[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:77:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","global",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"sustainableCities",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","65fb9f7ba2148ae70a8afc177794e960","Entry","2021-11-11T07:10:17.232Z","2023-11-27T09:07:24.470Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",37,13,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":57,"wrongPercentage":93,"name":94,"questionText":95,"statistics":96,"veryWrongStatistics":98,"correctSentence":100,"youWereWrong":101,"youWereRight":102,"dataSourceShortText":103,"dataSourceLinkLongText":104,"extendedAnswerText":105,"headingVeryWrong":106,"youWereVeryWrong":101,"headingWrong":107},"77",[38,59,76],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":54},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":51,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"ea9960a5e5c50979dc334573394b8ce3","2021-11-11T06:55:38.491Z","2023-09-01T14:19:27.206Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},8,{"sys":52},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},"answer",{"globalId":55,"correctAnswer":56,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":58},"77-a1",true,false,"Less than 5%",{"metadata":60,"sys":63,"fields":73},{"tags":61,"concepts":62},[],[],{"space":64,"id":66,"type":21,"createdAt":67,"updatedAt":68,"environment":69,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":71,"locale":34},{"sys":65},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"de936e286e89cdb82954d28dbc0b039d","2021-11-11T06:55:39.936Z","2023-09-01T14:19:27.244Z",{"sys":70},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":72},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},{"globalId":74,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":75},"77-a2","Around 15%",{"metadata":77,"sys":80,"fields":90},{"tags":78,"concepts":79},[],[],{"space":81,"id":83,"type":21,"createdAt":84,"updatedAt":85,"environment":86,"publishedVersion":29,"revision":50,"contentType":88,"locale":34},{"sys":82},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"b94de61bcdd9c9acb5c417ccbdf14bff","2021-11-11T06:55:41.509Z","2023-09-01T14:19:27.285Z",{"sys":87},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":89},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":53},{"globalId":91,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":56,"answerText":92},"77-a3","More than 25%",70,"Share of land built on","How much of the world’s total land surface has some physical infrastructure built on it, like houses or roads (excluding farm land)?",[97],"uk 0.7",[99],"uk 0.41","Less than 5% of the world’s land surface has been built on.","Humans have had a huge impact on the Earth, but our constructions cover less than 5% of the total land area.\n","They don’t realize that less than 5% of the world’s land has been built on.","Source: Various ","The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) which is hosted by Columbia University and funded by NASA estimated that the earth’s urban settlement was 2.7%.[1] \n\nWe consulted seven experts for this question, including academics from the [POPGRID data collaborative] (https:\u002F\u002Fwww.popgrid.org\u002F) who confirmed that the share of earth’s land built on is less than 5% and probably actually closer to 1%.[2]\n\nThe lowest we have seen is 0.5% and that comes from the European Commission’s Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL).[3] It uses satellite imaging technology to measure the built-up area on the Earth’s land. Their global estimation of built up surface share for 2014 was between 0.52% and 0.58% of land mass, depending on if you include Antarctica or not in the global land mass surface. The GHSL uses a strict target semantic - meaning they count only the building footprints, not the surfaces of roads or green areas within an urban settlement. \n\nIt is important to note that this figure of land built on does not take into account all land appropriated for human consumption, such as land used for agriculture, forestry etc. About 10% of all land surface is used for agriculture for human consumption.[4]\n\n[1]  [The Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP)](https:\u002F\u002Fsedac.ciesin.columbia.edu\u002Fdata\u002Fcollection\u002Fgrump-v1)  \n[2]  [POPGRID data collaborative](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.popgrid.org\u002F)  \n[3]  [Global Human Settlement Layer - European Commission](https:\u002F\u002Fghsl.jrc.ec.europa.eu\u002Findex.php)  \n[4]  [Our World in Data](https:\u002F\u002Fourworldindata.org\u002Fglobal-land-for-agriculture) \n[5]  We consulted seven independent experts for this question, including Alex de Sherbinin of Columbia University.","We see media coverage of cities crowded with buildings and roads, and we hear about urbanization and population growth, which makes us assume humans are everywhere. But, when you look at Earth from above, you can see lots of wide-open spaces untouched by humans, such as deserts, huge forests and mountains.\n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nIf you overestimate how much humans have permanently impacted the surface of the planet, you may give up hope that we will ever manage to find a sustainable way of living where plants and animals get enough space.\n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nMost people spend a lot of their lives in cities or towns, surrounded by buildings and roads and other human made constructions. Then when they see images in the media of expanding cities all over the world it can be hard to imagine that the structural footprint from humans is relatively small. \n\n### Can I trust this data?\nYes the correct answer is definitely below 5%, but the exact figure is hard to know. The number is calculated using satellite data, which is difficult to do. Different researchers arrive at different numbers according to how good their satellite imagery is and what and how they identify human constructions in the images. The numbers they suggest range between 0.5% and 3%.\n\nWe consulted seven experts for this question and they all agreed that the correct answer is definitely lower than 5%, with many of them estimating the actual number as closer to 1%.\n\n### Where can I see this?\nLook for buildings on [Google Earth](https:\u002F\u002Fearth.google.com\u002Fweb\u002F@13.06080661,20.81959172,-1457.87737279a,22253212.05812931d,35y,222.94158815h,0t,0r)\n","Most land is empty","Lots of humans live on little land"]