LOS MARGINADOS: Half of us live on 1% of the Earth’s land

lunes, 25 de enero de 2016

Half of us live on 1% of the Earth’s land

Welcome to Demography Is Destiny. We launched this to counter two media memes: that humans are a cancer which is destroying our planet and that world population is spiralling to unsustainable levels. The real story is that intelligent and inventive human will rise to the challenge of climate change and that our real problem is the coming demographic winter. The editors of Demography is Destiny are Marcus and Shannon Roberts, who live in Auckland, New Zealand. Send them your comments and suggestions. - See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/half-of-us-live-on-1-of-the-earths-land/17494#sthash.eIAA7c4s.dpuf

MONDAY, 25 JANUARY 2016

Half of us live on 1% of the Earth’s land

BY MARCUS ROBERTS

- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/half-of-us-live-on-1-of-the-earths-land/17494#sthash.eIAA7c4s.dpuf

The map above this post shows the world divided up into 28 million 3x3mile squares. If the square has a population of 8,000 people living within it (and therefore a population density 889 people per square mile) then the square is coloured yellow. If it has less than 8,000 people living within it then it is left black. Thus the yellow areas are the most densly populated areas of the world, the dark areas are less densly populated. The numbers have been chosen by the map's designer Max Galka from population data compiled by NASA so that half of the world's population lives within the yellow parts of the map, and the other half lives within the black part of the map.

Of course the picture is necessarily simplified, there is no differentiation for the greater population densities: the population density of Manhattan is about 67,000 people per square mile, while in the centre of Cairo over a million people live within 9 square miles. But the picture does show that a lot of us in the world live in very close proximity with others. In fact half of us live on 1 percent of the world's land (the yellow bits)! Thus, there are plenty of wide open spaces out there in the world, but we tend to prefer to visit those places for a holiday rather than live there...

- See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/demography/view/half-of-us-live-on-1-of-the-earths-land/17494#sthash.eIAA7c4s.dpuf

Sorry, but there won't be a newsletter tomorrow, as we are celebrating Australia Day Down Under. Normally that means barbecues, backyard cricket and beaches, but all that looks unlikely in Sydney as it is raining heavily at the moment.

Why January 26 -- a date we share with India's Republic Day? It is the day in 1788 when Governor Arthur Phillips, commander of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships, arrived at Sydney Cove and raised the Union Jack over Great Britain's new colony.

It is an increasingly popular holiday, even though there are lively debates every year about the meaning of the celebration. There is also a shadow over it. The indigenous people who watched the First Fleet sail in were probably alarmed. They had a right to be. It wasn't long before disease and conflict had reduced their numbers and shattered their culture. As early as 1938 representatives began protesting Australia Day and declaring it "a day of mourning and protest".

So there is a serious side to tomorrow. But basically it is a good excuse to chill out. We will be taking advantage of it.