Density is in our Blood

Scientific American presents evidence that "high density living" is hardwired in humankind, and as populations grow, density increases.

1 minute read

August 18, 2011, 10:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

The report, produced by a team of anthropologists and ecologists, studied 339 hunter-gatherer societies, and found that people tend to live more densely as their populations grow. In fact, "...(f)or every doubling of population, the home ranges of hunter-gatherer groups increased by only 70 percent."

Reporter Tim De Chant says this evidence is very significant:

"Every additional person requires less land than the previous one. That's an important statement. Not only does it say we're hardwired for density, it also says a group becomes 15 percent more efficient at extracting resources from the land every time their population doubles."

FULL STORY: Hunter-Gatherers Show Human Populations Are Hardwired for Density

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 in Scientific American

Social / Demographics World Density

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