News

Read the latest news and stories from WorldPop programmes and people that inspire.​
Animated GIF of Khartoum

WorldPop Global 2: A New Era of High-Resolution Population Data

chart showing estimated spatiotemporal resolution of human mobility data sources

Movement, Population, and Infection: How Mobility Data Is Transforming Epidemic Modelling and Control

Animation showing population distribution of Bogata under SSP1 scenario, 2025-2100

New Global 1 km Population Projections Released to Advance Climate and Health Research (Version 0.2)

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Lessons from COVID-19: How Data and Modelling Evolved During the Pandemic

Photo of Data Science Nigeria 2025 conference hall

The Future is Geospatial: Powering Africa’s Growth with Location Intelligence

Photo of street scene in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Advancing Wastewater Surveillance and Population Mapping at Dhaka Stakeholder Engagement Meeting

Photo of Dr Jessica Espey, Deputy Director (Research) delivering the Day 2 keynote address at Evidence25, Cotonou, Benin

Highlighting African Leadership in Evidence-Informed Policymaking at Evidence25

Photo of the flooded areas of Borno State after the Alau dam collapsed, triggered extensive floods.

How WorldPop Data Powers Google’s Global Flood Forecasting Revolution

Photo of Dr Sarchil Qader leading a workshop for the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics

WorldPop: Sharpening Pakistan’s Survey Tools with Geospatial Know-How

Screen capture from webinar

Mapping People, Powering Response: WorldPop’s Work in Focus

Map showing building and population counts observed in the 213 micro-census clusters located within the modelling environment categorised by settlement class

Further Improvement for Public Health Planning: WorldPop Brings High-Resolution Population Estimates to DRC

Screen capture of The Power of Population Data webinar, showing Dr Maksym Bondarenko, Dr Jessica Espey and Professor Andy Tatem

New Global Population Dataset Unveiled at Packed WorldPop Webinar

Animation showing population growth in Lagos, Nigeria, modelled for 2015-2030.

WorldPop Unveils Global 2: Next-Generation Global Population Dataset

An image of WorldPop Global 2 population estimates overlaid on satellite imagery for Northern Europe showing high population numbers in white and lower numbers in red. 2025

WorldPop ‘Global2’: Global high-resolution population estimates for 2015-2030

Photo of data collection, Kahda, Somalia SNBS, 2025

Supporting Groundbreaking Data Initiative in Somalia

Photo of a Malawi village.

WorldPop Brings Cutting-Edge Mapping Technology to Support Malawi’s 2028 Census

Photo of an Adhoc Registrar, supporting a mother during a digital birth registration drive in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, part of a nationwide effort to ensure every child has a legal identity

Teaming up With UNICEF to Find and Vaccinate Zero-Dose Children

Maps showing cluster level estimates of proportions of children aged 12-23 months and 9-35 months who had received DTP1 and MCV1, respectively, obtained using the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey.

Smarter Maps, Healthier Lives: New Study Reveals Best Tools to Target Vaccine Gaps

Maps showing predicted malaria prevalence in children under five and number of infected children in regions of very low to moderate transmission in Senegal (excluding Dakar for visibility purposes).

New Study Maps Malaria Risk in Senegal by Blending Environment and Vulnerability 

Photo of Chris Nnanatu presenting at JSM 2025

WorldPop Showcases Population Modelling at Global Statistics Summit

Maps of Europe showing heat-related excess mortality projected annual average heat-related excess deaths per million population at a 1.5 °C, b 2.0 °C, c 3.0 °C, and (d) 4.0 °C.

New Study Warns of Sharp Rise in Heat-Related Deaths Across Europe Due to Climate Change

Photorealistic image of a child in a refugee camp

WorldPop Co-Produces Vital Population Data for UN Disaster Risk Study

AI art image of globe on a stage with 'Global 2' sign watched by a large audience

Discover the Power of Population Data: Join Our Upcoming Webinar

Graphic image showing comparison of population count estimates modelled from new covariates (year 2024) and population count estimates modelled from earlier covariates (year 2020) for Luanda (Angola).

New Open Access Geospatial Datasets to Enhance Global Population Mapping

A stochastic approach to integerise

New Method Revolutionises Population Mapping for Better Planning

Screen capture of Greenpeace "Every Breath You Take" interactive map portal

Greenpeace Uses WorldPop Data to Map Global Petrochemical Pollution Risks

Photo of Dr Edson Utazi standing next to a Spatial Statistic 2025 conference poster

Population Data and Vaccine Mapping in Focus at Key Global Conferences

Photo of Professor Andy Tatem presenting WorldPop's work at the Indian High Commission in London. 10 July 2025.

Mapping Populations for India’s Development

World map showing distribution of surevy responders.

WorldPop Beta Data Users Give High Marks in New Global Survey

Photo of a a survey team undertake field testing of Enumeration Area mapping in Abomey Calavi, Benin

Disappearing People: The Future of Public Policy Depends on Co-Development in Demographic Data 

Regional map of West and Central Africa showing results from the Reach the Unreached project

Despite Progress Nearly 1 Million Children in West Africa Still Miss Out on Life-Saving Vaccines 

Screen capture form Google Earth of Nairobi, Kenya

The We Society: Population, Data & Destiny

Screen capture from Google Open Buildings

How WorldPop Uses Google Open Building Data

Estimated global population counts in 2025 for each 100x100m grid square. Yellow/green = high numbers, Blue = low/zero numbers.

