I got to thinking that all time zones are not created equally in that some are much more densely populated than others. So, when Santa gets around to pulling his all-nighter, he has more work to do in some timezones than in others. I figured someone had thought this through before, outside the North Pole, that is, but if someone has, he is staying silent about it. So, absent access to Santa’s logistics people, who are probably pretty busy this time of year, I figured I would do a little mashup and illustrate it, if not explain it.
Here is a view of world population density by timezone:
As you can see, the amount of work to be done in some time zones is markedly more than in others. (Look at Z, A, and B covering Europe versus O covering mostly Atlanta Ocean, for example.) Obviously this is based just on raw population and not on religious belief or number of believers in Santa Claus or anything else, but I figure those can be left either as a useful exercise to the reader or as a part of some sort of government or United Nations grant!
Timezone map from http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com
World population from http://www.nationsonline.org
Thanks!