02.22.13

Insights from a World Population Density Map

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:45 am by danvk

I recently saw this map on the delightful “MapPorn” subreddit:

Please click through to the full image, it’s huge!

What I love about this map is that insights spring right out of it. A few that came to my mind:

1. The old world (Asia & Europe) is still more heavily populated than the new.
2. Population in the new world tends to be more clustered around cities (and roads) than in Europe or Asia.
3. Population density in Russia goes much farther east than I’d realized.
4. Moscow is much farther east than any other European city.
5. All of Egypt’s population lives along the Nile.
6. France and Spain are far more centered around their cities than Germany.
7. Population density in the United States drops off sharply around the 100th meridian.
8. There are no “empty” spots in India or Eastern China.
9. Southwest Africa is quite empty.
10. Deserts suck. So does tundra.

Do you see anything when you look at the map? The data comes from the Gridded Population of the World project.

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