Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper addresses the deceptively simple question: What is the rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? It argues that rurality is a gradient, not a dichotomy, and nominates two dimensions to that gradient: population density and remoteness from large metropolitan areas. It uses geographically referenced population data (from the Gridded Population of the World, version 3) to tabulate the distribution of populations in Latin America and in individual countries by population density and by remoteness. It finds that the popular perception of Latin America as a 75 percent urban continent is misleading. Official census criteria, though inconsistent between countries, tend to classify as "urban" small settlements of less than 2,000 people. Many of these settlements are however embedded in an agriculturally based countryside. The paper finds that about 13 percent of Latin America populations live at ultra-low densities of less than 20 per square kilometer. Essentially these people are more than an hour's distance from a large city, and more than half live more than four hours' distance. A quarter of the population of Latin America is estimated to live at densities below 50, again essentially all of them more than an hour's distance from a large city. Almost half (46 pecent) of Latin America live at population densities below 150 (a conventional threshold for urban areas), and more than 90 percent of this group is at least an hour's distance from a city; about one-third of them (18 percent of the total) are more than four hours distance from a large city.

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Main Authors: Chomitz, Kenneth M., Buys, Piet, Thomas, Timothy S.
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2005-06
Subjects:AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION, AGRICULTURE, CENSUS, CENSUS DATA, CENSUSES, CIAT, CITIES, CROPPING, CROPS, DEFORESTATION, EXTERNALITIES, FAO, FARMING, FORESTRY, FORESTS, FRUITS, IFPRI, INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, LANDS, LATIN AMERICAN, NATURAL RESOURCES, PASTURES, POPULATION DATA, POPULATION DENSITY, POPULATION ESTIMATES, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, RURAL EMPLOYMENT, RURAL POPULATION, RURAL POVERTY, SOCIAL SERVICES, TOTAL POPULATION, TOWNS, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, UNITED NATIONS, URBAN POPULATION, URBANIZATION, VEGETABLES,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/06/5860860/quantifying-rural-urban-gradient-latin-america-caribbean
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8317
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spelling dig-okr-1098683172024-08-08T17:23:02Z Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean Chomitz, Kenneth M. Buys, Piet Thomas, Timothy S. AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AGRICULTURE CENSUS CENSUS DATA CENSUSES CIAT CITIES CROPPING CROPS DEFORESTATION EXTERNALITIES FAO FARMING FORESTRY FORESTS FRUITS IFPRI INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE LANDS LATIN AMERICAN NATURAL RESOURCES PASTURES POPULATION DATA POPULATION DENSITY POPULATION ESTIMATES RURAL DEVELOPMENT RURAL EMPLOYMENT RURAL POPULATION RURAL POVERTY SOCIAL SERVICES TOTAL POPULATION TOWNS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO UNITED NATIONS URBAN POPULATION URBANIZATION VEGETABLES This paper addresses the deceptively simple question: What is the rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? It argues that rurality is a gradient, not a dichotomy, and nominates two dimensions to that gradient: population density and remoteness from large metropolitan areas. It uses geographically referenced population data (from the Gridded Population of the World, version 3) to tabulate the distribution of populations in Latin America and in individual countries by population density and by remoteness. It finds that the popular perception of Latin America as a 75 percent urban continent is misleading. Official census criteria, though inconsistent between countries, tend to classify as "urban" small settlements of less than 2,000 people. Many of these settlements are however embedded in an agriculturally based countryside. The paper finds that about 13 percent of Latin America populations live at ultra-low densities of less than 20 per square kilometer. Essentially these people are more than an hour's distance from a large city, and more than half live more than four hours' distance. A quarter of the population of Latin America is estimated to live at densities below 50, again essentially all of them more than an hour's distance from a large city. Almost half (46 pecent) of Latin America live at population densities below 150 (a conventional threshold for urban areas), and more than 90 percent of this group is at least an hour's distance from a city; about one-third of them (18 percent of the total) are more than four hours distance from a large city. 2012-06-18T19:02:07Z 2012-06-18T19:02:07Z 2005-06 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/06/5860860/quantifying-rural-urban-gradient-latin-america-caribbean https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8317 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3634 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank application/pdf text/plain World Bank, Washington, DC
institution Banco Mundial
collection DSpace
country Estados Unidos
countrycode US
component Bibliográfico
access En linea
databasecode dig-okr
tag biblioteca
region America del Norte
