Dataset reference · WorldPop · gridded population
How the population figure is actually computed
Population is the single most requested number in site analysis and the most often quoted without its method. Here is the whole of it: what is summed, at what resolution, under what licence, and — the part that matters most — what the resulting number does not tell you. The full licence table is on the data sources page; the underlying formulas are on the methodology page.
What WorldPop is
WorldPop publishes modelled population estimates on a global raster of roughly 100 metre cells. The figures are not a direct headcount. They are a disaggregation of census and survey inputs distributed onto the grid, which is what makes global coverage possible in the first place — and also what sets their limits.
The methodology page records the computation LocateRight performs as a sum over the stored cells falling inside the analysis radius, reported with that radius attached. Stating the radius is not decoration: a population figure without the area it was computed over is not interpretable.
How LocateRight uses it
Summed over a stated radius
Cells inside the radius are summed and the total is reported with the radius used. The measurement carries the dataset version it came from and the timestamp it was retrieved, so two analyses of the same point on different dates can be compared honestly.
Paired with what is actually there
Population sits alongside place counts, land cover and building footprints rather than standing alone, because a dense population figure over empty land cover is a different proposition from the same figure over built-up area. See ESA WorldCover for the surface side of that comparison.
Reported as absent when it is absent
Where no stored population raster covers the point, the platform returns an explicit no-data state with its reason. It never substitutes zero, because a zero would read as a measurement rather than a gap.
Why cell resolution sets the floor on what you can ask
The roughly 100 metre cell is the single most consequential property of this dataset, and it is arithmetic rather than opinion. A 100 m cell covers about a hectare — roughly the footprint of a city block. Any question whose answer varies at a scale finer than that is below the resolution of the measurement, whatever the estimator's accuracy at national scale.
The practical consequence: an estimate that is highly accurate for a whole district can be badly wrong for one street inside it, and nothing in the output distinguishes the two cases. That is why the radius is reported with the figure, and why the provenance block carries the dataset version — a result you cannot re-run against the same release is a result you cannot check.
For the complement to this block — what is actually built on the ground — see ESA WorldCover. Population without surface context is a number with nothing to attach it to.
What a gridded population figure cannot tell you
These are not hedges. They are the properties of the dataset, and they determine which questions this number is the right tool for.
| Question | Can population answer it? | Why not |
|---|---|---|
| How many people live within the radius? | Approximately, at city scale | The strongest question it can answer, and the estimate's home ground |
| How many people are on this specific street? | Not reliably | At roughly 100 m cells, a single street can sit inside a cell averaging hundreds of residents |
| Who are these people — income, age, household? | No | It carries counts, not attributes. No demographic breakdown is derived from it |
| How many of them are here right now? | No | It is not a daytime-population or footfall measure. Presence varies by hour and season |
| How many of them are my customers? | No | It contains nothing about intent, price sensitivity or category affinity |
| Will this site trade? | No | That depends on your price point, daypart, capacity, brand and competition — none of which is in this raster |
Licence and attribution
WorldPop is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. In LocateRight's licence registry this is recorded as approved for commercial use, with two conditions:
- Attribution is required. Source credit must travel with the data.
- No share-alike obligation. Unlike OpenStreetMap's ODbL, derivatives are not forced to adopt the same licence.
One caveat the registry records explicitly: datasets derived from OpenStreetMap or Microsoft footprints may carry ODbL instead. That is why the licence attached to your export — not this page — is the authoritative statement for your use. Exported records carry their own source, version and licence fields.
WorldPop population: FAQ
How does LocateRight calculate population around a location?
Population is the sum of stored WorldPop cells falling inside the analysis radius, at roughly 100 metre cell resolution, and the radius used is reported alongside the result. It is a sum over grid cells, not a headcount of residents, and it carries the dataset version and the retrieval timestamp so the figure can be traced back to the release it came from.
Is WorldPop population a census count?
No. It is a modelled gridded estimate, disaggregated from census and survey inputs onto a roughly 100 metre raster. It is a strong national and city-scale estimate and a weak substitute for a street-level count. It also says nothing about who those people are, when they are present, or whether they are your customers.
What licence applies to WorldPop data, and can I use it commercially?
WorldPop is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The terms are recorded in LocateRight's licence registry as approved for commercial use, with attribution required and no share-alike obligation. One caveat the registry records: datasets derived from OpenStreetMap or Microsoft footprints may carry ODbL instead, so the licence attached to your specific export is the authoritative statement.
What happens if no population raster covers the point I analysed?
The platform returns an explicit no-data state with the reason recorded, rather than a zero. A zero would be indistinguishable from a measured absence of population, which is a materially different claim, so the two are never conflated.
Can I use the population figure to decide whether a site will trade?
No, and the methodology is explicit about that boundary. Population inside a radius is not a customer base. Whether a location trades depends on your price point, daypart, capacity, brand and the behaviour of people who are not in the data at all. LocateRight measures the area precisely so you can reason about that yourself, including reasoning that the numbers rule a location out.
See the figure and its provenance together
Run an analysis and read the population block with its source, dataset version and retrieval timestamp attached — then judge the number against the limits on this page rather than against a benchmark someone else chose.