Currently six billion people reside on planet Earth . But, if we were to see a map of the world with the most populated and emptiest areas , we would be surprised by the unequal distribution that exists between some countries and others. Technological and medical advances, culture and lifestyle influence this data. It is not that a territory has more or less space to accommodate more or fewer people, but rather that there are a multitude of factors behind this information.
More populated and emptier areas
Without a doubt, when we want to visualize the world map with the most populated and emptiest areas , the most agglomerated countries that come to mind are China and India , and with good reason. The first one is home to 1,433 million inhabitants, while the second reaches 1,366 million. It’s funny the fact that if we want to talk about who is in third place, we have to mention the United States . It is a country that, despite its size, is home to only 329 million people. Certainly still a very high number, but not as impressive as the first two. Thus, for example, while in China there is a distribution of 146 inhabitants per km2, in the US it remains at 33.
On the other hand, there are areas on the planet that are surprising because of the quiet life they boast about. For example, in Oceania is Nauru . It is a small island state that does not exceed 10,000 inhabitants. The same is true in Tuvalu . Located in Polynesia, and with only 26 square km, it currently witnesses only the lives of 11,000 people. Also striking is Palau , an island lost in the Pacific Ocean that has approximately 21,000 inhabitants.
Deserted areas on the planet
Sometimes the number of inhabitants in one state or another is misleading. For example, Mongolia , despite having more population than the last mentioned areas, is characterized by being the country with the lowest population density in the world. This is because a third of its surface is occupied by the desert. The same is true in the Kalahari , a desert with two inhabitants per square kilometer. Likewise, the Sahara , although surprising, occupies the third place of the most deserted areas of the planet and not the first as many would expect. The inhabitants barely exceed 500,000 among all countries, with 2.35 inhabitants per km2.
Increase in world population
As we have said before, the current population that is distributed throughout the world is 6,000 million people. The United Nations believes that the number will continue to increase over the years. The rate of growth has been staggering in recent decades. Thus, while in 1930 there were 2 billion, in 1976 the figure doubled.
The reasons are obvious. Sanitary, nutritional and, in general, living conditions have improved . In addition, infant mortality has been reduced, an essential factor to achieve the above figures … but the negative side of these data is shown every day. And it is that the situation in each part of the world is very unequal. Not all people have the same access to food, education, work or basic services. What’s more, the latest studies assure that more than 20% of humanity lives in conditions of absolute poverty . For this reason, it would be essential to work for a change in order to be able to speak that, despite the fact that a country welcomes millions of people, and regardless of where they are located, they live in the conditions that every human being deserves.
