Global Population Distribution Analysis

Population distribution has been long studied. There are no clear answers as to what the major influential factors that drive population density are. Using ArcGIS 9.1, this study focuses on global population distribution and it’s relationship to selected biological and environmental factors. Using geoprocessing techniques such as reclassify, weighted overlay and modelbuilder, models where created for both environmental factors and biological factors to determine which had greater influence in population density on a global scale. Statistics were then run on the fifteen countries with the highest population density and lowest population density using both the environmental weighted raster and biological weighted raster. Results showed that the chosen biological factors had a greater influence on population density when compared to the environmental factors used for this study.