Gridded Population of the World

Gridded Population of the World (version 3), constructed by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, provides spatial data on population around the world in 1990, 1995, 2000 with 2.5 arc-minute grid resolution.

A rough summary of the data construction procedure is as follows (for detail, see Deichman et al. 2001). They first collect the spatial data on national and sub-national administrative boundaries and the population estimates at the level of these administrative units. From these two data sources, the population density for each administrative unit is calculated. If a 2.5 arc-minute grid cell falls within one administrative unit, then, the population density of that unit multiplied with the area of the grid cell is used. If a cell falls onto more than one administrative unit, each unit's population density is multiplied by the area of that unit in the cell and summed over. In the calculation of areas, the water bodies and the presence of ice are taken into consideration.

Used by Michalopoulos (2007) "Ethnolinguistic Diversity: Origins and Implications" to check if population density is not lower than 1 person squared km in 4 by 4 degree grids.

Used also by Quoc-Anh Do and Filipe R. Campante (2007) "Keeping Dictators Honest: The Role of Population Concentration" to measure an index of population concentration around the capital city.