Illustrative: a hexagonal population grid where a wave rises, peaks and recovers from seeded outbreaks

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Health and Society · Department of Human Development, Work and Social Policy

Poverty, inequality, exclusion, demographic change and urban vulnerability

Human development, poverty and inequality

Human development studies the capabilities people have to live lives they value: health, education, standard of living, security and voice.

01Scope

What the discipline covers

The subtopics its courses and labs teach.

Courses
In preparation
Levels
In development
Labs
Exposure lab, Network lab, Map lab
  • Poverty and vulnerability to shocks
  • Inequality and exclusion
  • Demographic transitions
  • Education and capabilities
  • Social cohesion
  • Urban social vulnerability
  • Measuring human development
  • Life-course risk

Courses in development extend the scope to one further subject: Poverty dynamics and shocks.

02Maps

Build a twin of any place

Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow human development, poverty and inequality on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.

Delhi and its National Capital Territory core: a flat plan of the faculty twin. Terrain 191 to 315 m; 950 hospitals; 26,073,018 people in the box, 2020; Population density, GPW v4.11 (2020): read live when the 3D twin opens; Air quality, Copernicus CAMS via Open-Meteo (hourly, 5 days): read live when the 3D twin opens; Nitrogen dioxide column, TROPOMI (Sentinel-5P): read live when the 3D twin opens; Surface air temperature, AIRS (daily, day): read live when the 3D twin opens; Urban heat island, summer daytime 2013: read live when the 3D twin opens; Built-up and settlement extent, HBASE 2010: read live when the 3D twin opens. Contours every 50 metres from the elevation grid; people per cell, worldpop 2020 as four classes per cell (edges 4,474, 14,627, 25,652); hospitals as marks.
Delhi and its National Capital Territory core, India. Flat plan of the same data: relief as contours from the inline grid, the WorldPop count grid as cells, the mapped hospitals and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
  • Terrain 191 to 315 m
  • 950 hospitals
  • 26,073,018 people in the box, 2020
  • Population density, GPW v4.11 (2020): read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Air quality, Copernicus CAMS via Open-Meteo (hourly, 5 days): read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Nitrogen dioxide column, TROPOMI (Sentinel-5P): read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Surface air temperature, AIRS (daily, day): read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Urban heat island, summer daytime 2013: read live when the 3D twin opens
  • Built-up and settlement extent, HBASE 2010: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Relief in the twin is exaggerated ×1.5 for legibility.

Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat plan of the same data: relief as contours from the inline grid, the WorldPop count grid as cells, the mapped hospitals and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.

The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).

03Live map

Hazards and exposure in the contiguous United States

Flood water, active fires and surface heat beside population and night-time lights, over the contiguous United States.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Hazards and exposure

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Hazards and exposure, framed on the contiguous United States.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · U.S. Geological SurveySources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (10 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

04The subject

The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies

The field and its scope

For analysts in social policy, humanitarian programming and development finance who must identify who is most exposed to a shock and judge which transfers and services reduce the harm.

05The method

From an income shock to a poverty headcount: how inequality decides who falls below the line

The share of a population below the international poverty line is set by its mean income and its inequality together; a shock that cuts mean income pushes a number of people across the line that depends on how many were standing just above it, and a transfer of a stated size pulls a computable number back.

Sources: Ravallion, The Economics of Poverty: History, Measurement, and Policy (2016); Alkire and Foster, Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement (2011); Haushofer and Shapiro, The short-term impact of unconditional cash transfers to the poor: experimental evidence from Kenya (2016); Brown, Ravallion and van de Walle, A poor means test? Econometric targeting in Africa (2018); World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026-10-17).

06At a glance

At a glance, standards and evidence, research and evidence, what is changing and learning

Human development, poverty and inequality at a glance

risksacademy.comhealth-societydiscipline

Human development, poverty and inequality: 0 primary courses open, 1 in preparation and 3 also taught here, across 8 subtopics and 2 connected disciplines. Courses: RAF-123 L1 in preparation, RAF-105 L1 also taught here, RAF-118 L1 also taught here, RAF-119 L1 also taught here.L1L2L3L4Also
Human development, poverty and inequality at a glance
  • Open, 0
  • In preparation, 1
  • Also taught here, 3
  • Subtopics, 8
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Twin builderBuild a twin of any placeWorked example: Delhi and its National Capital Territory core · 5 generators · 11 layers · 3 instruments
07Console

How Human development, poverty and inequality is taught, as a process you can run

Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.

08Practice

Practice, learning and connections

How technology helps and what risk it brings

AspectIn this area
Technology that helpsDigital public infrastructure and digital identity.
Risk technology createsExclusion, surveillance and the automation of work.
  • RAN-350 Digital Public Infrastructure: Safeguards and Resilience In development
  • RAN-352 Workforce Risk and the Future of Work In development
  • RAN-369 Autonomous Vehicles, Drones and Uncrewed Systems Risk In development
09Take part

Take part in Health and Society

Start from who you are.

10References

Core references and where to begin

Start with Sen, then Alkire, then Ravallion.

11Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in human development, poverty and inequality?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Human development

The expansion of people's freedoms and capabilities to live lives they value.

Term

Multidimensional poverty

Poverty measured across several deprivations, such as health, education and living standards.

Term

Vulnerability to poverty

The likelihood that a household falls into or stays in poverty after a shock.

Term

Demographic transition

The shift from high to low birth and death rates as societies develop.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Human development, poverty and inequality

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Editors and the expert reviewers named on each article decide what we publish. Funders and partners do not review or approve articles before publication.

Licence

Articles: CC BY 4.0. Figures, maps, twins and data: CC BY 4.0. Other uses: ask through the permissions form.