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100 m Resolution Age-Stratified Population Grid Data for China Based on Township-Level in 2020

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Liang

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Keting Xiao

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Shuimei Fu

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Xun Zhou

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Xinxin Chen

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Mengdie Yang

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Jiale Cai

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Wenhui Liu

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Xinqin Peng

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Fuliang Deng

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Wei Liu

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Mei Sun

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Ying Yuan

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

  • Lanhui Li

    (School of Computer and Information Engineering, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China)

Abstract

China’s age structure is undergoing profound demographic shifts, making accurate spatial information on age-stratified populations essential for policy-making, resource allocation, and risk assessment. However, census data are primarily aggregated by administrative units, offering coarse spatial resolution that constrains their integration and application with other gridded datasets. Using township-level population counts for four age groups (0–14, 15–59, 60–64, and ≥65 years) from the 2020 Seventh National Population Census across 38,572 townships, we developed an age-stratified downscaling framework. This framework integrates a random forest model with age-filtered Points of Interest (POI) data and other multi-source geospatial covariates to generate a 100 m resolution age-stratified population density weighting layer. Through township-level data dasymetric mapping, we produced the township-based 100 m Age-Stratified Population Grid Data (Township-ASPOP). Since township-level data represent the finest publicly available spatial unit of demographic statistics in China, we further validated the accuracy of Township-ASPOP by generating County-based 100 m Age-Stratified Population Grid Data (County-ASPOP) through dasymetric mapping using county-level age-stratified population data. The results demonstrate that County-ASPOP achieves superior predictive accuracy, with R 2 values of 0.95, 0.95, 0.85, and 0.86, and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values of 1743, 6829, 900, and 2033 persons per township for the four age groups, respectively—significantly outperforming the contemporaneous WorldPop dataset (R 2 = 0.69, 0.72, 0.64, and 0.60). The accuracy of Township-ASPOP is no less than that of County-ASPOP and effectively captures realistic spatial settlement patterns. This study establishes a reproducible framework for generating age-stratified population grid data and provides critical data support for policy formulation and resource allocation.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Liang & Keting Xiao & Shuimei Fu & Xun Zhou & Xinxin Chen & Mengdie Yang & Jiale Cai & Wenhui Liu & Xinqin Peng & Fuliang Deng & Wei Liu & Mei Sun & Ying Yuan & Lanhui Li, 2026. "100 m Resolution Age-Stratified Population Grid Data for China Based on Township-Level in 2020," Data, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jdataj:v:11:y:2026:i:2:p:26-:d:1853942
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