Drylands: Population Density
| Analytical Overview |
| The population density grid was clipped to the drylands extent. |
Map Projection
Geographic
Map Description
Regionally, Asia has the largest population living in drylands, both in terms of numbers and percent: over 1.4 billion people, or 42 percent of the region’s population. Africa has nearly the same percentage of people living in drylands-- 41 percent-- although the total number is less than Asia’s: nearly 270 million. South America has 30 percent of its population in drylands or approximately 87 million people.
Of the three aridity zones defining drylands, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands are the most populated by people. Some of the highest population densities in the world are found in the semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones of India. Other pockets of high population densities occur in the dry sub-humid zones of eastern China, the Middle East, and West Africa.
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Citation:
WRI. 2002. World Resources Institute. Drylands, People, and Ecosystem Goods and Services: A Web-based Geospatial Analysis. Available online at: http://www.wri.org
Sources:
- United Nations Environment Program/Global Resource Information Database. Prepared by U. Diechmann and L. Eklundh. 1991, Global Digital Datasets for Land Degradation Studies: a GIS Approach. Nairobi, Kenya:UNEP/GEMS and GRID.
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and World Resources Institute (WRI). 2000, Gridded Population of the World, Version 2 Alpha. Palisades, NY, USA:IESIN and Columbia University.
- Office to Combat Desertification and Drought. 1997, Aridity Zones and Dryland Populations: an Assessment of
Population Levels in the World’s Drylands. New York, New York, USA: UNSO/UNDP.