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Socioeconomics data are measurements related to human societies including population size, urban extent, educational attainment, housing, industrial activity, and poverty levels, which can help us understand how people are living and determine or predict how they are affected by various situations. The data has important applications for many research topics such as improving air quality in cities, combating diseases and their spread, or modeling how rising sea levels can alter coastline communities.

NASA has a variety of data combining census surveys, Earth science instrument imagery, and other sources of information to characterize how and how well people are living in places around the world and the ways the nature and its events affect societies.

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Socioeconomic Data and Tools

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Dr. Dan Runfola, Associate Professor of Applied Science, William & Mary, sits arms crossed at a desk in front of several computer monitors in a lab.
Data User Story: Dr. Dan Runfola
NASA Earth science data help scientists like Dr. Dan Runfola estimate the socioeconomic status of individuals around the globe.
This image shows a map of Europe colored in yellow, orange, red, and purple. The colors correspond to areas of relative deprivation. The brighter the color (orange and yellow), the higher the level of relative deprivation.
Measuring Relative Poverty and Deprivation Around the Globe
The Global Gridded Relative Deprivation Index is the first product of its kind to cover the world at a 1-kilometer resolution.
Discover and Visualize Socioeconomics Data
NASA data help us understand Earth's changing systems in more detail than ever before, and visualizations bring these data to life, making Earth science concepts accessible, beautiful, and impactful.
Data visualization is a powerful tool for analysis, trend and pattern recognition, and communication. Our resources help you find world-class data visualizations to complement and enhance your research. We also have tools and tutorials to help you translate socioeconomics data into compelling visuals.
Socioeconomics Data and Tools
Socioeconomics Data Catalog
City of Ilsan, South Korea on 1 May 2023. Image from the OLI instrument aboard the Landsat 8 and 9 satellites, from the HLS project
This is a true-color image of Ulsan, South Korea, acquired on May 1, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) aboard the joint NASA/USGS Landsat 8 and 9 satellites. The image contains an overhead view of the world's largest automobile assembling factory (operated by Hyundai Motor Company). The lavender purple roofs of the motorcar assembly plant can be seen in the top middle portion of the image.

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