Maps of India, South Africa and the Korean Peninsula at night. One has more light, one has the same, and one has none. Economic progress in one blog posting...

One of my favorite maps is "The World at Night". It is composite map that shows the presence of artificial light or more specifically the presence of electricity to create that light.  It is an indicator of modern economic and social activity.

It makes a great lesson for an economics and/or geography class.




I came across these two maps below that show to specific countries and the difference in the presence of artificial light.  It is suggested that this tells a story of differing paces of economic progress.

The first is of India in 1994 (left) and 2010 (right).  A very noticeable difference.



The one below is of South Africa from 2000 to 2009.  I can't see an appreciable difference.  To be fair it is only a period of 9-10 years.



Here is another one that NEVER changes.  The Korean Peninsula.  Lights out for the North...