Global Drought Total Economic Loss Risk Deciles is a 2.5 by 2.5
minute grid of global drought total economic loss risks. A process of
spatially allocating gross domestic product (GDP) based upon the
Sachs et al. (2003) methodology is utilized. First the proportional
contributions of subnational units to their respective national GDP
are determined using sources of various origin. The contribution
rates are then applied to published World Bank Development Indicators
to determine a GDP value for the subnational unit. Once the national
GDP is spatially stratified into the smallest adminstrative units
available, GDP values for grid cells are derived using Gridded
Population of the World Version 3.0 (beta) data of population
distributions. A per capita contribution value is determined within
each subnational unit, and this value is multiplied by the population
per grid cell. Once a GDP value has been determined on a per grid
cell basis, then the regionally variable loss rate as derived from
the historical records of EM-DAT is used to determine the total
economic loss risks posed to a grid cell by drought hazards. The
final surface does not present absolute values of total economic
loss, but rather a relative decile (1-10 with increasing risk)
ranking of grid cells based upon the calculated economic loss risks.
The dataset is a result of the collaboration among the Center for
Hazards and Risk Research (CHRR), International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, and the Columbia
University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).