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To make it even harder, population density is itself not easy to interpret correctly. For instance, a naïve comparison on the population densities of England (4
by Mordisquitos 5y ago
To make it even harder, population density is itself not easy to interpret correctly. For instance, a naïve comparison on the population densities of England (432 people/km²) and Spain (94 people/km²) could lead one to believe that England would have a much tougher time than Spain at containing the spread of a contagious disease. However, the population density surrounding the average Spaniard is much higher than the density surrounding the average English person, as Spanish population tends to be much more densely urbanised into flats than the population of England.
- iggldiggl 5y agoThe keyword is population-weighted population density: https://www.worldpop.org/methods/pwd https://www.worldpop.org/methods/pwd
- Mordisquitos 5y agoThanks, I didn't know there was an explicit term for this (though I should have guessed). It is a pity though that the map that they use to illustrate the data is divided into administrative divisions that are not really comparable: England, Wales and Scotland for Great Britain, but all 17 autonomous communities for Spain.