Producing population-level estimates of internal displacement in Ukraine using GPS mobile phone data

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Iradukunda, Rodgers, Rowe, Francisco, Pietrostefani, Elisabetta
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Iradukunda, Rodgers
Rowe, Francisco
Pietrostefani, Elisabetta
author_facet Iradukunda, Rodgers
Rowe, Francisco
Pietrostefani, Elisabetta
contents Nearly 110 million people are forcibly displaced people worldwide. However, estimating the scale and patterns of internally displaced persons in real time, and developing appropriate policy responses, remain hindered by traditional data streams. They are infrequently updated, costly and slow. Mobile phone location data can overcome these limitations, but only represent a population segment. Drawing on an anonymised large-scale, high-frequency dataset of locations from 25 million mobile devices, we propose an approach to leverage mobile phone data and produce population-level estimates of internal displacement. We use this approach to quantify the extent, pace and geographic patterns of internal displacement in Ukraine during the early stages of the Russian invasion in 2022. Our results produce reliable population-level estimates, enabling real-time monitoring of internal displacement at detailed spatio-temporal resolutions. Accurate estimations are crucial to support timely and effective humanitarian and disaster management responses, prioritising resources where they are most needed.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_00003
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Producing population-level estimates of internal displacement in Ukraine using GPS mobile phone data
Iradukunda, Rodgers
Rowe, Francisco
Pietrostefani, Elisabetta
Physics and Society
Social and Information Networks
Applications
Nearly 110 million people are forcibly displaced people worldwide. However, estimating the scale and patterns of internally displaced persons in real time, and developing appropriate policy responses, remain hindered by traditional data streams. They are infrequently updated, costly and slow. Mobile phone location data can overcome these limitations, but only represent a population segment. Drawing on an anonymised large-scale, high-frequency dataset of locations from 25 million mobile devices, we propose an approach to leverage mobile phone data and produce population-level estimates of internal displacement. We use this approach to quantify the extent, pace and geographic patterns of internal displacement in Ukraine during the early stages of the Russian invasion in 2022. Our results produce reliable population-level estimates, enabling real-time monitoring of internal displacement at detailed spatio-temporal resolutions. Accurate estimations are crucial to support timely and effective humanitarian and disaster management responses, prioritising resources where they are most needed.
title Producing population-level estimates of internal displacement in Ukraine using GPS mobile phone data
topic Physics and Society
Social and Information Networks
Applications
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.00003