Chinese Urban Population Estimates

ABSTRACT City populations (P) can be estimated from measurements of built-up urban areas (A) using LANDSAT images. Regression models developed from 1951–56 data for Chinese cities are of the form P=aAb . The models exhibit varying degrees of success when used with LANDSAT area measurements to obtain 1970 population estimates for selected cities in the range of 400,000–3,000,000 people. Further improvements of these models are achieved by the incorporation of up-to-date population statistics and the exclusion of cities with more than 2,500,000 people. Linear regression models were found to be more appropriate for large, regional centers.