Is the world’s population being miscounted?

The More or Less podcast investigates a study claiming a significant underestimation of the global rural population. Tim Harford interviews Josias Lang-Ritter, a researcher involved in the study, who clarifies that the research highlights inaccuracies in the *location* of populations within existing datasets, rather than a global population undercount. While the study suggests a substantial underrepresentation of rural populations in global population maps, potentially impacting resource allocation, Lang-Ritter emphasizes that there's no evidence supporting the media's claim of billions more people than previously estimated. The discussion also touches upon the limitations of the study and the ongoing debate among researchers regarding the accuracy of global population datasets.