The earth at night tells more of a story than you think.

Using satellite images of night time lights, J. Vernon Henderson, Adam Storeygard, and David N. Weil from Brown University have created a new framework for estimating a country or region’s GDP by observing the changes in a country’s “night lights” as seen from outer space.

“Consumption of nearly all goods in the evening requires lights, as income rises, so does light usage per person, in both consumption activities and many investment activities.”
From the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper.

The researchers don’t envision the lights density data as a replacement for official numbers, but when added to existing data from agencies like the World Bank, the lights density can provide a better insight of how economies really are performing.

[The hi-res image is avalible at the end of the post]

USA and Canada still going strong, for now...

There is even light in the Amazon jungle, probably from the lumber mills.

Huge difference between Africa, Middle East and Europe.

Japan brightly lit, India & China lighting up. The difference between North and South Korea is stark.

HI RES MAP IN FULL DETAIL

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