# Human development, income, night-time lights and population

> Generated by `geo4cambodia build` from [`metadata/hdi.datapackage.json`](../../metadata/hdi.datapackage.json). Edit that file, not this one.

## Overview

An annual panel of Cambodia's 17 Global Data Lab (GDL) subnational regions, 2013–2019. It combines the Global Data Lab's subnational Human Development Index (HDI), gross national income (GNI) and population with harmonized DMSP-like night-time lights (NTL). Some GDL regions group several present-day provinces; for example, KH-GDL-13 is Battambang plus Pailin (see `geo/units.csv`).

- **Dataset id:** `hdi`
- **Categories:** Economy, Health, Social

## Scale: gdl

- **Units:** 17 of 17 gdl units
- **Period:** 2013–2019, annual (119 rows: one per unit and year)
- **Source geometry:** Global Data Lab regions (unions of GADM provinces)

| File | Format |
| --- | --- |
| [`data/gdl/hdi.csv`](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarcs-lab/geo4cambodia/main/data/gdl/hdi.csv) | CSV |
| [`data/gdl/hdi.parquet`](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarcs-lab/geo4cambodia/main/data/gdl/hdi.parquet) | Parquet |

| Variable | Description | Unit | Coverage | Aggregation | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `geo_id` | Global Data Lab region geo ID |  | 2013–2019 | — |  |
| `year` | Year |  | 2013–2019 | — |  |
| `GDLcode` | Global Data Lab region code |  | 2013–2019 | — | Smits & Permanyer (2019) |
| `NTL` | Night-time lights: sum of DMSP-like digital numbers | digital number, summed over cells | 2013–2019 | sum | Li et al. (2020) |
| `GNI` | Gross national income | thousands of 2011 PPP USD | 2013–2019 | sum | Smits & Permanyer (2019) |
| `HDI` | Subnational Human Development Index | index, 0–1 | 2013–2019 | weighted_mean:POP | Smits & Permanyer (2019) |
| `POP` | Population | thousands | 2013–2019 | sum | Smits & Permanyer (2019) |
| `GNIpc` | Gross national income per capita | 2011 PPP USD | 2013–2019 | weighted_mean:POP | Smits & Permanyer (2019) |
| `lnNTL` | Log night-time lights | log | 2013–2019 | none | Derived |
| `lnGNI` | Log GNI | log | 2013–2019 | none | Derived |
| `lnGNIpc` | Log GNI per capita (natural log of GNIpc) | log of 2011 PPP USD | 2013–2019 | none | Derived |
| `lnNTLpc` | Log night-time lights per capita (rescaled: log of NTL × 10^8 / POP) | log | 2013–2019 | none | Derived |

## Load it

```python
!pip install -q geo4cambodia                       # Google Colab
import geo4cambodia as geo

geo.dictionary("hdi")                     # variables, units, aggregation rules
df = geo.load("hdi")                      # panel: one row per unit and year
gdf = geo.load("hdi", geometry=True)      # with gdl boundaries
```

[![Open in Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/assets/colab-badge.svg)](https://colab.research.google.com/notebooks/empty.ipynb)

Without the package:

```python
import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/quarcs-lab/geo4cambodia/main/data/gdl/hdi.csv")
```

[![Open in Colab](https://colab.research.google.com/assets/colab-badge.svg)](https://colab.research.google.com/notebooks/empty.ipynb)

## Notes

- `lnGNIpc` is the natural log of `GNIpc`. The source panel computed it as log(GNIpc × 10^8 / POP), dividing by population twice; the builder recomputes it from `GNIpc`.
- `lnNTLpc` is log(NTL × 10^8 / POP) as in the source panel (POP in thousands): a log of lights per capita shifted by a constant.
- GDL region boundaries are dissolved from the GADM districts of their member provinces, so they nest exactly in the country and contain whole provinces.

## Related notebooks

- [Monitoring subnational human development in Cambodia](../../notebooks/hdi_ntl_esda.ipynb)

## Sources

- Smits, J., & Permanyer, I. (2019). The Subnational Human Development Database. Scientific Data, 6, 190038. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2019.38
- Li, X., Zhou, Y., Zhao, M., & Zhao, X. (2020). A harmonized global nighttime light dataset 1992–2018. Scientific Data, 7, 168. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0510-y

## Recommended citation

> GeoDevelopment Observatory of Cambodia (2025). Human development, income, (DMSP-like) lights and population in Cambodia (17 Global Data Lab regions, 2013–2019). https://github.com/quarcs-lab/geo4cambodia/blob/main/docs/datasets/hdi.md