Groundswell Africa Spatial Population and Migration Projections at One-Eighth Degree According to SSPs and RCPs, 2010-2050

The Groundswell Africa Spatial Population and Migration Projections at One-Eighth Degree According to SSPs and RCPs, 2010-2050 data set provides a baseline population distribution for 2010 and projections from 2020 to 2050, in five-year increments, of population distribution and internal climate-related and other migration for West Africa and the Lake Victoria Basin. The projections are produced using the NCAR-CIDR Spatial Population Downscaling Model developed by the CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The model incorporates assumptions based on future development scenarios (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways or SSPs) and emissions trajectories (Representative Concentration Pathways or RCPs). The SSPs include SSP2, representing a middle-of-the road future, and SSP4, representing an unequal development future. Climate models using low and high emissions scenarios, RCP2.6 and RCP8.5, then drive climate impact models on water availability, crop productivity, and pasturelands (where cropping does not occur), as well as flood impacts, from the Inter-Sectoral Impacts Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP).