POWER layer · national power
/monitorWhat it answers
Who weighs what. The National Power Index painted onto national polygons: one reading of power, expressed as a share of the world, with every country's rank.
When to open it
Anatomy
Switch on POWER in the layer grid at top right. Every covered country takes a shade off its place in the standing, from navy (bottom) to red (top).
Bottom left, a legend: the indicator name (National Power Index), the color ramp bracketed by the lowest and highest value in the reading either side of low → high, then a last line with how many countries are covered and the date of the reading.
No dedicated info card — the hover is enough. Clicking a country opens its usual country card (Econ / News), independently of POWER.
How to read it
The color ramp
Six equal bands, cut on rank — a sixth of the standing each, over a reading that covers a little under two hundred countries.
| Pill | Place in the standing |
|---|---|
| red | Top of the table — the first sixth, roughly #1 to #29. |
| amber | Next band, ≈ #30–#58. |
| green | Mid-table, ≈ #59–#86. |
| cyan | ≈ #87–#115. |
| blue | ≈ #116–#143. |
| navy | Bottom of the table — the last sixth, past #143. |
The bounds move with the reading's coverage, and a country changes band when its rank changes. A country missing from the reading stays uncolored: the map doesn't cover 195 of them.
The legend and the tooltip
| On screen | How to read it |
|---|---|
| National Power Index (legend title) | The indicator painted on the map. |
| The two bounds around low → high | Lowest and highest value in the reading, in compact form. |
The bottom line, N countries · YYYY-MM-DD | How many countries are covered, then the date of the reading on screen. |
Hover: National Power Index: value share_of_world · #rank/total | The country's value, its unit — a share of the world total — and its rank across every covered country. |
The tooltip carries the fine read; the color only gives you the band.
Controls
| Gesture | Effect |
|---|---|
| POWER toggle in the grid at top right | Turns the power background color and its legend on or off. |
| Hover a country | Tooltip: value, unit, rank. |
| Click a country | Opens the country card (Econ or News, whichever toggle is active), not a POWER-specific card. |
The reading loads once, on first toggle: it is a dated snapshot, not a refreshing feed.
Cross-check with other Hawkline features
- For the macro data behind the country you just placed: the country card in Econ mode, then Macro.
- For the human mass behind the rank: POP, on the same polygons (run them one at a time).
- For what is moving at that actor today: NEWS and News.
- For the editorial read on the theater involved: ZONE and the Desk panel.
Keep in mind
- Color follows rank, not value. The top of the standing is tightly packed and then drops away fast: two countries one rank apart can be neck and neck or twice apart, and the red band flattens both cases the same way. For the real distance, hover.
- A share of the world stays a share. A country can slide down the standing without losing anything: the others going up is enough.
- The index weighs mass, not prosperity or influence. Poor but populous and militarized states come out ahead of small rich economies. Read as raw weight that holds together; read as an economic verdict it is nonsense.
- The low bound displays rounded. The bottom of the table reads
0.000in the legend: micro-states are below display resolution, not at zero. - POWER and POP paint the same polygons. With both on, POWER sits in front and its tooltip is the one that answers. Run them one at a time.