UNEP/CGIAR Initiative - Pop data for Asia
The global demography project is an effort to generate consistent, spatially referenced global population data sets for global and regional environmental analysis, demographic research, etc. This project has been supported by the Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) , the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) and NCGIA. Output from the first stage of the project includes a set of raster data sets of population density and total population figures. For each, a smoothed and an unsmoothed version exists. The smoothed images were produced using Waldo Tobler's pycnophylactic interpolation. These images have a resolution of 5 minutes and are based on source population and boundary data for more than 15,000 administrative units. The project is described in detail in NCGIA Technical Report 95-6 "The Global Demography Project" by Waldo Tobler, Uwe Deichmann, Jon Gottsegen, and Kelly Maloy. The full report including maps and illustrations can be obtained from NCGIA Publications ncgiapub@ncgia.ucsb.edu. The raster images are distributed by CIESIN and can be viewed on CIESIN's website.
Several population databases for Africa have been compiled.
A first, medium resolution database for Africa
had been compiled for a related project on African farming systems
which was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and
NCGIA.
A more recent, updated database consists of boundaries
for about 4500 administrative units and population estimates
for 1960, 70, 80 and 90. Again regular raster grids of population
density have been developed from these data sets which are distributed
from the
UNEP/GRID Sioux
Falls website. This work was supported by UNEP/GRID Sioux Falls and the
World Resources Institute.
This is a joint project of the United Nations Environment Programme / Global Resource Information Database (UNEP/GRID) and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), implemented by UNEP/GRID-Arendal, with three major objectives:
Some sample maps for Asia:
Note: the surfaces are slightly smoothed for visual presentation; the actual resolution is higher.Also, a review paper on population databases and modeling has been published as NCGIA Technical Report TR 96-3.
For more information about the UNEP/CGIAR Initiative contact GRID Arendal (heberlein@grida.no) .