libraryname Biblioteca del Banco Mundial
language English
topic AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
AGRICULTURE
CENSUS
CENSUS DATA
CENSUSES
CIAT
CITIES
CROPPING
CROPS
DEFORESTATION
EXTERNALITIES
FAO
FARMING
FORESTRY
FORESTS
FRUITS
IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
LANDS
LATIN AMERICAN
NATURAL RESOURCES
PASTURES
POPULATION DATA
POPULATION DENSITY
POPULATION ESTIMATES
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
RURAL POPULATION
RURAL POVERTY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TOTAL POPULATION
TOWNS
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
UNITED NATIONS
URBAN POPULATION
URBANIZATION
VEGETABLES
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
AGRICULTURE
CENSUS
CENSUS DATA
CENSUSES
CIAT
CITIES
CROPPING
CROPS
DEFORESTATION
EXTERNALITIES
FAO
FARMING
FORESTRY
FORESTS
FRUITS
IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
LANDS
LATIN AMERICAN
NATURAL RESOURCES
PASTURES
POPULATION DATA
POPULATION DENSITY
POPULATION ESTIMATES
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
RURAL POPULATION
RURAL POVERTY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TOTAL POPULATION
TOWNS
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
UNITED NATIONS
URBAN POPULATION
URBANIZATION
VEGETABLES
spellingShingle AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
AGRICULTURE
CENSUS
CENSUS DATA
CENSUSES
CIAT
CITIES
CROPPING
CROPS
DEFORESTATION
EXTERNALITIES
FAO
FARMING
FORESTRY
FORESTS
FRUITS
IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
LANDS
LATIN AMERICAN
NATURAL RESOURCES
PASTURES
POPULATION DATA
POPULATION DENSITY
POPULATION ESTIMATES
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
RURAL POPULATION
RURAL POVERTY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TOTAL POPULATION
TOWNS
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
UNITED NATIONS
URBAN POPULATION
URBANIZATION
VEGETABLES
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
AGRICULTURE
CENSUS
CENSUS DATA
CENSUSES
CIAT
CITIES
CROPPING
CROPS
DEFORESTATION
EXTERNALITIES
FAO
FARMING
FORESTRY
FORESTS
FRUITS
IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
LANDS
LATIN AMERICAN
NATURAL RESOURCES
PASTURES
POPULATION DATA
POPULATION DENSITY
POPULATION ESTIMATES
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
RURAL POPULATION
RURAL POVERTY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TOTAL POPULATION
TOWNS
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
UNITED NATIONS
URBAN POPULATION
URBANIZATION
VEGETABLES
Chomitz, Kenneth M.
Buys, Piet
Thomas, Timothy S.
Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
description This paper addresses the deceptively simple question: What is the rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? It argues that rurality is a gradient, not a dichotomy, and nominates two dimensions to that gradient: population density and remoteness from large metropolitan areas. It uses geographically referenced population data (from the Gridded Population of the World, version 3) to tabulate the distribution of populations in Latin America and in individual countries by population density and by remoteness. It finds that the popular perception of Latin America as a 75 percent urban continent is misleading. Official census criteria, though inconsistent between countries, tend to classify as "urban" small settlements of less than 2,000 people. Many of these settlements are however embedded in an agriculturally based countryside. The paper finds that about 13 percent of Latin America populations live at ultra-low densities of less than 20 per square kilometer. Essentially these people are more than an hour's distance from a large city, and more than half live more than four hours' distance. A quarter of the population of Latin America is estimated to live at densities below 50, again essentially all of them more than an hour's distance from a large city. Almost half (46 pecent) of Latin America live at population densities below 150 (a conventional threshold for urban areas), and more than 90 percent of this group is at least an hour's distance from a city; about one-third of them (18 percent of the total) are more than four hours distance from a large city.
topic_facet AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
AGRICULTURE
CENSUS
CENSUS DATA
CENSUSES
CIAT
CITIES
CROPPING
CROPS
DEFORESTATION
EXTERNALITIES
FAO
FARMING
FORESTRY
FORESTS
FRUITS
IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
LANDS
LATIN AMERICAN
NATURAL RESOURCES
PASTURES
POPULATION DATA
POPULATION DENSITY
POPULATION ESTIMATES
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
RURAL POPULATION
RURAL POVERTY
SOCIAL SERVICES
TOTAL POPULATION
TOWNS
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
UNITED NATIONS
URBAN POPULATION
URBANIZATION
VEGETABLES
author Chomitz, Kenneth M.
Buys, Piet
Thomas, Timothy S.
author_facet Chomitz, Kenneth M.
Buys, Piet
Thomas, Timothy S.
author_sort Chomitz, Kenneth M.
title Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_short Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_full Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_fullStr Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean
title_sort quantifying the rural-urban gradient in latin america and the caribbean
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2005-06
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/06/5860860/quantifying-rural-urban-gradient-latin-america-caribbean
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8317
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