Demographics
These 5 Maps Visualize Population Distribution in a Unique Way
Every once in a while, a data visualization trend organically sweeps through Reddit, the popular social news aggregation site, leading to some eye-catching and interesting user-generated results.
We’ve seen users visualize how they spend their disposable income, how they spend their time, and even details of their relationships. Sometimes these charts are fairly personal and uninteresting to the outside world – but other times, they can be quite compelling to a wider audience.
Population in Fourths
Most recently, in the Data is Beautiful subreddit, the trend has been to use data visualization techniques to split up the maps of countries into four evenly populated areas.
There are hundreds of maps to be found using this technique, but here are just five examples that we thought were particularly interesting. Each one reveals certain things about the population distribution, geography, and urban/rural split in their respective jurisdictions.
The United States
The first map is the least striking, but it creates an interesting baseline – it shows the U.S. divided into four equal sections of population, with no single area standing out as being incredibly dense or sparse:
With over 300 million people spread throughout the country and big population centers in each region, it’s no surprise that this split into fourths is quite even.
However, that will not be the case for the remaining maps.
California
For example, when we go to the state level the distributions can be more easily impacted by big cities:
This map of California by old_gold_mountain is a great example of this – with three major urban areas (Los Angeles, Bay Area, and San Diego) all holding large amounts of the state’s population, the composition looks quite uneven when it gets divvied up in this way.
Canada
But Canada’s sparseness in the north goes to an even greater extreme:
It’s said that 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100km of the U.S. border – and this map by repliers_beware makes it clear that any further north can get pretty remote.
Australia
Australia is another country with geographical diversity. Some regions are conducive to civilization and growing great wine, but few species (including humans) find the Outback very hospitable.
In this case, user NaytaData lumps in the Outback with cities like Adelaide and Perth to get this colored area up to the required 25% population mark.
Chile
For a very long and narrow finale, here is the country of Chile.
This map by QuietlyEcstatic shows that the capital Santiago and its surrounding area is roughly equal to three other very large sections of the country – including the sparse but beautiful Chilean piece of Patagonia.
Demographics
Mapped: Population Growth by Region (1900-2050F)
In this visualization, we map the populations of major regions at three different points in time: 1900, 2000, and 2050 (forecasted).
Mapping Population Growth by Region
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
In fewer than 50 years, the world population has doubled in size, jumping from 4 to 8 billion.
In this visualization, we map the populations of major regions at three different points in time: 1900, 2000, and 2050 (forecasted). Figures come from Our World in Data as of March 2023, using the United Nations medium-fertility scenario.
Population by Continent (1900-2050F)
Asia was the biggest driver of global population growth over the course of the 20th century. In fact, the continent’s population grew by 2.8 billion people from 1900 to 2000, compared to just 680 million from the second on our list, Africa.
Region | 1900 | 2000 | 2050F |
---|---|---|---|
Asia | 931,021,418 | 3,735,089,775 | 5,291,555,919 |
Africa | 138,752,199 | 818,952,374 | 2,485,135,689 |
Europe | 406,610,221 | 727,917,165 | 704,398,730 |
North America | 104,231,973 | 486,364,446 | 679,488,449 |
South America | 41,330,704 | 349,634,344 | 491,078,697 |
Oceania | 5,936,615 | 31,223,133 | 57,834,753 |
World 🌐 | 1,627,883,130 | 6,149,181,237 | 9,709,492,237 |
China was the main source of Asia’s population expansion, though its population growth has slowed in recent years. That’s why in 2023, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country.
Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia have also been big drivers of Asia’s population boom to this point.
The Future: Africa to Hit 2.5 Billion by 2050
Under the UN’s medium-fertility scenario (all countries converge at a birthrate of 1.85 children per woman by 2050), Africa will solidify its place as the world’s second most populous region.
Three countries—Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt—will account for roughly 30% of that 2.5 billion population figure.
Meanwhile, both North America and South America are expected to see a slowdown in population growth, while Europe is the only region that will shrink by 2050.
A century ago, Europe’s population was close to 30% of the world total. Today, that figure stands at less than 10%.
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