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Almost 247 million people live in low elevation coastal zones, according to figures in a paper published in the journal Environment and Urbanisation.

Scientists from the Centre for International Earth Science and the International Institute for Environment and Development carried out the study. It is the first to attempt to quantify the global risk from sea level rise and increased storm activity. It uses data from the US/Italian Shuttle Radar Topography Mission to create worldwide five and ten metre contours. The SRTM was an Italian synthetic aperture radar that was carried by NASA's space shuttle.

Among other facts from the study: it identifies the Bahamas as the country with the biggest percentage of its population living at an altitude of less than 10 metres (88 per cent), followed by Suriname (76 per cent), the Netherlands (74 per cent), and Vietnam (55 per cent).

Almost two thirds of the world's cities with more than ten million people are within the 10 metre zone. In 21 countries, more than half the population lives within the zone.

Visit http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/lecz.jsp for more information.

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