Spatial inequality in sub-Saharan Africa

We examine spatial and national inequality in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries using comparable Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data. Using living standard measures to calculate asset indices, we find that SSA has considerable within-country spatial and national contemporary asset inequalities, with large cross-country variations. We also use data from 27 SSA countries with comparable data from 1995 to 2018 to compare inequalities in access to basic services. In most countries, regional and national inequities in access to basic services have decreased over time. Our findings show that regional inequality is a significant component of national inequality, which has policy implications.