Dataset · CIESIN
Population Living Below 5 m Elevation
3 years, 1990–2015 · 215 countries
This is the share of a country's people living in coastal areas no more than five metres above sea level — the population most exposed to sea-level rise, storm surges and coastal flooding. It comes from Columbia University's Low Elevation Coastal Zone estimates.
This site holds every year from 1990 to 2015, read from CIESIN’s own data and stored exactly as published.
Population Living Below 5 m Elevation · the file
- Newest
- Population Living Below 5 m Elevation, 2015
- Held
- 3 years · 645 rows
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
013 years
Every year
Every year comes from CIESIN’s 2021 release, recalculated on one method. Each opens the full table for that year; each downloads as a CSV.
| Year | Countries | Change | Read | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population Living Below 5 m Elevation, 2015Newest | 215 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Population Living Below 5 m Elevation, 2000 | 215 | ±0 | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
| Population Living Below 5 m Elevation, 1990 | 215 | — | September 29, 2026 | CSV |
Every year in one file, one row per country per year: low-elevation-population-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv
023 columns
What’s in the file
Every column, what it holds, how it is stored and what its values look like — what a reader needs before opening the file.
| Column | What it holds | Stored as | Range, 2015 | Distinct | Empty | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CountrycountryName | The country’s name, as this file spells it. | Text | — | 215 | 0 | |
ISO Codecountry_codeIdentifier | The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code, added by this site. Every table here joins on it. | Text · 3 letters | — | 215 | 0 | |
Population living below 5 m elevation (% of total population)population_below_5mHeadline | The headline figure: Population living below 5 m elevation (% of total population). | Number · up to 16 decimals | 0.000043 share it78.4832 Guyanamiddle 2.9535 | 173 | 0 |
Profiled from the newest file. Range: the lowest and highest value, with the country holding it when only one does. Spread: countries in ten equal steps from lowest to highest. Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.
03215 countries across every year
Who is covered
How many countries each year holds, continent by continent, who joined and who left, and which places this site covers that the dataset never has.
| 1990 | 2000 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 54 | 54 | 54 |
| Americas | 46 | 46 | 46 |
| Asia | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Europe | 46 | 46 | 46 |
| Oceania | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| All | 215 | 215 | 215 |
The same 215 countries in every year.
Not in this dataset · 10 places this site covers
CIESIN gives no figure for these in any year held here. It is the publisher’s choice of scope, and each place’s profile shows what is measured.
04Provenance
Where it comes from
The path from the publisher to this page, and what was checked and changed on the way.
1 · Publisher
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University
2 · Their file
Population Living Below 5 m Elevation 2015
3 · Read by this site
September 29, 2026
Imported by a script that parses each figure and writes it down unrounded.4 · Stored as
3 files, one per year
Each downloads as a CSV, or every year together as low-elevation-population-all-editions-nations-inquiry.csv5 · Used on
Its statistic page, and every profile it measures
Precision
The headline is stored to 16 decimals, as published.
Rounded by this site
Never. Tables on screen may show fewer decimals; the files never do.
Changed by this site
Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.
CIESIN's Low Elevation Coastal Zone estimates, version 3, served through the World Bank's indicator API (EN.POP.EL5M.ZS).
05Reuse
Licence and credit
What the publisher’s licence lets you do, what it asks of you, and a credit line and citation ready to copy.
Licence · checked September 29, 2026
- Share and redistribute it
- Adapt it and build on it
- Use it commercially
- Credit the publisher
- Say what you changed
Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.
A credit line
Source: Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, Population Living Below 5 m Elevation, via Nations Inquiry.
Cite this dataset
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. Population Living Below 5 m Elevation, 1990–2015 [data set]. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/low-elevation-population
The publisher’s own citation: Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, and CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR). 2021. Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ) Urban-Rural Population and Land Area Estimates, Version 3. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https://doi.org/10.7927/d1x1-d702.
Plain-language summary, not legal advice. The licence text is what binds.
06Where it is used
Around the site
Where these numbers appear on this site, and the datasets nearest to it.
Charted
Population Living Below 5 m Elevation by countryWho is highest, the map, the spread, who rose and fell, and the records.
Subjects
Near neighbours
- Climate Vulnerability (ND-GAIN)ND-GAIN · 30 held · 1995–2024
- World Risk IndexIFHV · 26 held · 2000–2025
- INFORM Risk IndexEuropean Commission Joint Research Centre · 10 held · 2017–2026
07Questions
Population Living Below 5 m Elevation: questions and answers
What is the Population Living Below 5 m Elevation?
This is the share of a country's people living in coastal areas no more than five metres above sea level — the population most exposed to sea-level rise, storm surges and coastal flooding. It comes from Columbia University's Low Elevation Coastal Zone estimates.
Which years of the Population Living Below 5 m Elevation can I download?
All 3, from 1990 to 2015, each as a CSV file, or every year together in one CSV.
Does CIESIN rank countries on it?
No, and this site does not order it either. The files hold values only.
Can I use it commercially?
Yes, under CC BY 4.0, with credit to CIESIN. The licence text is linked on this page.