Data

IPUMS Terra integrates population census data from around the world with global environmental data, allowing users to obtain customized datasets that incorporate data from multiple sources in a single coherent structure.

Changes in population and environment are fundamentally linked.

Changes in population size, characteristics, and behavior lie at the heart of environmental challenges such as increasing pressure on water sources, growing food demand, declining biodiversity, and climate change. The key drivers of change—especially fossil fuel emissions, deforestation, and water depletion—are direct consequences of population growth and economic development. Conversely, environmental change has profound implications for demographic behavior. Flooding, erosion of coastal areas, destruction of ecosystems, and drought and degradation of water supplies at lower latitudes all have consequences for human populations, such as mass migration, food scarcity, and increased armed conflict.

Understanding population-environment changes requires integrated data.

Our understanding of interactions between population and environment has been hampered by differences in the data structures and analysis methods and tools used within different disciplines, as well as a dearth of internationally comparable data. Closely integrating global population data with data on the environment allows us to describe the unfolding transformation of human and ecological systems. Data on the human population are crucial for understanding changes in the Earth’s biological and climate processes; equally important, data on climate and land provide essential tools for understanding the impact of environmental change on human behavior. By creating a framework for locating, analyzing, and visualizing the world's population and environment in time and space, IPUMS Terra provides unprecedented opportunities for investigating the agents of change, assessing their implications for human society and the environment, and developing policies to meet future challenges.

Population Data IPUMS Terra includes microdata for more than 80 countries and aggregate population data for an additional 80+ countries.

Environmental Data IPUMS Terra includes land use / land cover and climate data.

Data Integration IPUMS Terra adds value to data by facilitating integration across time, space, and topic.