Meet the island that’s four times as dense as Manhattan

Santa Cruz del Islote is home to 1,200 people living on 2.4 acres

Santa Cruz del Islote
Santa Cruz del Islote

The most densely populated island on earth isn’t Manhattan. It’s the Archipelago of San Bernardo in Colombia’s Gulf of Morrosquillo.

The smallest isle in the archipelago is Santa Cruz del Islote at only 2.4 acres. Yet Santa Cruz is home to more than 1,200 people. That’s four times as dense as Manhattan, according to Details.

Moreover, the island doesn’t have a single high-rise. The majority of the houses are just one-story tall.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Locals say the island was settled 150 years ago because there were no mosquitos. Today, the island is crammed with 90 houses, two shops, one restaurant, one all-ages discoteca and a school onto just 0.004 square miles of land.

The only unoccupied space on the entire island is a courtyard about half the size of a tennis court. [Details]Christopher Cameron