![]() By using a more sophisticated measure, we can gain a more nuanced perspective of settlement patterns and relative densities and, hopefully, better capture the reality on the ground in towns and cities. I have provided the data for all 39 countries, where available, so you can compare the figures for yourself. Arithmetic population density measures can be useful, but on their own they don’t always help inform public debate, or match up with our perceptions of urban density. The lived density figure for the Netherlands is 546 people per km², compared to 531 for England, 204 for Wales, 200 for Scotland and 160 for Northern Ireland.Īlthough these population numbers are a little dated now (they are based on 2011 data), they can still demonstrate how population density figures might differ from what we experience in our day-to-day lives. When we look at “lived density” across Europe, it’s fair to say that England is a densely populated country – but it still sits behind Spain and the Netherlands on the list of major European nations, and below the microstates of Monaco, Andorra and Malta. Globally, the highest figure is close to 200,000, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. England’s most densely populated km², in West London, has just over 20,000 people in it. There are 33 1km² areas across Europe with a population of 40,000 or more: 23 are in Spain, and ten are in France. France also has an area with more than 50,000 people in a single km², in Paris.īarcelona from above: possibly the most densely populated km² in Europe. This also helps explain why Spain has the most densely populated km² in Europe more than 53,000 people inhabit a single 1km² area in Barcelona. In fact, Spain could claim to be the most densely populated major European country by this measure, despite its appearance on the map. So even though the settlement pattern appears sparse, people are actually quite tightly packed together. This means that the “lived density” for Spain is in fact 737 people per km², rather than 93. ![]() Spain contains within it more than 505,000 1km squares. ![]() Yet characterising Spain as a sparsely populated country does not reflect the experience on the ground – as anyone who knows Barcelona or Madrid can tell you. The reasons for this date back to Medieval times, as Daniel Oto-Peralías at the University of St Andrews has explained. This is borne out in the map, where much of Spain appears to be empty much more so than any other large European country. It has a population density of 93 people per km², giving the impression of a sparsely populated country. The Spanish distributionĪ good way to understand this measure is to look at Spain. I call this figure “lived density”, since it provides a way of seeing the kinds of population densities that people experience in their day-to-day lives, within built-up areas. This is the so-called “ blue banana”, or dorsale européenne (European backbone), identified by French geographer Roger Brunet in 1989, and it is home to more than 110m people.īut we can get further clarity still by honing in on “built-up” density, which takes into account only those 1km² areas with people living in them. For example, we can see an area of high population density extending in a rough arc from north-west England down to Milan, with a little break in the Alps. This bird’s eye view helps us to understand the wider context. Larger map markers shown below represent cities spanning greater land areas.European population density. You may download, print or use the above map for educational, personal and non-commercial purposes. Plotting each jurisdiction's land area illustrates just how many of the nation's largest cities are scattered throughout the South and western region. ( Click to open full-screen interactive map in new window) Here's a map of the 200 most populous cities and other Census-designated places, with the most dense shown in dark blue. Of the 100 most populous cities, the following had the highest population density (shown in persons/square mile) in 2010: The density of these cities pales in comparison to the more urban population centers along the coasts. mile and San Antonio (seventh most populous) with 2,880 people/sq. ![]() Similar cities include Phoenix (sixth most populous nationally) with a population density of 2,798 people/sq. ![]()
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