SPRINGFIELD, Virginia – The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, released LandScan Global 2023, the latest version of the jointly-developed global population distribution data. This year marks the 25th release of LandScan Global and introduces substantial methodological improvements.

LandScan Global 2023 enhancements include:  

• Consistent datasets representing human activity
• Integrated machine learning for population density modeling
• Population feature analysis

“NGA utilizes LandScan for many critical missions,” said Michael Benson, director of the Office of Geography at NGA. “This vital geographic layer helps us understand the relationship between people and the environment, and how these factors affect a variety of other variables, including health, resource use, behaviors and much more.”  

LandScan Global provides a global population distribution dataset with about a 1-kilometer resolution, representing a 24-hour average population.

In addition to the annual LandScan Global update, NGA also provides LandScan High-Definition to the public without restrictions. LandScan HD provides a population distribution dataset over smaller geographic areas with approximately 90-meter resolution (compared to LandScan Global’s 1-kilometer resolution). 

The public availability of LandScan Global and LandScan HD helps institutions in performing activities requiring accurate population information, such as planning for and responding to emergencies, assessing human health and security risks and conducting site suitability studies.  

To download the full suite of LandScan products, visit https://landscan.ornl.gov/.