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porträtt Ol Hall

Ola Hall

Head of Department, Senior Lecturer

porträtt Ol Hall

Nighttime lights and population changes in Europe 1992–2012

Author

  • Maria Archila
  • Ola Hall
  • Magnus Andersson

Summary, in English

Nighttime satellite photographs of Earth reveal the location of lighting and provide a unique view of the extent of human settlement. Nighttime lights have been shown to correlate with economic development and population but little research has been done on the link between nighttime lights and population change over time. We explore whether population decline is coupled with decline in lighted area and how the age structure of the population and GDP are reflected in nighttime lights. We examine Europe between the period of 1992 and 2012 using a Geographic Information System and regression analysis. The results suggest that population decline is not coupled with decline in lighted area. Instead, human settlement extent is more closely related to the age structure of the population and to GDP. We conclude that declining populations will not necessarily lead to reductions in the extent of land development.

Department/s

  • Department of Human Geography

Publishing year

2015

Language

English

Pages

653-665

Publication/Series

Ambio: a Journal of Human Environment

Volume

44

Issue

7

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Human Geography

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0044-7447