Harmonized Nighttime Lights, 1992–2025

A harmonized series of annual nighttime lights, made temporally consistent across the DMSP-OLS (from 1992) and VIIRS satellite sensors, which are not directly comparable in their raw form. Provided as annual raster composites for long-run analysis of economic activity and development. The harmonization is validated in Illuminating the Global South. Please use the citation below to cite the paper in any works using the data from this project: Chiovelli, G., Michalopoulos, S., Papaioannou, E., & Regan, T. (2026). Illuminating the Global South. The Economic Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaf134