Global Population Density Estimates for 2015

Global population density maps exist up to the year 2005, but there is no map depicting the projected situation in 2015, which is the target date of Millennium Development Goals and the World Food Summit. This is the first such map for 2015. It was made based on the data from more than 375,000 administrative units. Population is projected to the year 2015 using simple extrapolation methods. For most countries of the world, subnational estimates of population from the two most recent censuses (c. 1990 and 2000) were used as the basis of the extrapolation. Subnational rates of growth for the 1990–2000 interval were then applied in five-year increments. At each step—2005, 2010, and 2015—national level totals were adjusted to the United Nations’ Population Estimates and Projections.

For further information, view the publication by Salvatore, M., Pozzi, F., Ataman, E., Huddleston, B., and Bloise, M., 2005, “Mapping Global Urban and Rural Population Distribution,” Environmental and Natural Resources Working Paper No. 24, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, at the Web site.