A nighttime light imagery estimation of ethnic disparity in economic well-being in mainland China and Taiwan (2001–2013)

Abstract

Ethnic disparity in economic well-being in China is drawing more and more attention from researchers. Past efforts for estimating ethnic disparities relied only on survey data in yearbooks or other statistical data obtained at the province or county level, which is usually limited by specific administrative boundaries that may not reflect ethnic differences. The details of ethnic disparities in economic well-being across all ethnic groups still remain unknown. In this study, we analyzed ethnic disparity in economic well-being in China over a 13-year period using nighttime light imagery and obtained a detailed and relatively accurate understanding of these disparities. This study presents and discusses the ranking of ethnic groups in China in terms of economic well-being and human development level, as well as their development patterns. We also make a comparison between the non-Han Chinese and the Han Chinese and find that non-Han ethnic groups as a whole have higher economic levels of well-being than do the Han Chinese. Although the human development level of the non-Han Chinese is lower than that of the Han Chinese, the human development level of non-Han Chinese is increasing all the time, and the disparity between them fell from 2001 to 2013, except in 2011. This study introduces a simple, convenient, and cost-effective way to measure ethnic disparities in economic well-being across ethnic groups and provides a detailed approximation of these disparities in China over a 13-year period, which will help inform policy makers in their future decisionmaking regarding ethnic-related issues.

Multi-Scale Measurement of Regional Inequality in Mainland China during 2005–2010 Using DMSP/OLS Night Light Imagery and Population Density Grid Data

“…One major advantage of NLDI is that the spatial inequality can be calculated at fine spatial scales. For example, Zhou and his colleagues used aggregated night light and population census data to measure the intra-regional inequality of China's 30 provinces for 2010 [57], and Liu and his colleagues utilized night light images to measure the development disparity of different ethnic groups in China during 2000-2013 [58]. In this study, night light is viewed as an indicator of public services rather than GDP.…”

A Map Spectrum-Based Spatiotemporal Clustering Method for GDP Variation Pattern Analysis Using Nighttime Light Images of the Wuhan Urban Agglomeration

“…Therefore, the annual nighttime stable light data from different satellite missions were intercalibrated using the quadratic regression model (Equation (2)) proposed by Elvidge et al [19]. The model parameters at, bt, and ct in each year t were obtained from a study by Liu and Li [20], who used nighttime stable light data from mission F16 in 2007 as a baseline and performed quadratic regressions in invariant areas with little change in actual DNs over time. In addition, the pixels with zero values were excluded from the intercalibration.…”

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Urbanization in the Taiwan Strait Based on Nighttime Light Data from 1992 to 2020

“…At the same time, some scholars use remotely sensed nighttime light data to study the urbanization development on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. For instance, Liu et al [44] used the nighttime light data to estimate ethnic disparity in economic well-being in mainland China and Taiwan. Lu et al [45] used nighttime light data from 1992 to 2013 to monitor changes in the expansion of the West Coast urban agglomeration and to explore the coupled coordination between the expansion of the West Coast agglomeration and the quality of urbanization.…”