Seven-thousand-two-hundred-sixty-five colorful squares - each represents one million people... this is ODT's new 2015 World Population Map. Earth's human population portrayed in this graphic image updated from the original 2005 edition startled its publishers and cartographers as well! Recognizing how many more people occupy the planet now, compared with just ten years ago was a visual surprise. Released in time for World Population Day - Friday, July 11, 2014 - this is a mind-boggling educational tool.

"From 2005, when there were 6,446,131,400 people on Earth to 2015 (projections) of about 823 million additional people...7,265,501,297; a 12.7% gain.  When the numbers were converted to visuals, the result was truly astonishing. Conventional wisdom says that a picture is worth 1,000 words…and in this case it was clear that putting the 2005 Population Map side-by-side with the 2015 one was worth an entire encyclopedia,"  says ODT's President Howard Bronstein.

Cartographer Paul Breding says, "I thought there would be a few countries that might have lost population in that time, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Haiti, and Sudan.  But surprisingly they all gained population. The only countries that lost population were in Eastern Europe!"  Breding was astonished to learn The Middle East is growing significantly and that India will soon surpass China in population …probably between 2023 and 2028.

Publisher Bob Abramms says, "The challenge as a publishing company, was that the map had grown in size so much that it couldn't fit onto any reasonable size of paper. We considered reducing the size of the grid, because the map became so huge. But we also felt it was important to be able to compare the 2005 map to the 2015 one. So in the end we needed to crop off all the map explanation material from our 2005 map."

The 2005 map was recently hailed by Gizmodo as one of the 13 best maps of the year.  See:  http://gizmodo.com/you-are-here-the-13-best-maps-of-2013-1490022952

Renowned map critic Denis Wood, upon seeing the new map, says: "the 2015 Population Map is VERY impressive. China and India are huge, but so is the whole of the western Pacific. All I can say is WOW!"

This novel view of the world was created by an editorial team including cartographers, population experts, graphic designers, GIS specialists, as well as human rights, human resources, and political activists.

The Population Map also has thumbnails tracking demographic trends over time. Additional thumbnails include a series of informative images illustrating population density by continent throughout human history. This series of "snapshot" images shows where humans lived (1) 100,000 years ago, (2) at the time of the birth of Christ, (3) at 1650 AD, (4) at 1900 AD, and includes (5) population projections for the year 2150. There is also a map representing the percentages of children under 15 years old…the best predictor of future population growth.  

Press Kits and interviews with the cartographers available - Map Size: 35"x50"

POPULATION MAP  laminated  $25.00      ISBN: 978-1-931057-34-9

POPULATION MAP  paper folded $20.00  ISBN: 978-1-931057-33-2

URL: http://odtmaps.com/detail.asp_Q_product_id_E_PopMap-2014

Available from ODT: 800-736-1293 or  www.ODTmaps.com