Mapping the Spatial Distribution of Poverty Using Satellite Imagery in the Philippines

MAPPING THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POVERTY USING SATELLITE IMAGERY IN THE PHILIPPINES

MARCH 2021

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2021 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2021.

ISBN 978-92-9262-131-5 (print), 978-92-9262-132-2 (electronic), 978-92-9262-133-9 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS210076-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS210076-2

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On the cover: The cover includes images of the Earth, Landsat 8 satellite, pie and line charts, and a rural area in Mountain Province, Philippines to show poverty mapping using satellite imagery, geospatial data, and machine learning algorithms (photos from public domain, Goddard Media Studios/National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Ron Lester Durante/ADB). Cover graphics was designed by Ron Lester Durante.

Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

Foreword

In the decades before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Philippine economy grew steadily. Real gross domestic product per capita, for instance, doubled from the late 1980s to 2019. The country’s scorecard with respect to the Millennium Development Goals—particularly in promoting gender equality in primary, secondary, and tertiary education; advancing