There’s not enough room on Earth.
Or at least that’s the fear we’ve had about overcrowding, considering that the world population of Earth is projected to be 11 billion by the year 2100. But thanks to a new map and data provided by Max Galka of Metrocosm, we can see we’re completely wrong about that: there’s plenty of room, more than we imagined.
Using data compiled by NASA and the U.N., Galka created a blacked out map with gridded data to show high concentrations of populations in yellow. The map has 28 million square-shaped cells, with each cell equivalent to an area of about nine square miles. A cell is colored yellow if it has a population of 8,000 or more, or a population density of around 900 per square mile. Some are much higher of course, considering some cities can have thousands and thousands of people in one square mile (hello, New York City.
With this in mind, Galka confirms that roughly 50% of the world’s population lives in the yellow cells on the map, which he says is about 1% of the actual land mass available on the planet. The highest concentrations are in Asia, between India and China; Europe has the least amount of open space but excels at evenly spacing its dense areas across the continent; Africa, especially in the north, has the least population density; and the U.S. is split nearly in half between those who live in high density areas and low density areas (which may explain why the U.S. is sometimes so evenly split on politics).
What the map doesn’t show is whether the available land masses are habitable. And it ignores the needs populations may have in certain less developed or inhospitable areas. But what this map does provide is a macro-level look at our future, and possibly a way we need to go about things in the future.
We have plenty of space. We’re now developing the science to solve problems we never could solve before. Now is the time to start applying our technology and wits to making more regions habitable, so that when the inevitable world population boom gets to 11 billion, we’re ready. China has its ghost cities, large developed areas but with no one to live in them. Maybe its time for them to make those affordable and encourage people to move in. People have 3D printed houses and food. Maybe it’s time to direct these efforts to creating cities and providing the bare necessities in life so that even the poorest people can live in a reasonably developed environment. And maybe, just maybe, creating new cities will encourage people who are frustrated from poor economic growth and high competition to have a fresh start somewhere new. Maybe for the Ayn Rand fans, this is the time to take a page from Atlas Shrugged and actually prove you can have a better society by actually making a new society.
It’s something to think about. Give us your thoughts below, and for more information on the data, check out Galka’s article on Metrocosm. Thanks, Popular Mechanics