Overview

• The study, published in Nature Communications, analyzed data from 300 rural dam projects across 35 countries to evaluate global population datasets.
• Findings indicate rural populations were undercounted by 53% to 84% over the study period, with discrepancies particularly significant in countries like China, Brazil, and Australia.
• Researchers caution that decades of decision-making based on these datasets may have distorted rural-to-urban migration trends and resource distribution.
• Challenges such as limited access to remote areas, language barriers, and resource constraints are identified as key factors in the undercounting of rural populations.
• The study calls for improved census methodologies and alternative data collection approaches to address systemic inaccuracies in global population estimates.