Recently, the BBC posted a video about Santa Cruz del Islote, a tiny island on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, which it described as the “world’s most densely populated island.” With five hundred people living on an island the size of a soccer field, it is definitely crowded, but is it the world’s most densely populated island?
Apparently, Santa Cruz del Islote does not have the highest population density of the world’s islands. At just over 40,000 people per kilometer, it appears to rank about 10th in the list. The most densely populated is Ilet a Brouee in Haiti, where 500 people occupy a sand spit with an area of only around 4,000 m², resulting in a staggering population density of 125,000 people per kilometer.
With only about half the population density of Ilet a Brouee, Ap Lei Chau, or Aberdeen Island, located off Hong Kong Island, next to Aberdeen Harbour and Aberdeen Channel, has an area of 1.30 square kilometers and a population of close to 87,000, making it the second most densely populated island in the world. Ap Lei Chau has a population density of 66,755.
By comparison, other crowded islands seem relatively spacious. Manhattan island has a population density of 27,993, while Île Saint-Louis island in Paris supports 22,409 people per kilometer. Hong Kong island itself has a population density of only 16,038.
I am more accustomed to the BBC being a producer of speculation and propaganda rather than much news, let alone inaccurate news. They need to do one of their “Reality Checks”
Yes, Jean,
I gave up on BBC News.
Click an article and it takes me back to the home page.