Where to find high spatial resolution data on population distribution

This post points you to six free sources of high spatial resolution data on population distribution.

1. Gridded Population of the World (GPW) brings population estimates at a resolution of approx. 1km. This dataset results from a collaboration between CIESIN / Columbia University and Sedac / Nasa. 

2. WorldPop brings population estimates at a resolution of approx. 100 meters for different years. This project goes a bit further as it also includes some population characteristics like age and sex structures, births, pregnancies, and poverty. The project is directed by Andy Tatem and it involves a number of collaborators from the University of Southampton, the University of Oxford, the World Bank and the Flowminder Foundation. They also do a fantastic job in terms of transparency, by getting their data and methods published in peer-review journals.

credit: Worldpop

3. More recently, CIESIN announced they are partnering with Facebook’s Connectivity Lab. The idea of the project is to create the highest resolution maps of population distribution ever created (5 meters) by applying image recognition algorithms to analyze high resolution satellite imagery. The project has already applied this method to 21 countries and the data output is gradually being released for download on their webpage (I thank Rafael Marinho for the pointer)

4. [update Oct 2016] Another source comes from the European Commission and its Global Human Settlement (GHS) framework, which combines fine-scale satellite imagery, census data, and volunteered geographic information. This project brings population estimates at resolutions of 250 meters and 1km approx for different years (1975, 1990, 2000 and 2015). I thank Jim for the pointer.

5. [update Nov 2016] Eurostat and EFGS has also produced population-grid datasets in the years 2006 and 2011 for member countries of the European Union. They use a resolution of 1km and data from population and housing census. I thank Marcin Stepniak for the pointer.

6. Brazilian bonus: IBGE (the Census Bureau of Brazil) has also made publicly available a gridded population dataset with a resolution of 200 meters, which comes from the PhD thesis of Maria do Carmo Bueno at Nepo / Unicamp.

Lectureship in Demography at Unicamp (Brazil)

Another opportunity that might be of interest for some of you: now in Brazil at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the Population Studies Centre (NEPO).

Lecturer position in Demographic Theory and Methods at Unicamp/Nepo*

(Salary: about U$4,600 per month)

obs. Thank Ricardo Ojima for the tip!

*Again, It's written in Portuguese only.... unfortunately that's the price we pay for being Brazil.

Cities, Scales and Climate Change (Event)

spread the words: The Population Studies Center (Nepo/Unicamp) together with the Brazilian Association of Population Studies (ABEP) and other scientific institutions in Brazil are promoting a very interesting international event.

It's the International Seminar 'Population and Space in Environmental Change: Cities, Scales and Climate Change'

"The event will be a joint effort of the Working Group Population, Space and Environment (GT-PopEA) of the Brazilian Association for Population Studies (ABEP) and of the Brazilian Network for Climate Change Research (RedeCLIMA)". It sounds like a promising event!

By the way, this event will be dedicated to memory of Daniel J. Hogan and his scientific contributions in the population, urbanization and environmental change fields. I was fortunate to have him as my advisor throughout my Masters and I'm sure it's going to be a beautiful tribute.

Event details here:

Timeline
Beginning of the period of registrations and applications submission – February 21, 2011Deadline for applications – March 25, 2011Notification of acceptance to authors – April 11, 2011Deadline for registration – April 20, 2011