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...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/06/5860860/quantifying-rural-urban-gradient-latin-america-caribbean http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8317 |
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okr-10986-83172021-04-23T14:02:42Z 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 http://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 World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Latin America & Caribbean |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| 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 |
| 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 Chomitz, Kenneth M. Buys, Piet Thomas, Timothy S. Quantifying the Rural-Urban Gradient in Latin America and the Caribbean |
| geographic_facet |
Latin America & Caribbean |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3634 |
| 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. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| 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 |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/06/5860860/quantifying-rural-urban-gradient-latin-america-caribbean http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8317 |
| _version_ |
1764407609138348032 |