As regular readers know, later this spring we’re moving to Gozo for six months. Gozo is the middle child of the three islands that comprise the tiny island nation of Malta.
According to Wikipedia, Gozo is 67 km² in size, approximately the same size as Hong Kong Island. I’ve never been to Hong Kong (it’s on my list), so how big is that in terms that I can relate to?
I laid the outline of Gozo over maps of Greater Vancouver and Pender Island to get some perspective (click for larger sizes):
It looks like walking north-south across Gozo is roughly similar to walking from Yaletown to Park Royal via the Lions Gate Bridge. West-east looks comparable to walking from UBC to Science World. Yeah, it’s small.
On the other hand, there are only 30,000 people on the island. Compare that with, maybe, 400,000 people in a similar area in Vancouver.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I doubt there are 400,000 people in the Vancouver area you’re talking about — the entire population of the City if Vancouver is about 590,000, from Fraser River to Burrard Inlet and UBC to Boundary Road — but you’re right that it’s more than the 30,000 on Gozo. There are probably more than 50,000 people living in the West End alone.
Derek: What do you figure, then? I figured if I overlap Gozo over the downtown area plus the downtown east side, south Granville and the Broadway corridor, then that might incorporate two thirds of Vancouver’s population (as I’m covering the most dense areas). Do you figure more like 200,000?
Maybe something like that.
I would compare it to where I live – Bowen Island, which is about 50 square km in size, so just a bit smaller than Gozo. Our population is about 3,500. When we first came here 28 years ago the population was about 1,000. Hard to imagine 30,000 on our rocky island! A lot of trees would have to move out of the way to make room, and, never mind the Capilano Queen handling ten times the traffic. Oh, and the water would be an issue. Desalination plant? Smaller houses? Exchange flush toilets with composting ones?
Darren, I am looking forward to reading of your impressions when you actually live on Gozo.
hahaha In Gozo, people live in caves and hunt for food. We gather water from the leaves after it rains, so we can drink and we cook on firewood.
Actually, Gozo is a beautiful gem in the middle of the med. With a rich history and white bright limestone houses, beautiful antique famhouses and and the remains of the oldest free standing structure in the world, you will step through thousands of years of history without travelling the world for it. It’s all there on this island.
Don’t forget to take your donkey. There are no cars in Gozo.
haha