Abstract: Gridded Population of the World (GPW), Version 2.0 (v2) consists of
estimates of human population for the years 1995 and 1990 by 2.5
arc-minute grid cells. The 3 products are population counts (raw
counts), population densities (per square km), and land area (actual
area net of ice and water), which are all available in two
GIS-compatible data formats. A proportional allocation gridding
algorithm, utilizing 127,105 national and sub-national administrative
units, is used to assign population values to grid cells. Advantages
to GPW v2 include higher quality data from the U.S., Africa,
Australia, Canada, Europe, Russia, New Zealand, and India; 8 times the
number of administrative units; national population estimates that
have been adjusted to match the United Nations national estimated
population for each country; a proportional allocation algorithm that
reduces error with multiple input polygons; and higher spatial
resolution.
GPW v2 is produced by the Columbia University Center for International
Earthy Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with the
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the World
Resources Institute (WRI).
Purpose: To serve a wide user community by providing the
latest data on human population distribution that can be used in
interdisciplinary studies of the environment.
Language: English
Project/Campaign/Agency_Program: GPW - Gridded Population of the World
