August 16, 2011

If the world lived in one city, how large would that city be?

Per Square Mile is a fascinating blog about population density with plenty of research, statistics, graphics and food for thought.

See how much space the people of the world would fit in if they lived in one big city which was as densely populated as cities such as London, Paris or New York:

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Rachel Cunliffe is the co-director of CensusAtSchool and currently consults for the Department of Statistics. Her interests include statistical literacy, social media and blogging. See all posts by Rachel Cunliffe »

Comments

  • avatar

    I’ve done this calculation before in relation to NZ immigration possibilities. If the city were as dense as Manila then 6.9 billion people would fit into the South Island. (Manila 43 079 people per sq km, SI 151 215 sq km)

    13 years ago

  • avatar
    Thomas Lumley

    The figures for the denser cities are very sensitive to where you draw the boundary:

    Paris has density nearly 21000/km2 if you use the City of Paris, 3700/km2 for the Paris urban area, and 815/km2 for the Paris metropolitan statistical area.

    Similarly, the city of San Francisco has 17000/km2, but the Bay Area (San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA MSA) has only 330/km2.

    13 years ago