Global Human Settlement Layer — Built-up Surface
Built-up surface from Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery, 1975–2020 in five-year epochs at 100 m, summed over each district. Published by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (GHS-BUILT-S R2023A).
Published 1975–2020 · 4 indicators · mapped to 808 districts · platform version 2026-10-25
Indicators
Urbanisation
Built-up Area Share
Map itShare of the district's land covered by buildings and other built-up surface in 2020, from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer at 100 m.
Caveat: 2020 is interpolated by GHSL between its 2018 Sentinel-2 and earlier Landsat inputs. Built-up surface includes roofs and paved ground, not only homes.
Built-up Area
Map itBuilt-up surface inside the district in 2020, in square kilometres, from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer at 100 m.
Caveat: Tracks district size as much as urbanisation — compare with Built-up Area Share. 2020 is interpolated by GHSL.
Built-up Area Added, 1990–2020
Map itBuilt-up surface added inside the district between 1990 and 2020, in square kilometres, from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer.
Caveat: 1990 is an observed Landsat epoch; 2020 is interpolated. GHSL built-up never decreases, so this is never negative.
Built-up Growth, 1990–2020
Map itPercent growth in built-up surface between 1990 and 2020, from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer. Blank where the district had under 1 km² built-up in 1990.
Caveat: Blank below 1 km² of built-up in 1990, where percentages run to extremes on a tiny base. 2020 is interpolated by GHSL.
Using this data
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