Population
Population density
Where people live, gridded: NASA SEDAC GPW and WorldPop, models fitted to censuses, not a headcount of every street.
Read the card →Population
Earth at night
NASA Black Marble: city lights and gas flares as seen from orbit, a picture of electrified settlement.
The 2012 VIIRS “night lights” flat map composites cloud-free observations from Suomi NPP. Later Black Marble products refine that view. Lights mark cities, roads, and some industrial flares; dark land can still hold many people.
Source
NASA Earth Observatory / Suomi NPP VIIRS
Vintage: 2012
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/images/79765/night-lights-2012-flat-map
License
NASA Earth Observatory imagery is public domain. We host the 2012 flat-map JPEG. Later annual Black Marble products are on NASA Visible Earth.
How to read it
White is upward light. Oceans stay black. Compare with the population-density card: brightness follows electricity and wealth as much as headcount. Rural Africa and parts of South Asia are darker than their populations.
Caveats
LED streetlights, moonlight algorithms, and gas flares all change the picture. A dark pixel is not “empty.” This 2012 mosaic is a vintage, not tonight’s Earth.
Open source map →Related maps
Population
World population
How many people live in each country on 1 July 2024, from the UN medium-variant estimates.
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Population
Cities and towns
Urban centres, towns and rural land in the GHSL settlement grid for 2020.
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Population
Built-up surface
How much of each cell is built-up surface in the 2020 GHSL grid.
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Population
Population growth
The 2024 annual rate of population change in each country, from the same UN medium variant.
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