The Winter Olympics in Sochi begin today. I hope the games are safe and successful, and I also hope they serve to shine a global spotlight on anti-gay attitudes and policies in Russia.

On that note, the Martin Prosperity Institute has put together this map showing the percentage of populations surveyed who believe their country is a good place to be gay or lesbian.

By Martin Prosperity Institute. Click to read about how this map was made

The authors also compared these findings with national economic and social indicators, and found that tolerance of homosexuality is correlated with all sorts of good things. For example, the correlation with economic output per person is 0.72. That’s pretty high. It’s interesting to think about why this is, and whether there is causality involved, and, if so, which way(s) it go(es). Something to ponder during the figure skating.