World population may be higher than official estimates

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have shown that errors in counting the rural population may be much higher than official world population statistics. According to Science Alert, current methods may underestimate the number of people living in rural areas by 53-84 percent.

The researchers analyzed demographic data from 1975 to 2010 and found that global population databases underestimate the number of people living in rural areas. This means that official data on the world's population may be missing by several billion people.

Research methodology and main findings

The researchers compared population estimates for 307 hydropower projects in 35 countries with official data from five different databases. It turned out that rural areas lack complete information about people. In particular, data on health services, infrastructure and population size were found to be significantly less than in cities.

Not all experts agree

Some experts believe that satellite imagery and improved methods of collecting population data could reduce this level of error. However, the researchers note that hundreds of millions of people are still uncounted, and this is important for planning public services and predicting the effects of climate change.

What should be done?

The researchers suggest that population censuses, especially in rural areas, need to be further improved to better allocate resources and better assess demographic data. New approaches could help identify under-estimated populations, improve infrastructure, and develop effective plans on a global scale. Read 'Zamin' on Telegram!