries Are Poorer - Digital
Also available: printed or framed.
Countries near the equator are poorer, and the usual explanations are heat, humidity, disease, and institutions. But there’s another that doesn’t usually get mentioned: mountains.
Humans are most comfortable at the mild temperatures of the African highlands where we evolved, so in the tropics people moved uphill, away from the heat and disease. But mountains make transport expensive, which means less trade, less wealth, and more conflict between isolated valleys.
Warm countries had to pick their poison: lowlands that are hot and sick but trade cheaply, or highlands that are cool and healthy but cut off. Igor Brala's poster shows both worlds, split by a band of cloud. Based on the article Why Warm Countries Are Poorer.
By Igor Brajković - Brala, winner of the 2026 Uncharted Territories poster competition.
Digital download: one high-resolution JPG, 7200 × 10800 px (24 × 36 in at 300 dpi). Print it at home or with any print shop, at any 2:3 size up to 24 × 36 in. For personal use only; not for resale.
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- Room photos are digitally created to show size and style. The plain product photos show exactly what you’ll receive.
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