Who thought numbers could ever be this much fun? Nobody – that's why we at HowMuch.net make sure to find the right graph that brings home the significance of the stats and the facts behind the figures. Here are 10 of our proudest data visualizations of 2016:

This World Map Shows the Economic Growth Over the Coming Decade

Think of a world map, but then abandon all your expectations. This piece of cartography introduces a novel form of distortion: a projection of economic growth. Each country is inflated by the percentage of predicted average annual economic growth. Some big countries shrink, a few small ones balloon to dominate the map. Will they rule the global economic roost by 2024? (Read the full story here).

This 3D Map Shows How Much You Must Earn to Buy a Home in 27 Major U.S. Metros

If you live in one of America’s main metro areas and you want to buy a house, these are the mountains you must climb. This map shows, in dangerous-looking 3D, how much you need to earn a year to afford a house. The height of the peaks is shockingly divergent: from just under $150,000 in San Francisco (ouch!) to just over a fifth of that in Cleveland, Ohio. Then again, that is the city the proposed slogan of which goes: You gotta live somewhere. (Read the full story here).

The World Map of Billionaires

Did you know that 30% of the world's billionaires live in the U.S.? And that while almost a third of those are self-made, almost as many inherited their wealth? This map gives an insightful overview of the global distribution of the super-rich, and how they got their money. Did you know that tiny Taiwan has more billionaires than Japan? Or that more than two thirds of German plutocrats are rich because their parents were? You do now! For much more info on the 1%, check out this amazing map. (Read the full story here).

This GIF Shows Where the U.S. Imports Oil From in the Past 15 Years

If foreign policy is, in effect, all about the oil, then America is going to need a lot less foreign policy in the future. This amazing GIF shows the dramatic changes in U.S. oil imports between 2005 and 2015. See America’s dependency on Middle-Eastern oil shrink, as it gets its fuel from closer, more reliable sources like Canada. Also, in just a decade, the U.S. has reduced its thirst for foreign policy by about 1.5 million barrels per annum. Did we say policy? We meant oil. (Read the full story here).

See How Long People Have to Work for a Gallon of Petrol

How much do you have to sweat to earn one gallon of petrol? As a globally used fuel for transportation and source of energy, petroleum is as close to a universal currency as the world is likely to get. Visualising how long it takes people around the world to earn a gallon of the stuff is a brutally honest way of comparing levels of income. Americans earn up to three gallons an hour, while Bangladeshi have to toil more than 46 hours for one gallon. (Read the full story here).

How Much of Your Country's Debt Rests on your Shoulders

The title says snowball, but you're forgiven if you think this looks more like the Pizza of Debt: a circle of all countries in the world, arranged for debt per inhabitant. At the centre: developed nations, with high per-capita debt. Yes, the U.S. makes the Top Ten, but Japan, Ireland, Singapore and Belgium beat us to the finish. At the pizza's edge: poorer countries, but with a lot less debt. You tell us where you want to live. And yet: some rich countries manage small per-capita debts, and vice versa...(Read the full story here).

Unprecedented Spending Trends in America, in One Chart

In 1941, Americans were better-read, but had more persistent coughs, than their great-grandchildren in 2014: back then, the average U.S. household spent more on reading – and tobacco – than just a few years ago. But in just about all of the other ten categories listed here, household spending has increased dramatically, especially in education, health care and housing. Curiously, spending on clothing and food peaked in 1961 and has gone down ever since; and spending on recreation peaked in 1973, but is creeping up again... (Read the full story here).;

The Olympic Games Always Go Over Budget, in One Chart

The Olympic spirit is a beautiful thing. But our twin graphs, of the cost and the cost overruns of selected modern Games respectively, reveal an ugly truth behind the Faster, Higher, Stronger motto. And that is: Money, Money, Money. The first graph details the sometimes enormous wads of cash thrown at the events. The Winter Games at Sochi cost a bank-breaking $21.9 billion. The second shows by how much they went over budget. Montreal still has the world record, at 720%. (Read the full story here).

The $50 American Road Trip

Nothing is more quintessentially American than a road trip. Or it has to be the tedious budgeting that precedes it: How much money do we have and how far can we get on it? Let these maps to the calculating for you: centered on over a dozen major American cities, they show how far you can get on up to $50 of gas, at local prices. Miami might be a great place to end, but see why it is a bad place to start. And why the reverse may apply to Detroit... (Read the full story here).

The Tax Reform that Will Make America Great Again Will Hurt Many Americans. Are You One of Them?

When still a candidate, the soon-to-be 46th president promised to cut taxes, especially for working and middle-income Americans. As our graph shows, Trump's promises don't match with the letter of his tax reform proposal. Yes, it would be simpler than the current system. But most of the benefit would go to those in the upper tax bands. And some tax payers would see their contributions raised. Especially working and middle-income Americans. (Read the full story here).

As this small sample shows, we at HowMuch.net sure had fun with numbers in 2016. We predict at least as much entertainment in the New Year! To keep track of our fun take on fact-filled graphs, join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and/or subscribe to our newsletter.

The Best 2016 Money Visualizations by https://t.co/ZVrlNcZqpp pic.twitter.com/DdVLMbHDnk https://t.co/msvEf2liJW via @howmuch_net #dataviz

— How Much (@howmuch_net) January 4, 2017