What is the average population density

If we want to understand how people are distributed across the world, another useful tool is the population cartogram : a geographical presentation of the world where the size of the countries are not drawn according to the distribution of land, but according to the distribution of people.

Here we show how the world looks in this way. When we see a standard map we tend to focus on the largest countries by area. But these are not always where the greatest number of people live. Located near the French Riviera on the northern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, Monaco has a population of fewer than 40, people compared to China's 1. If one expands the list to overlook political technicalities and include territories that are currently claimed by larger nations, such as Hong Kong and Macau —the "Special Administrative Regions" of China—the numbers become even more impactful.

In fact, three of the top five entries are territories rather than countries, with first-place Macau joined by fellow Chinese territory Hong Kong in 4th place and the UK "crown dependency" Gibraltar in 5th.

In the case of humans, population density is often discussed in relation to urbanization , immigration, and population demographics. Globally, statistics related to population density are tracked by the United Nations Statistics Division, and the United States Constitution requires population data to be collected every 10 years, an operation carried out by the U. Census Bureau. However, data on human population density at the country level, and even at regional levels, may not be very informative; society tends to form clusters that can be surrounded by sparsely inhabited areas.

Therefore, the most useful data describes smaller, more discrete population centers. Dense population clusters generally coincide with geographical locations often referred to as city, or as an urban or metropolitan area; sparsely populated areas are often referred to as rural. These terms do not have globally agreed upon definitions, but they are useful in general discussions about population density and geographic location.

Population density data can be important for many related studies, including studies of ecosystems and improvements to human health and infrastructure. For example, the World Health Organization, the U. Energy Information Administration, the U. Global Change Research Program, and the U. Departments of Energy and Agriculture all use population data from the U.

Census or UN statistics to understand and better predict resource use and health trends. Key areas of study include the following:. This list is not inclusive—the way society structures its living spaces affects many other fields of study as well. Scientists have even studied how happiness correlates with population density. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header.

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