Using Night-Time Light Data, Researcher Finds Chinese GDP May Be Overstated by About 35 Percent

Shanghai at night taken by the Expedition 30 crew from the International Space Station, on March 27, 2012. NASA

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been known to alter its economic data. A study published in October used night-time light to determine that China, as well as other autocracies, overstate their gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates.

The U.S. study gathered night-time light (NTL) data from satellites and used that to measure the exaggeration of official GDP data of autocratic regimes.