Creating a Global Grid of Human Population

Author: Gregory Yetman
Organization: CIESIN

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The integration of social and natural science data is part of CIESIN's mission to help scientists, decision makers, and the public gain a better understanding of their changing world. Information on global human population is collected by administrative units that are poorly suited for integration with natural science data, which is often collected on a grid. CIESIN and the World Resources Institute have collected subnational administrative and population data and produced a grid of global population at a resolution of 2.5'. This paper showcases the gridded product; addresses conceptual, methodological, and technical issues in the production of the grid; and discusses issues of input data quality.