The Men and Women of Europe

The task on Day 23 of the #30DayMapChallenge is to create a population map. I've seen a lot of population density maps over the years. One of my favorites is the SEDAC Population Estimator (GPWv4), which uses NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data to show where the world's population lives.

A recent trend in interactive maps is to use height as a measure of population density. For example the Saint Petersburg Population Mountains map visualizes population in the Russian city as 3D colored hexagons. Another good example is Topi Tjukanov's 3D Global Human Settlement, a three.js powered mapped visualization of European population data, in which population is expressed as elevation. The Pudding's Human Terrain interactive map takes a similar approach to mapping the world's population. The Human Terrain map shows population density across the globe using 3D population pyramids.



One of the most interesting population themed maps that I've seen posted today is this Male to Female Ratio in Europe map. This interactive map uses 2018 Eurostat data to visualize the ratio of women to men in each European Union region. On the map individual regions are colored to show the ratio of men to women. Blue shades show the areas with more men and the pink shades show the regions where there are more women.

One thing that stands out on the map is the relatively high ratio of men to women in Scandinavian countries. I assume that the high ratio of women to men in most European countries is partly due to higher life expectancy among women in those countries. I guess male life expectancy could be catching up with female life expectancy in northern Europe. Another factor that might be at play in Scandinavia is immigration (as male immigration tends to outnumber female immigration).