Beta Test Our New Global Population Data – 2015 to 2030

Dr Sarchil Qader training Somali trainers in Nairobi, Kenya

Building Census Readiness: Geospatial Training Boosts Capacity for Somali Statisticians

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New Method Developed for High-Resolution Mapping of Refugee Populations

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New Research Maps Vaccination Coverage Gaps in Nigeria to Support Measles Control Efforts

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New Tool Maps Progress in Child and Maternal Health Across Low- and Middle-Income Countries

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New Study Reviews How Human Mobility Data Shaped Our Understanding of COVID-19 Transmission

WorldPop 10-year Anniversary Event

WorldPop 10-year Anniversary Event

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WorldPop’s Global Impact Highlighted in New Report by Dev-Afrique

Professor Tatem at the UN World Data Forum, Dubai, UAE, 2018

WorldPop to advise UK government on big data, machine learning and AI

UN General Assembly

WorldPop Directors Discuss Data Empowerment at UN Statistical Commission

Photo of GIS Analyst Iyanuloluwa Olowe leading a workshop session

Geospatial Capacity Strengthening in Nigeria

Research Fellow Dr Aubrey Steingraber guides workshop participants practice with geospatial tools to validate preEA boundaries and collect GPS household locations

Preparing a National Sampling Frame: capacity strengthening in Cameroon

Photo of woman holding large piece of shrapnel

Conflict Exposure Calculator: a new tool to measure the impact of conflict

Senior Enterprise Fellow Dr Natalia Tejedor-Garavito addressing DANE's “Statistical Mind: 70 making us all count" meeting in Bogotá, Colombia

WorldPop at “Statistical Mind: 70 making us all count” in Bogotá, Colombia

Climate-smart soils: testing soil health in Western Kenya

New open-source dataset and interactive web portal unlocks hidden potential for health and climate research

Dr Wuttisorn presents a gifts to Dr Garavito

Training and technical support for Thai census

Data for Decision-Making panel, MEED Conference for Regional Development (Kurdsat News)

Data and regional development in Iraqi Kurdistan

Punta del Este, Uruguay

Festival de Datos: the Data for Development Festival

Repatriation of IDPs in North Darfur

WorldPop agrees MOU with ACLED

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Capacity strengthening workshop supporting INEC Panama’s and DANE Colombia’s socio-economic surveys.

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Technical assistance and training on modelled population estimates and national sampling frames to support census in Latin America and the Caribbean region

Dr Sarchil Qader assisting training workshop participants in Benin

Strengthening skills in South Africa, Zambia and Benin

Screenshot from Andy Tatem's Geopalooza 3.o presentation

“We don’t want population data just sitting on a shelf”: Professor Andy Tatem at Geopalooza 3.0

Photo of Dr Chris Nnanatu running a Geospatial Statistical Modelling in R workshop at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Awka, Nigeria, 17 February 2023.

Health and population data R workshop in southern Nigeria

Photo of Chairman of NPC, Hon Nasir Isa Kwarra with WorldPop Senior Research Fellow, Dr Chris Nnanatu. Abuja, Nigeria, 9 February 2023.

“You count, be counted” – Capacity strengthening workshops supporting Nigeria’s census

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What effect will lunar new year have on COVID spread in China? Our modelling shows most people have already been infected

A screen capture from a virtual workshop run within Teams

A virtual preEA workshop for the Guinea and Benin

Photo of Ms Nipapan Borompichaichatkul receiving a Workshop on Modelling Population Estimates to Support Census Processes in Thailand certificate from Professor Andy Tatem

Workshop on modelled population estimates in Thailand

Photo of workshop in progress, Papua New Guinea

Population estimation workshop aids decision making in Papua New Guinea

Aerial photograph of Accra, Ghana

Population modelling and mapping workshop supports health planning in Ghana

GRID3 consultant Chisenga Musuka with printed microplanning map used by Ministry of Health EPI teams for vaccination planning, Lusaka, Zambia

Capacity strengthening in Papua New Guinea and Zambia

Winfre Dotse-Gborgbortsi receiving runner-up prize at the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2022 ceremony

WorldPop researcher celebrated for outstanding Early Career impact

Map showing population across Africa, with inset maps for Lusaka and Kinshasa, by Heather Chamberlain

WorldPop takes the #30DayMapChallenge

Slide: Demographic Data Challenges

Video: Understanding population distributions supports health programmes, census preparation and disaster response

Sarchil Qader presenting the preEA tool, Benin

Benin adopts WorldPop’s ‘preEA’ tool to conduct its first modern, digitised census

National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Abuja

Capacity strengthening in Nigeria

Edith Darin presenting at IBGE workshop 2022

Working with Brazil’s National Statistics Office as they prepare for their biggest ever census

Field surveyors carrying out data collection in wheat field

Exploring satellite datasets and advanced statistical models to estimate crop production in Iraq

Example preEA Tool output, where urban preEA outlines overlaid on high resolution satellite imagery.

Supporting socio-economic surveys in the DRC

Photo of a community health worker conducting a survey in the Korail slum, Bangladesh

Finding where population health studies have been conducted to inform climate-health research

visualisations of WorldPop datasets

WorldPop, open data for spatial demography

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Seasonal association between viral causes of hospitalised acute lower respiratory infections and meteorological factors in China: a retrospective study

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International population movements and regional Plasmodium falciparum malaria elimination strategies

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Exploring the use of mobile phone data for national migration statistics

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Evaluating nighttime lights and population distribution as proxies for mapping anthropogenic CO2 emission in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

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Changing epidemiology and challenges of malaria in China towards elimination

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High-resolution gridded population datasets for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2010, 2015, and 2020

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Assessing the impact of coordinated COVID-19 exit strategies across Europe