The new 29th report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution explores the environmental challenges faced by the UK as a result of demographic change. The cover of the report features my population cartogram of the United Kingdom surrounded by the commissions royal blue (see larger image of the cover map here). The report also happens to be the last work of this Royal Commission, which together with several other Defra bodies will be abolished later this year in its 31st year of existence.
Yesterday’s (16/02) official launch of this report in London was accompanied by a vigorous debate about the key findings, with much of the discussion being closely related to the demographic trends in the United Kingdom and which implications these have. Continue reading
Tag Archives: demography
The Population of Germany
Today Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of unification of the until 1990 split East (German Democratic Republic) and West (Federal Republic of Germany). But while the areas have merged, in many people’s minds the division remains – recently prominently demonstrated in an interview by German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The dominance of the West is not least reflected by the population distribution between the two countries, with only Berlin being the most significantly populated area of the generally quite sparsely populated East of the country. Few other urban areas strike out when looking at the population distribution, which is displayed on the following gridded population cartogram. As the map in an equal-population depiction, each area of the map corresponds to the same number of people, so that the underlying geographical grid is distorted accordingly (reducing the size of less populated areas while increasing the size of the most populated areas). The colour code shows the population density in each of the grid cells (click the map to see further details in higher resolution):
The United Kingdom within the world’s demographic change
Population growth in Britain? Decline in Europe? Where does the UK stand, and what implications does this have for politics? A population crash and an ageing population require political action. This slides by Danny Dorling and me, presented at the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, provides an insight into the current trends:
Update February 2011: Read more about the release of the Royal Comission’s final report on Demographic Change and the Environment (for which this presentation was prepared for)
The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.