The chart above shows the population density of EU and US states. Not surprisingly, the European Union is much more densely populated than the US is, but what is surprising is how much more densely populated the least densely populated state in the EU is than several US states.
Findings
- The difference between the most densely populated state, Malta, and the least, Alaska, is 3,384 people per square mile.
- Malta is 3,171 times more densely populated than Alaska.
- Even Finland, the least densely populated EU state is 39 times more densely populated than Alaska.
- It takes the sum of the next four most densely populated states (Netherlands, New Jersey, Belgium, and the United Kingdom) to rival the density of Malta.
Caveats
- EU area data is from 2007, US area data is from 2010.
- EU population data is from 2011, US population data is from 2010.
- The area includes both land and water area.
- Population and area data are from different sources.
- EU and US data are from different sources.
Details
Six of the ten most densely populated states are in the European Union. The United States has the 13 least densely populated states.
The European Union's population density according to this data, is 300 persons per square mile (only 7 out of 50 US states are above this) whereas the US's population density is 81 persons per square mile (only 4 out of 28 EU states are below this). The combined EU and US population density is 149 persons per square mile (23 out of 28 EU states and 17 out of 50 US states are above this).
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Data Explorer." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
United Nations. 2007. "United Nations Statistics Division - Environment Statistics." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/totalarea.htm.
United States Census Bureau. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016." Accessed December 12, 2017. http://factfinder2.census.gov.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.