Authors highlight that accurate population distribution estimation is crucial for various fields including resource allocation and disaster risk management. They emphasize the importance of global gridded population datasets in providing insights into human population distribution on a global scale. The study evaluates the accuracy of five global gridded population datasets in rural areas, finding systematic underestimation of rural populations across all datasets. The results have significant implications for research and policy fields, suggesting that past studies may have unknowingly disadvantaged rural populations. The root cause of underrepresentation is attributed to limitations in national population censuses, raising concerns about the reliability of global population estimates.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56906-7