Population Density
What is population density?
Goal:
Goal:
Population density is how many people live in an area. Cities usually have a higher population density than small towns or more rural areas.
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U.S. 2010 Census: Population Density
The areas that are darker represent a greater population density, which measures how many people live in a square mile. A square mile is a space that is one mile long and one mile wide. 
The map shows that the most densely populated areas are near coastlines. Do you remember why that is? Look on the map and find your state to compare it to others. Is your state or city more densely populated than others? Do you live in an area that isn't as densely populated? This map shows the population density in the world. 
The darker the color, the more densely populated the area. Based on the map, how many people live in the United States? Over 100 million people Monaco is located in Europe; it has the highest population density in the world because of how many people live there compared to how small it is. 
Monaco has an area of 2.020 km2 (0.780 sq. mi.) with a population of 38,000. Over 18,000 people live in one square kilometer. 
Greenland is the world's least densely populated area. 
Greenland has an area of 2,166,086 km2 (836,330 sq. mi.), but it has a population of a little over 55,000. That's less than one (.03) person per square kilometer. 
Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons Look at the bar graph below to compare the population density of some major countries around the world. 
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