The Night Light Development Index (NLDI): a spatially explicit measure of human development from satellite data

Abstract

We have developed a satellite data derived "Night Light Development Index" (NLDI) as a simple, objective, spatially explicit and globally available empirical measurement of human development derived solely from nighttime satellite imagery and population density. There is increasing recognition that the distribution of wealth and income amongst the population in a nation or region correlates strongly with both the overall happiness of that population and the environmental quality of that nation or region. Measuring the distribution of wealth and income at national and regional scales is an interesting and challenging problem. Gini coefficients derived from Lorenz curves are a well-established method of measuring income distribution. Nonetheless, there are many shortcomings of the Gini coefficient as a measure of income or wealth distribution. Gini coefficients are typically calculated using national level data on the distribution of income through the population. Such data are not available for many countries and the results are generally limited to single values representing entire countries. In this paper we develop an index for the co-distribution of nocturnal light and people that is derived without the use of monetary measures of wealth and is capable of providing a spatial depiction of differences in development within countries.