Population density: Quick Facts

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Photos and Videos

Aerial view of a large crowd of people gathered closely together on a sunlit surface, with long shadows cast behind them.

A line graph with red and blue shaded areas shows cyclical rises and falls in the populations of snowshoe hares and lynx from 1855 to 1925, illustrating how hare population peaks are followed by lynx population peaks. Small illustrations of a running snowshoe hare and a lynx appear above the graph.

A scatter plot graph shows that as population density increases, annual per capita petroleum use decreases. Cities in the United States have low density and high petroleum use, while cities in Europe and Asia, such as Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, have higher density and lower petroleum use. The graph is divided into colored regions representing the United States, Australia and Canada, Europe, and the Far East and Russia.

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Topics

What’s the difference between urban and rural?List of Countries, Dependencies, and Territories by Population Density density-dependent factor population species abundance vital rates mortality fertility Overpopulation birth rate minimum viable population Abundant Animals: The Most Numerous Organisms in the World population pyramid Population growth

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