Concept Behind the Map
- The map uses the Kármán Line (about 100 km or 62 miles above sea level), which is commonly defined as the boundary of space.
- The “sea” refers to the nearest coastline, the point where land meets the ocean. (Inland lakes, like the Great Lakes, are excluded!)
In essence:
At each land location, the map asks: Is the distance to the ocean shorter than 100 km? If yes, you’re closer to the sea; if not, you’re closer to space.
Colors and Meaning
- Red areas: Places closer to the sea than to outer space. These are generally coastal regions, typically within ~100 km of the ocean.
- Dark purple areas: Places closer to space than the sea, most of the world’s interior landmasses.
- Light blue patches: The Great Lakes, highlighted humorously since they’re not oceans but are still large enough to appear significant on this map.
Insights
- The red coastal outlines are surprisingly narrow.
- Even in relatively small countries, most inland areas are closer to space than the sea.
- Large continental interiors, like the Amazon Basin, Sahara, Central Asia, and the American Midwest, are deep in “space territory.”
- In countries with long coastlines (like Japan, UK, Ireland, Italy, etc. ), almost all people live closer to the sea than to space.
This map playfully reminds us how thin Earth’s atmosphere is: the edge of space is surprisingly close, just 100 km up (Or a 1 hour car ride), whereas many people live hundreds or thousands of kilometers from the ocean.
How much of humanity lives within 100 km of the sea?
Estimates vary slightly by source and methodology, but most demographic and environmental studies converge around 40–45% of the world’s population.
Here’s a breakdown of the data and reasoning:
Global Coastal Population Statistics
- According to the United Nations (UN Atlas of the Oceans) and NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), about 40% of people live within 100 km (62 miles) of the coast.
- That’s roughly 3.3 to 3.5 billion people as of 2025.
- Around 10% live within 10 meters of sea level, a much smaller but more climate-vulnerable subset.
Why So Many People Live Near Coasts
- Trade and transportation: Ports are gateways for 80–90% of global trade.
- Fertile land and freshwater: Many river deltas (e.g., Nile, Ganges, Mekong) host dense populations.
- Urbanization: Many megacities, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tokyo, Lagos, New York, London are coastal or near-coastal.
Implications
- This means almost half of humanity lives in the red zones of the map (closer to the sea than space).
- But geographically, those red zones make up only a small fraction of Earth’s land area, a striking contrast between population distribution and land distribution.
What do you think?
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