Where is the world's population centre of gravity?
March 1, 2005 8:20 AM Subscribe
Where is the world's population centre of gravity?
prompted by an article stating that Christianity's new "centre of gravity" is in Timbuktu (in the largely Muslim country of Mali) - the geographical point at which an equal number of Christians lives to the north, south, east and west.
Where is it for the world as a whole?
prompted by an article stating that Christianity's new "centre of gravity" is in Timbuktu (in the largely Muslim country of Mali) - the geographical point at which an equal number of Christians lives to the north, south, east and west.
Where is it for the world as a whole?
In truth, the human population's center of gravity is most likely somewhere inside the earth.
If you want the center to lie on the earth's surface, you'd have to project the population distribution onto a plane, then calculate the center of gravity. But the center will vary depending on what projection you use.
I suppose you could use something standard like a Mercator projection, but even then the center would change depending on which latitude you use to define the ends of the projection. For example, imagine the map you used ended near Japan. You can just cut the part with Japan out along a line of latitude and stick it on the other end of the map. It's still correct, but you've moved over 100 million people from west to east, moving the center of gravity.
posted by driveler at 8:52 AM on March 1, 2005
If you want the center to lie on the earth's surface, you'd have to project the population distribution onto a plane, then calculate the center of gravity. But the center will vary depending on what projection you use.
I suppose you could use something standard like a Mercator projection, but even then the center would change depending on which latitude you use to define the ends of the projection. For example, imagine the map you used ended near Japan. You can just cut the part with Japan out along a line of latitude and stick it on the other end of the map. It's still correct, but you've moved over 100 million people from west to east, moving the center of gravity.
posted by driveler at 8:52 AM on March 1, 2005
Response by poster: ok, so how about "the place where the average distance between you and every other person is minimum"? i.e. if you had to get to a randomly chosen person asap where would you sit and wait to minimise your journey?
posted by brettski at 9:07 AM on March 1, 2005
posted by brettski at 9:07 AM on March 1, 2005
What driveler is saying is that this is a poor definition of "center of gravity".
Whether you use their definition or a proper one, the data used to make these population density maps is probably a pretty good place to start. Eyeballing it, it looks to me like the "center of gravity" would be towards southern Asia, maybe in the Iran or Afghanistan area (although obviously hundreds of miles underground).
posted by Plutor at 9:09 AM on March 1, 2005
Whether you use their definition or a proper one, the data used to make these population density maps is probably a pretty good place to start. Eyeballing it, it looks to me like the "center of gravity" would be towards southern Asia, maybe in the Iran or Afghanistan area (although obviously hundreds of miles underground).
posted by Plutor at 9:09 AM on March 1, 2005
In truth, the human population's center of gravity is most likely somewhere inside the earth.
Yeah, but that point inside the earth will still be nearest one specific point on the earth's surface, though. Right?
posted by GeekAnimator at 9:16 AM on March 1, 2005
Yeah, but that point inside the earth will still be nearest one specific point on the earth's surface, though. Right?
posted by GeekAnimator at 9:16 AM on March 1, 2005
prompted by an article stating that Christianity's new "centre of gravity" is in Timbuktu (in the largely Muslim country of Mali) - the geographical point at which an equal number of Christians lives to the north, south, east and west.
Wouldn't a point on the exact opposite side of the world from that one have the exact same characteristic? Sounds like it's just a bunch of bullshit mumbo-jumbo to me.
posted by LionIndex at 9:27 AM on March 1, 2005
Wouldn't a point on the exact opposite side of the world from that one have the exact same characteristic? Sounds like it's just a bunch of bullshit mumbo-jumbo to me.
posted by LionIndex at 9:27 AM on March 1, 2005
ok, so how about "the place where the average distance between you and every other person is minimum"? i.e. if you had to get to a randomly chosen person asap where would you sit and wait to minimise your journey?
Looking at Plutor's map, I'd probably go sit and wait in Bombay (Mumbai)
posted by vacapinta at 10:11 AM on March 1, 2005
Looking at Plutor's map, I'd probably go sit and wait in Bombay (Mumbai)
posted by vacapinta at 10:11 AM on March 1, 2005
1.3 billion people in China, 1 billion in India, 200 million in Indonesia alone. I'd guess it's somewhere between India and China.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:14 AM on March 1, 2005
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:14 AM on March 1, 2005
Driveler's right for "center of gravity" (although he means longitude, not latitude) but given brettski's clarification GeekAnimator is right. Looks to me from Plutor's map that it'd be in the southwest of China near the Myanmar border...
posted by nicwolff at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2005
posted by nicwolff at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2005
Although maybe a little off the topic, World Jump Day could give you some insight.
posted by pwally at 10:38 AM on March 1, 2005
posted by pwally at 10:38 AM on March 1, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by riffola at 8:49 AM on March 1, 2005