I drove right around Africa through 35 countries over three years. I drove across both Nigeria and the DRC.
There are dozens and dozens of massive cities that take hours to cross in Nigeria you’ve never heard of. Anecdotally, it’s way, way, way more populous than anything nearby. Ethiopia felt somewhat similar in parts, as did Egypt.
Can you name a few of them in Nigeria? On satellite imaging, from what I've seen, they're not so massive, and they're mostly comprised of a sprawl of 1-3 story buildings.
We can compare vs. cities that we have good numbers for. Or Chinese/Indian cities, for that matter. (After looking at Nigeria or the DRC, a quick glance at India via satellite imaging is shocking.)
That said, Egypt is very populous, there's no doubt about that one.
I drove through at least 10 cities in Nigeria I’ve never heard of that had tons of buildings over 10 stories. I just took the fastest route across, I didn’t go wandering. This was 10 years ago too.
Also remember the DRC is almost a million square miles. So it’s 1.5x Alaska.
Sigh.
Personal experience Vs. looking at pictures from the basement....
I expect it to be USA policy soon.
One is anecdotal, one is data.
Is it weird that I can't tell which one? Guangdong has 127 million people and its just the size of Oklahoma. Ok, the Chinese government could be lying about that, but I seriously doubt it.