Asia Population Database Documentation

This project (which has been carried out as a cooperative activity between NCGIA, CGIAR and UNEP/GRID between Oct. 1995 and present) has pooled available data sets, many of which had been assembled for the global demography project. All data were checked, international boundaries and coastlines were replaced with a standard template, the attribute database was redesigned, and new, more reliable population estimates for subnational units were produced for all countries. From the resulting data sets, raster surfaces representing population distribution and population density were created in collaboration between NCGIA and GRID-Geneva.

• Mirror sites also available at GRID-Geneva (Switzerland) and GRID-Arendal (Norway).

Africa Population Database Documentation

The development of this database was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme / Global Resource Information Database (UNEP/GRID) Sioux Falls, and the World Resources Institute (WRI), Washington D.C. Additional support and facilities were provided by the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA). Kim Ballasiano and Sara Moola at WRI assisted in the compilation of population data.

Global Population Distribution Database

This work was made possible by financial support from Environment Canada and the United Nations Environment Programme.
This project has provided a population database depicting the worldwide distribution of population in a 1X1 latitude/longitude grid system. The database is unique, firstly, in that it makes use of the most recent data available (1990). Secondly, it offers true apportionment for each grid cell that is, if a cell contains populations from two different countries, each is assigned a percentage of the grid cell area, rather than artificially assigning the whole cell to one or the other country (this is especially important for European countries). Thirdly, the database gives the percentage of a country's total population accounted for in each cell. So if a country's total in a given year around 1990 (1989 or 1991, for example) is known, then population in each cell can be calculated by using the percentage given in the database with the assumption that the growth rate in each cell of the country is the same. And lastly, this dataset is easy to be updated for each country as new national population figures become available.

[ UNEP/GRID-Sioux Falls ]

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Last modified: 23 September 1997.
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