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Science 14 September 1973:
Vol. 181. no. 4104, pp. 1016 - 1023
DOI: 10.1126/science.181.4104.1016
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Articles

Cross-National Comparison of Population Density

Alice Taylor Day 1 and Lincoln H. Day 2

1 Albertus Magnus College, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
2 Social Statistics Branch, Statistical Office, United Nations, New York 10017

The unresolved difficulties associated with defining and measuring population density strictly circumscribe the scope and nature of the conclusions that can be properly derived from differentials in man:land ratios. Any conclusions about human density will have meaning only to the extent that they are based on a recognition that this density must be viewed in both static and dynamic terms and that it cannot be isolated in analysis, from either the social and cultural setting, the demographic characteristics of the population, or the broader processes of social change within the society. In and of itself, the familiar man:land ratio says more about area than it does about either the human experience of density or the relation of population to resources. This ratio is therefore essentially meaningless as an indicator of comparative conditions of life among different countries and different geographic regions. The mere fact of having a relatively low average population density thus, does not automatically entitle a nation to complacency about its ability to adjust readily to future population change, either in terms of growth in numbers or in the geographic location of its people.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Repopulating the Countryside: A 1980 Census Trend.
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Science 217, 1111-1116
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The Density-Pathology Hypothesis in Comparative Perspective: Density, Status and Pathology in Prerevolutionary Moscow.
W. F. Abbott (1982)
International Journal of Comparative Sociology 23, 17-33
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Consequences of Population Density and Size.
L. M. Verbrugge and R. B. Taylor (1980)
Urban Affairs Review 16, 135-160
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Population density, crowding and human behaviour.
B.N. Boots (1979)
Progress in Human Geography 3, 13-63
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Perceptions of Crowding: Predicting at the Residence, Neighborhood, and City Levels.
D. E. Schmidt, R. D. Goldman, and N. R. Feimer (1979)
Environment and Behavior 11, 105-130
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The Relationship between Density and Crowding: Some Architectural Modifiers.
A. I. Schiffenbauer, J. E. Brown, P. L. Perry, L. K. Shulack, and A. M. Zanzola (1977)
Environment and Behavior 9, 3-14
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The Prediction of Suicide and Homicide Rates Cross-Nationally by Means of Stepwise Multiple Regression.
D. Lester (1977)
Cross-Cultural Research 12, 61-69
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New Zealand in Cross-National Perspective.
C. Crothers (1976)
Political Science 28, 97-116
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Urban Density, Household Crowding and Stress Reactions.
J. Collette and S. D. Webb (1976)
Journal of Sociology 12, 184-191
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