Population density

I'm fascinated by population density maps. Here are a few interesting ones I've come across:

Population density of Africa:

Population density of Australia:

This is something called the Yuxi Circle, the world’s most populated area:

Here's a photo taken by NASA of the Iberian Peninsula at night.

Here's what the population of New York City would look like if it were spread out according to current population density in the red areas.

Here's a similar depiction of Los Angeles County's population:

And Chicago's:

Here's Australia's population, split in half.

Here's another view of Australia's population.

How about states with a smaller population than Los Angeles County:

Apparently 50% of Canada's population lives south of the red line:

Look at all the empty places in New Zealand:

How about this? (The red nation is Bangladesh.)

Or this:

This link gives world population densities.

And this fascinating website allows you to drag-and-drop to compare the true size of one country against another.

So there you go. Just some food for thought for the week ahead.

One of the (many) reasons I love Idaho

I came across a link this morning entitled "41 Maps That Put Different Things About The U.S. Into Perspective." Some were bizarre (breaking down U.S. governors by eye color?) which makes me think someone had too much time on their hands.

But the ones I found most interesting have to do with population density, and highlights why I love Idaho:

And of course, I'm sure you've all seen the NASA photos showing the U.S. at night from space:

Yep, I love Idaho.

Where do you live?

In reading a recent link from The Prepper Journal (linked from SurvivalBlog), I was stopped in my tracks by the following map:

The caption to this map reads: Half Of The United States Lives In These Counties

This was so riveting that I called Don and the kids over to see, and we gaped in amazement. Half the population of America crammed into those little tiny spaces.

So where do you live?

Mostly empty

Once in awhile I receive an email from a gentleman in the Netherlands (in perfect English, I might add). Recently he expressed an interest in seeing the Pacific Northwest. "Here in The Netherlands it is so crowded with people everywhere," he wrote. "It makes me sometimes anxious because no one is prepeared for anything in this socialist country."

This got me thinking. At the moment in our geography studies, we're learning the European countries and their capitals. The little flash cards we use show, among other things, the population of each country. I am astounded by how crowded the Netherlands is -- 32nd in size among European countries, yet with 16,000,000 people.

The contrast with the population density of Idaho is startling. Consider this:

The Netherlands
Size: 16,485 square miles
Population: 16,000,000
Density: 970 people/sq. mile

Idaho
Size: 83,557 square miles
Population: 1,429,096
Density: 17 people/sq. mile

And since most of the Idaho population is clustered in cities (Boise, Lewiston, Coeur d'Alene), the vast majority of the state is simply... empty.

To be fair, it's hard to make a living here, so it doesn't surprise me that the population is so low.

But wow -- 970 people per square mile. That is decidedly cozy.

Urbanized areas

Here's a fascinating map I found through SurvivalBlog which details urbanized areas and urban clusters from 2010 census data.

I confess I found myself staring at this map for minutes on end, marveling at the population distribution.