Records in the live release
14,277
Release 2026-11-12, 12 November 2026. Its fingerprint: a9da7b00d9d6863a866a5b73e8d88588def4f4a999db00831e8554ee798017d7 (what that is).
Datasets·UM-319·Property and land·Early access
Land cover, built-up area and population by ward
What covers the land in each ward (grass, crops, buildings, water), how much is built on since 1975, and about how many people live there. Estimates from satellite data, not the census.
01
What it holds
In more detail
For every ward, municipality, district and province: its land cover in 2021 (ESA WorldCover), its built-up area every five years from 1975 to 2020 (GHSL) and its people each year from 2015 (WorldPop, a modelled estimate, with GHS-POP as a second reading). By ward and year only; no settlement is named or outlined.
How far it reaches
14,277 records: every 2026 ward, municipality, district and province; land cover 2021, built-up area every five years 1975 to 2020, people (modelled) each year 2015 to 2026.
How often it changes
Yearly
Yearly: a new WorldPop year or GHSL release is read when its publisher puts it out (no forecasts or projections are used).
Where the figures come from
European Space Agency; European Commission, Joint Research Centre; WorldPop, University of Southampton. From ESA WorldCover, the JRC's Global Human Settlement Layer and WorldPop, each under CC BY 4.0.
02
Measured accuracy
Not checked against a source page: its figures are worked out from satellite and population grids, not printed on a page. 50 records sampled on 12 November 2026. The sample and any failures.
03
Get it
On this site
See every place, free, no account.
Through the API
/v1/datasets/land-and-population-by-ward/records, as JSON, CSV or Excel, with filters and any past date. Fields and filters. It takes a key.
All of it at once (Parquet)
The full history, built with release 2026-11-12. A download takes a key; the fingerprints are public. How to download a snapshot.
land-and-population-by-ward-2026-11-12-records.parquet: 14,277 record rows (every release), 1.7 MB. sha256676161300e37f8b5…
For data portals
Described in DCAT in /catalog.json and on this page.
Stories that used it: 2026 local election results: 138 of 212 councils hung, and what happened in your province · South Africa’s dams are fuller than a year ago, except along two coasts · How clean is your air? Nitrogen dioxide in every municipality, and its sources from space · Is your tap water safe? Mostly. The sewage is another story · Local government elections 2026: the count as it comes in
AlsoBack to all datasetsFields and filtersIs it current?Every releaseAccuracy