Global Natural Resource and Child Health Index Scores 2006-2012

2006 to 2012 time series of two composite indices for global development assessment. The dataset includes a Natural Resource Protection Indicator (NRPI) for 235 countries and a Child Health Indicator (CHI) for 175 countries. It was produced by ESDIS in support of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation and released in 2012.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in the Natural Resource Protection Indicator (NRPI) score over the 2006-2012 period to assess global conservation progress.
• Compare Child Health Indicator (CHI) scores across 175 countries based on its components: access to improved sanitation, improved water, and child mortality.
• Model the relationship between a country's NRPI (weighted average percentage of biomes under protection) and its CHI to explore environment-health linkages.
• Rank countries by their proximity-to-target scores (0-100) for the NRPI or CHI to identify candidates for development funding eligibility.
• Validate the consistency of the NRPI time series against its predecessor, the Natural Resource Management Index (NRMI), from 2006-2011.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent 7-year time series (2006-2012) for longitudinal analysis.
• Covers a broad geographic scope with the NRPI for 235 countries and the CHI for 175 countries.
• Indicators are standardized as proximity-to-target scores on a 0-100 scale, enabling direct comparison.

Limitations

• Data is not recent, with the last update in 2011 and the final release in 2012, limiting contemporary analysis.
• Specific underlying raw data (e.g., exact protected area percentages, mortality rates) for calculating the composite indices is not provided in this release.
• The CHI is available for 60 fewer countries than the NRPI, creating an incomplete paired dataset for all nations.

Provenance

Source

ESDIS (Earth Science Data and Information System), likely utilizing data from sources like the World Database on Protected Areas and WHO/UNICEF reports.

Collection Method

Calculated composite indices based on the weighted average percentage of biomes under protected status (NRPI) and the average of three proximity-to-target scores for sanitation, water, and child mortality (CHI).

Time Range

2006 to 2012

Freshness

Static 2012 release; no stated update frequency.

Geography

Global, with NRPI for 235 countries and CHI for 175 countries.