Whatever one thinks of the extension of Cast Lead - and I have my worries - there are many 'big lies' which seem to have taken root as fact.
One of the most widespread is the idea that Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It is nothing of the sort.
Earlier this year, I pointed out on my old Spectator blog some of the facts:
The UK politician George Galloway wrote in The Glasgow Record last month that the Gaza Strip is "the most densely populated piece of earth on the planet." Galloway wrote that 1.5 million Palestinians live there.
Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist currently teaching at Princeton, wrote March 26 that Gaza is "one of the most densely populated places on earth, with 3,823 people per square kilometre." Kuttab's figure is in line with recent Gaza population estimates of 1.4 million.
If Galloway's estimate of 1.5 million Gaza population is correct, this is almost 4,200 people per square kilometer. The Central Intelligence Agency projects that the Gaza population will reach 1,537,269 in July. This would bring the density to 4,270 people per square kilometer.
But this isn't even as crowded as Tel Aviv. Gaza has plenty of problems. But they are nothing - nothing - to do with population density:
Both Singapore and Hong Kong have more than 6,000 people per square kilometer. Tel Aviv has more than 7,000 people per square kilometer. If you count the suburbs of Tel Aviv, the metropolitan area with its population of 2.3 million has a density of more than 5,000 people per square kilometer, which is considerably more crowded than the Gaza Strip as reckoned by Galloway or Kuttab or the CIA.
Selected estimates of population density:
Mumbai
27,209 people/sq km
http://www.mcgm.gov.in/Kolkata
24,000 people/sq km
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KolkataTel Aviv
7,445 people/sq km
(385,000 people, 51.8 sq km)Hong Kong
6,352 people/sq km
http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/population.pdfSingapore
6,252 people/sq km
http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/keyind.htmlLondon
5,100 people/sq kmTel Aviv metro area including suburbs
5,050 people/sq km
(2.3 million people, 453 sq km)Moscow
4,900 people/sq kmTokyo/Yokahama
4,750 people/sq kmWarsaw
4,300 people/sq kmGaza Strip per CIA projection
4,270 people/sq km
(1,537,269 population July 2008, 360 sq km)Gaza Strip per George Galloway
4,167 people/sq km
(1.5 million people, 360 sq km)Gaza Strip per Daoud Kuttab
3,822 people/sq kmThe numbers for London, Tel Aviv metro area, Moscow, Tokyo/Yokohama and Warsaw are from the City Mayors site.
http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-density-125.html
