JRC-ESTAT Census Population Grid 2021

The JRC-ESTAT Census Population Grid 2021 is a dataset providing residential population counts for Europe according to the 2021 census at a resolution of 100 x 100 metre cells.

UNIT OF MEASURE: Total resident population.

RESOLUTION: 100 metre.

COMPLETENESS: 100%.

POLICY CONTEXT: This dataset was produced in the context of a collaboration between the JRC and Eurostat to enable analyses of population distribution at high spatial resolution and improved compatibility with other high-resolution spatial datasets.

METHODOLOGY: The JRC-ESTAT Census Population Grid 2021 was derived from the CENSUS 2021 1 km grid through the application of the dasymetric mapping technique. This approach consisted in the disaggregation of population counts from a coarse resolution grid (1 km) to a finer one (100 m) using proxy data at the targeted spatial resolution (100 m). The proxy layer - residential built-up volume - was produced by combining building footprints, land use and building height data from multiple data sources.

DATA SOURCES: Eurostat Census grid 2021 V2-0 (version 16-06-2024), DBSMv1 R2023, EUBUCCO v0.1, OVERTURE Maps 2024-09-18.0, LUISA Base Map 2018, HR Water and Wetness Layer 2018, Coastal Zones LCLU 2018, GHS-BUILT-V R2023A, Urban Atlas Building Height 2012- v2, GHS-BUILT-ANBH, R2023A, TomTom Multinet 2018.

UNCERTAINTY AND LIMITATIONS: The proxy layer inherits inaccuracies from the original datasets, including land-use classification errors, omission and commission errors, and uncertainties in building height measurements. Moreover, the disaggregation assumes a perfect correlation between residential population and residential built-up volume within each 1 km cell. These two issues ultimately affect the final quality of the JRC-ESTAT Census Population Grid 2021.