For a long time I have been a bit skeptical about the huge attendance numbers reported by Rio de Janeiro-officials.
Last year Lady Gagas concert reportedly had 2,1 million in the crowd. This weekend 2 million is supposed to have been in the crowd for Shakira.
Based on the concert footage I can only see crows on a smaller section of the beach from Copacabana Palace to the Hilton Hotel on the corner of Av. Princesa Isabel. That area is 186.000 square meters.
Even if we go by five persons per square meter that only fits around 930.000. And the requires people to be standing shoulder to shoulder in the entire area.
It is also the maximum before reaching dangerous levels according to Dr. G. Keith Still:
https://www.gkstill.com/Support/crowd-density/100sm/Density1.html
So realistically there is room for much less people, but according to the social media profiles of the city and mayor "Two million people where on the sands of Copacabana".
So where are they getting these insane numbers from? Am I missing something here?