Cited by 259Impact of Light on Environment and HealthHuman Mobility and Location-Based AnalysisCulture, Economy, and Development Studies

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Nighttime lights as a proxy for human development at the local level

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Bruederle, Anna, Hodler, Roland·2018·PLOS ONE

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0202231PMC PMC6124706

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Abstract

Nighttime lights, calculated from weather satellite recordings, are increasingly used by social scientists as a proxy for economic activity or economic development in subnational regions of developing countries where disaggregated data from statistical offices are not available. However, so far, our understanding of what nighttime lights capture in these countries is limited. We use geo-referenced Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 29 African countries to construct indicators of household wealth, education and health for DHS cluster locations as well as for grid cells of roughly 50 × 50 km. We show that nighttime lights are positively associated with these location-specific indicators of human development, and that the variation in nighttime lights can explain a substantial share in the variation in these indicators. We conclude that nighttime lights are a good proxy for human development at the local level.

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Authors: Bruederle, A., & Hodler, R.
Affiliations: University of St.Gallen (CH)
Corresponding author: Hodler, Roland
ORCID: Bruederle, Anna
Hodler, Roland
Venue: PLOS ONE
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published: 2018-09-05
Volume: 13
Issue: 9
Pages: e0202231
ISSN: 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202231
PMC: PMC6124706
OpenAlex: W2742305379
Cited by: 259
References: 36
Citations by year: 2026: 19 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 6
FWCI: 13.90
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
Locations: PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Alexandria (UniSG) (University of St.Gallen) (submittedVersion)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders: Universität St. Gallen (Basic Research Grant)
Topics: Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Impact of Light on Environment and Health
Social Sciences › Transportation › Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
Social Sciences › Development › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
Keywords: nighttime lights, human development, proxy indicators, household wealth, subnational regions, developing countries, African countries, satellite remote sensing, local economic development
MeSH terms: Africa, Algorithms, Developing Countries, Geography, Humans, Lighting, Surveys and Questionnaires, Socioeconomic Factors, Time Factors, Models, Economic

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Nighttime lights as a proxy for human development at the local level

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