Population density

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32661, 17 July 1971, Page 16

Population density

Sir, —Until I read the article, “Birth-rate intolerable,” in today’s issue I had always imagined politicians had a monopoly on misquoting facts and figures. The world’s greatest population densities mentioned by Edwin Rosenthal seem to bear little relation to figures I recently extracted from the “Student’s Digest’ (March, 1971), whose sources, as listed, are beyond question. Apart from the cityStates of Monaco, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Vatican City, the following are the countries with the greatest population densities per square mile: Malta (2630), Barbados (1525), East Pakistan (1340), Mauritius (1100); and then Taiwan (985) and Netherlands (905). How can Edwin Rosenthal, so well informed, quote Taiwan as 610 and Netherlands with 581 persons per square mile, as being the highest world population densities? Are all quoted statistics in press articles similarly suspect?—Yours, etC ” FIGURES DO LIE. July 8, 1971. [Mr H. L. Verry, managing editor of the New Zealand Press Association, Ltd, replies: “We have not been able to check on the figures quoted by Mr Rosenthal in his article written in London. From what your correspondent says, it does appear that they may be open to question. But I doubt if this estabJishes that ‘figures do lie.’ It seems rather that various statistics are available, even from reliable sources. For instance, the Demographic Yearbook published by the United Nations in 1969, gives figures of population density per square kilometre. The following figures taken yesterday from this yearbook show, in some instances, a broad correspondence with those quoted by Mr Rosenthal and in some instances a broad correspondence with those quoted by your correspondent. But in other instances, e.g., Spanish North Africa, Hong Kong, or Singapore, they appear to indicate higher population densities than those cited by either your correspondent or Mr Rosenthal. The figures are: Macao (16,250), Monaco (15,436), Malta (1022), Barbados (591), Bermuda (990), Pakistan (118), Taiwan (384), Hong Kong (3859), Singapore (3471), the Netherlands (315), Spanish North Africa (5125), Ceuta (4564), Melilla (6441), East Berlin (2695), West Berlin (4439), Gibraltar (4500).’’]