The State of Global Diplomacy, Mapped

In a society driven by globalization, the world has become increasingly interconnected. Ties among nations and cities have strengthened as leaders band together to come up with solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues, like terrorism, the Zika outbreak, and climate change. Diplomacy itself now comes in many forms—there’s koala diplomacy, soccer diplomacy, and the emerging field of gastrodiplomacy, to name just a few—that fall outside traditional embassies and ambassadors.

To show just how connected the world is, researchers at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Australia have created an incredibly detailed interactive that painstakingly maps nearly 6,000 diplomatic ties across 42 countries—members of the Group of 20 (G20) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)—and 660 cities. The first-ever Global Diplomacy Index highlights each country’s global reach by plotting the cities in which it has has embassies, consulates, multilateral missions and “other” representations. Each country is also ranked by the size of its diplomatic network, and not surprisingly, the U.S.—with posts in 270 cities—is No. 1. France, with 267 posts, and China, with 257, follow closely behind. Russia and the U.K. rank fourth and fifth, respectively.