MSPop: SSP-consistent 30-arcsec global gridded population projections incorporating city-system constraints

The MSPop dataset contains gridded population projections for five SSP scenarios at a 30-arcsec resolution. Temporal coverage extends from 2015 to 2100 at five-year intervals. The coordinate reference system used is the WGS84 geographic coordinate system (EPSG:4326). Five multiband GeoTIFF files are provided, with one file corresponding to each SSP scenario. NetCDF versions of the files are available upon request from the corresponding authors. Each band contains the projected population count for a single year at the grid-cell level. The released files cover a near-global domain, spanning approximately 180°W to 180°E and 55.9°S to 78.0°N. File names follow the pattern MSPop_SSPX_2015-2100_5yr_30arcsec_v1.0.0, where SSPX denotes SSP1 to SSP5. Dataset-level metadata, a country-/region-level data availability table, and validation outputs are provided alongside the raster files. Several small countries or territories are excluded from the current release (Andorra, Cook Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Guam, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Niue, Nauru, Palau, French Polynesia, Réunion, San Marino, Tuvalu, United States Virgin Islands). For analyses requiring complete global coverage, users may combine MSPop with another population dataset for these excluded territories, provided that the additional data source is clearly documented.