Population Density

Population density tells you how crowded a place is by comparing how many people live there with the size of the land they occupy. Dividing population by area gives a fair comparison between places of different sizes, since a large country can have more people overall but still be less crowded than a small city. The result is usually written as people per square kilometre or people per square mile.

Use this formula when comparing how densely populated different regions, cities, or countries are. It is also useful in planning services like housing, transport, schools, and healthcare, where the number of people spread across an area matters.

• Using total population alone without dividing by area
• Forgetting to keep the area units consistent, such as mixing km² and m²
• Writing the answer as a plain number without including the correct unit, like people per km²