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Agglomeration Index: Towards a New Measure of Urban Concentration

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  • Hirotsugu Uchida
  • Andrew Nelson

Abstract

A common challenge in analyzing urbanization is the data. The United Nations (UN) compiles information on urbanization (urban population and its share of total national population) that is reported by various countries but there is no standardized definition of 'urban', resulting in inconsistencies. This situation is particularly troublesome if one wishes to conduct a cross-country analysis or determine the aggregate urbanization status of the regions (such as Asia or Latin America) and the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Hirotsugu Uchida & Andrew Nelson, 2010. "Agglomeration Index: Towards a New Measure of Urban Concentration," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-029, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2010-029
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    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2010-29.pdf
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    2. Andre Lemelin & Fernando Rubiera-Morollón & Ana Gómez-Loscos, 2016. "Measuring Urban Agglomeration: A Refoundation of the Mean City-Population Size Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 589-612, January.
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    15. Quansheng Ge & Mengmeng Hao & Fangyu Ding & Dong Jiang & Jürgen Scheffran & David Helman & Tobias Ide, 2022. "Modelling armed conflict risk under climate change with machine learning and time-series data," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
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    19. David Mayer-Foulkes, 2011. "Urbanization as a Fundamental Cause of Development," Working papers DTE 501, CIDE, División de Economía.
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