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Cited by 290Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesClimate Change, Adaptation, MigrationImpact of Light on Environment and Health

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 33 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Hypsographic demography: The distribution of human population by altitude

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Cohen, Joel E., Small, Christopher·1998·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.95.24.14009PMC PMC24316
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Abstract

The global distribution of the human population by elevation is quantified here. As of 1994, an estimated 1.88 × 10 9 people, or 33.5% of the world’s population, lived within 100 vertical meters of sea level, but only 15.6% of all inhabited land lies below 100 m elevation. The median person lived at an elevation of 194 m above sea level. Numbers of people decreased faster than exponentially with increasing elevation. The integrated population density (IPD, the number of people divided by the land area) within 100 vertical meters of sea level was significantly larger than that of any other range of elevations and represented far more people. A significant percentage of the low-elevation population lived at moderate population densities rather than at the highest densities of central large cities. Assessments of coastal hazards that focus only on large cities may substantially underestimate the number of people who could be affected.

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Show all 35 references

Research works printed but not linked: 11

  1. World Urbanization Prospects: The 1996 Revision (United Nations, New York, 1997).
  2. G P Hekstra Global Warming and Rising Sea Levels: The Policy Implications (Delft Hydraulics Laboratory, Delft, the Netherlands, 1990).
  3. R A Warrick Climate and Sea Level Change: A Synthesis (Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1993).
  4. J I Clarke, D W Rhind Population Data and Global Environmental Change (ISSC/UNESCO Series No. 5, Paris, 1992).
  5. W Friedberg, D N Faulkner, L Snyder, E B Darden, K O’Brien Aviation Space Environ Med 60, 1104–1108 (1989).
  6. World Population Prospects: The 1996 Revision (United Nations, New York, 1996).
  7. T M McDevitt World Population Profile (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, , U.S. Bureau of the Census Report WP/96. (1996).
  8. D M Danko GeoInfo Sys 2, 29–36 (1992).
  9. Product Specifications for Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) (Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center, 2nd Ed., St. Louis, 1986).
  10. J E Cohen, C Small, A Mellinger, J Gallup, J D Sachs Science 278, 1211–1212 (1997).
  11. J Sachs The Economist 343, 19–22 (1997).

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Metadata

Authors
Cohen, J. E., & Small, C.
Affiliations
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
1998-11-24
Volume
95
Issue
24
Pages
14009-14014
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.95.24.14009
PMC
PMC24316
OpenAlex
W1977481540
Cited by
290
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 3
FWCI
1.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Impact of Light on Environment and Health
Keywords
human population distribution, altitude, hypsography, population density, coastal hazards, sea level rise, urban population
MeSH terms
Altitude, Demography, Geography, Humans, Population Density

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