SpatialBasis

Population reports for any point in Africa

How many people live within 5 km of your site? Get a figure you can defend.

Send a location and the distances you need. You receive a short PDF and an Excel file with a best estimate, the range across two independent population models, and an age and sex breakdown.

Built for environmental and social impact assessments, health and school catchments, and site selection. Every figure is sourced and every method step is written down.

Example · Kitengela, Kajiado2025 · modelled
Three geodesic rings of 1, 3 and 5 km around a site 1 km3 km5 km -1.47400, 36.95900
Best estimate, 5 km168,000
Two-model range115,000 – 245,000
Building check108,000 – 160,000
KNBS 2019 benchmarkKitengela urban centre 154,436

Why a single number is not enough

Free radius tools return one figure from one dataset. In African cities the leading population models often disagree by 50% or more, especially on fast-growing urban edges. A reviewer who checks your figure against another source will find the gap. Our reports show it first and explain it.

What you getTypical free radius toolSpatialBasis report
Population in a true-distance circleYesYes
Second independent model and a rangeNoYes
Reliability flag for each ringNoYes
Partial grid cells counted by area (accurate for small rings)RarelyYes
Age and sex structureNoYes
Official census benchmark nearbyNoWhere published
Citable sources and method note, Excel dataNoYes

Sample reports

Three real sites in Kenya, run with the same method and the same rule for the best estimate.

First page of the Ruiru sample report: table of four rings and a population map
Ruiru, Kiambu: health centreRings of 1, 3, 5 and 10 km for an impact assessment. Open PDF
First page of the Kitengela sample report with building check and census benchmark
Kitengela, Kajiado: retail siteRings of 1, 3 and 5 km for site selection, with building check. Open PDF
Age and sex page of the Mbooni sample report: population pyramid and key groups
Mbooni, Makueni: rural clinicAge and sex page: children under 5, women aged 15 to 49, people over 65. Open PDF

Pricing

Introductory prices. Delivery within two working days by email.

Core
$29 per site
  • One point, up to four distances
  • Best estimate, two-model range and reliability flags
  • Local census benchmark where published
  • PDF report and Excel data
Professional
$99 up to 5 sites or one custom area
  • Everything in Core
  • Custom boundary (project footprint, catchment, corridor)
  • Age and sex structure and key groups
  • Building-footprint check where it is reliable
  • Method note ready to paste into your report, one revision

Method in brief

Data

WorldPop Global2 R2025A (100 m, constrained) and GHS-POP R2023A (100 m, European Commission JRC), both open under CC BY 4.0. Age and sex from WorldPop R2025A. Building footprints from Google Open Buildings v3.

Rings

Circles use true ground distance. Each grid cell counts in proportion to the share of its area inside the circle, so small rings are not distorted by whole-cell rounding.

Best estimate

If the two models are within 25% of each other, we report WorldPop. If they differ more, we report the geometric midpoint. The rule is fixed in advance and the same for every client.

Limits

All figures are modelled estimates, not census counts. Census benchmarks use official boundaries that differ from your rings. We say so in every report.

Request a report

Fill in the form. It writes your request; copy it and send it by email. You will get a quote confirmation and a payment link before any work starts.

Send tospatialbasis@gmail.com

Coordinates in decimal degrees (for example -1.47400, 36.95900). For a custom area, attach a KML, GeoJSON or shapefile to your email.