The number of people living in proximity to volcanoes has clear volcanic hazards implications, and population datasets help assess volcanic risk. The LandScan population dataset produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory apportions census counts to grid cells based on likelihood coefficients incorporating proximity to roads, slope, land cover, nighttime lights, and other data. The LandScan 2008 data set was applied to the Volcanoes of the World database (for publication in Volcanoes of the World, 3rd ed.) to calculate population densities surrounding Holocene volcanoes at radii of 5, 10, 30, and 100 km. The 10 volcanoes with the greatest population at each of those distance ranges are shown in the tables below.

Data also factor population densities at volcanic fields with large numbers of vents over broad areas, oceanic shield volcanoes with large footprints, and large silicic calderas. For volcanic fields, minimum population densities were calculated for those living within a rectangle encompassing the known footprint of the volcanic field or a circle of 20 km (the average radius of database volcanic fields with documented dimensions). Similarly, 20 km minimum radii were used for large oceanic shield volcanoes and large silicic calderas that could erupt from vents in broad areas over their flanks. These data do not account for non-resident visitors to national parks, forests, or other recreational areas in volcanic regions, which form an unknown, but sometimes non-trivial component of persons at risk from volcanic eruptions.

Global Volcanism Program, 2024. [Database] Volcanoes of the World (v. 5.2.4; 21 Oct 2024). Distributed by Smithsonian Institution, compiled by Venzke, E. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.VOTW5-2024.5.2