Suppose State A records 1,000 UFO reports and State B records 300. Which state reports more UFOs?

By total count, A does. Now suppose A has ten million residents and B has one million.

A has 10 reports per 100,000 residents. B has 30.

Nothing about the reports changed. The question changed.

Count and rate answer different questions

A count describes the volume of recorded events. A population rate describes that volume relative to the number of residents.

Neither measure is automatically better. A newsroom asking where most reports came from may need counts. Someone comparing reporting frequency across populations may need rates.

Both need a matching time period and a clear definition of a report.

A rate is still a measurement of reporting

Dividing by population does not turn UFO reports into a direct measure of unusual objects in the sky.

Tourism, reporting access, repeated submissions, and differences in observation conditions can all affect the numerator. Small counts can also make rankings unstable: one extra report matters much more when the starting count is two than when it is two thousand.

Population adjustment answers one problem. It does not remove every other explanation.

What I want beside the chart

Show the count, denominator, time window, and unit. If the chart ranks places, explain what that ranking measures.

The numbers above are an invented example. Their purpose is to show why a denominator belongs in the story.

Before asking which place leads, decide what “leads” means.