Today’s plot by Tristan Hoyle assess the change in night lights for a selection of high affluence and low affluence wards in South Africa. All of the considered suburbs and informal settlements experienced a
decline in night light during periods of load shedding. This may reflect that the informal economy largely operates during the day. Also note that some affluent areas, such as Clifton and Constantia, incorporate large tracks of nature reserve, so their aggregate nigh light intensity tend to be lower than less affluent areas that are more densely populated.
Read our new Policy Paper on changes in night lights in South Africa for more.
If you would like to see a demo of our EconData platform’s spatial data module please get in touch.
