Population and Density Options

[OverdrivePrime]

Hi all,
I'm too nerdy for my own good, so the other day I put together an entirely too complicated spreadsheet to take UN real-world population projections and then apply the effects from the two VITAS plagues and a slightly increased mortality rate to figure out with the population of the 6th world would be in 2070.

I came up with a global metahuman population of 6,392,233,078; about 300 million fewer folks than we've got today. That's with a 1 in 10000 increase in mortality rate.
After figuring that the mortality rate would likely be increased by 1 in 500, I get a slightly smaller number: 6,357,728,821; which doesn't change a whole heck of a lot except for the additional 34.5 million people who died.

Anyway, the reason for this geeky abuse of math was my attempts to figure out what population density would be in the sixth world, particulalary in my home state of Wisconsin. You see, as I see it, the wilderness in the 6th world is an even scarier place than the cities, and so most sane people would have fled the rural areas of the world in favor of the relative safety of the cities. The NAN is the exception to this, obviously, but for metro areas in fairly rural Midwestern states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa and the like, the could expect to see a fairly large influx of refugees from the their rural villages and independent farms. With global populaiton actually down slightly from 2008 levels, the effects of this population compression don't seem that they would have too drastic an effect on cities, particularly when combined with 6th World innovations like Arcologies and other, less drastic, types of corp housing developments.

I think where the major change in city structure will be is in the suburbs and exurbs. I see the exurbs as being ghost-towned; too distant from the city centers except by bullet train. First ring suburbs would tend to be absorbed by the metroplexes - though probably retaining some of their own individuality, while second ring suburbs that survive would likely become armed and gated communities for the ultra-rich.

I'm very interested to see your thoughts on 6th world population trends. Whaddaya think?