Global Human Settlements in the Year 2000

Global human settlements database comprises a global dataset of about 55,000 cities and towns with populations of 1,000 or more. The data are originally derived from CIESIN and further development and improvement have been made using supplement datasets (e.g., gazetteers). Meanwhile, some of the cities point has been adjusted based on Google Maps and duplicated cities have been removed. There are five sub-settlements datasets are derived using different population cutoffs which are: population > 20,000, population > 50,000, population > 100,000, population > 250,000, and population > 500,000 respectively. The timeline of the dataset is 2000 and the dataset are in geo-database format.

The population figures were based on country-level census data, FAO data, and other international sources. In an effort to better understand the accessibility of populations to markets and services, HarvestChoice uses the location of human settlements as a proxy of market centers. These data serve as the target points when estimating and mapping travel time to cities as well as overall market accessibility.

Maps

References

• Balk, D., Pozzi, F., Yetman, G., Deichmann, U. and Nelson, A. 2004. The distribution of people and the dimension of place: methodologies to improve the global estimation of urban extents. Working Paper, CIESIN, Columbia University. Palisades, NY. pp 31.
• Pandey, D., Wheeler, D., Ostro, B., Deichmann, U., Hamilton, K. and Bolt, K. 2006. Ambient Particulate Matter Concentrations in Residential and Pollution Hotspot areas of World Cities: New Estimates based on the Global Model of Ambient Particulates (GMAPS), The World Bank Development Economics Research Group and the Environment Department Working Paper, The World Bank, Washington DC.