[hammersklavier]

Well the only thing this statistic seems to show is is something we should all already know: that the Low Countries/Ruhr Valley (possibly south to the Ile de France?) has about the same mean population density as the U.S. Northeast.

I remember reading SNCF studies in the high-speed rail thread that claimed that the mean population densities of the Midwest, the Florida peninsula, Texas, and California are all equivalent to the mean population density in the whole of France.

Or, if you randomly tossed a dart at a map of America, you'd either wind up with it wedged near a town an easy drive of many many people, or near a town where you'd have to expand a radius to 500 miles or so just to include 100k people. Basically, Americans like to bunch up, despite our belief in the wide-open spaces being available to everyone.