Where people are estimated to live.
Look beyond district totals. WorldPop uses a spatial model to distribute an estimated population across a grid.
WORLDPOP GLOBAL2 / ALPHA RELEASE
A different view of population.
Brighter cells indicate more modelled people in that grid cell. Choose a year or a district, then follow the district link for its separately sourced figures.
Patna · 2026 modelled grid
Explore Patna district ↗These are separate models with different methods and boundaries. The WorldPop figure sums valid 100 m cells inside the simplified 2021 district outline; missing cells are not counted. Neither is a new Census count.
Explore the selected district at approximately 100 m
The detailed layer is a separate WorldPop 2026 model. It uses a fixed logarithmic scale capped at 5,000 people per cell; its colours cannot be compared directly with the 1 km overview. Transparent areas are outside the simplified district boundary or missing in the source, not necessarily uninhabited.
100 m source and limitations ↗ · Processing details and source hash ↗
Read this as a model, not a headcount. WorldPop’s alpha R2025A release estimates the number of people per roughly 1 km grid cell. Its sources and assumptions differ from the UNFPA 2021 and 2026 district projections elsewhere on this site; their totals should not be substituted for each other. The 2026 and 2030 layers were future estimates in the 2025 release.
The colours use the same logarithmic scale across years, capped at 30,000 modelled people per cell. Transparent areas are outside the simplified district polygons or have no source value; they are not labelled as empty. Source coverage varies by year. The 2021 boundaries are an overlay, not proof of an identical boundary in another period.
Source and processing
WorldPop, University of Southampton, Global2 R2025A v1, India constrained population count grids, produced 1 September 2025. Random-forest dasymetric redistribution; people per grid cell; geographic WGS84. The publisher labels this an alpha release that may change. Bihar Unpacked clipped the India grids to simplified geoBoundaries district shapes without substituting zeros for missing cells, then rendered a fixed colour scale.
WorldPop dataset and citation ↗ · CC BY 4.0 ↗ · geoBoundaries / ODbL ↗ · Processing details and source hashes ↗
Compare Census counts and UNFPA district projections ↗ · Explore built-up surface ↗