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It's probably similar to a map showing where most rich people are living.
It's not like nothing can be done about light pollution. For example Germany has a law about light pollution, and it shows on this map. It less polluted than its neighbours, although it has higher population density and urbanization level.
> The MLO offers several innovations to outdoor lighting regulation, including the use of lighting zones to classify land use with appropriate lighting levels for each. The MLO also makes use of the “BUG” (Backlight, Uplight and Glare) classification of outdoor lighting fixtures to ensure that only well-shielded fixtures are used.
* https://www.darksky.org/our-work/lighting/public-policy/mode...
I'm really surprised how polluted some parts of the USA are, like North Dakota. I would have figured there'd not be much there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dark Sky communities are only one kind of designations, there are also Dark Sky "Parks" [0], "Reserves" [1], and "Sanctuaries" [2]. Those are much more scattered through the world. [0] https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/parks/ [1] https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/reserves/ [2] https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/sanctuari...
It still looks very US-biased. I can think of several dozen places and parks in northern Scandinavia, western China, Mongolia, Canada that are almost devoid of light pollution that aren't even on this list. Also almost the entire country of Iceland and all of its parks are excellent dark sky and not even mentioned here. And that's just places I have personally been. I'm sure there are huge parts of Africa, Australia…
I'd say it's mostly because there is an application process. Unlike for example travel guides where people go around the world to discover new places, IDA is waiting for those places to apply. If you add the language barrier, the quite long list of requirements and political actions to make to be able to apply, that only reduces the list of candidates.
I suppose there are also less-known local initiatives throughout the world. Here in France, we have the ANPCEN [0], fighting against light pollution and delivering labels to cities that take actions against light pollution (like shutting off the streetlights from 11PM to 5AM).
[0] https://www.anpcen.fr/?id_rub=19&rub=participez-%E0-villes-e... (in French, but there is a Google Translate button in the footer)