Daily satellite monitoring has revealed striking shifts in the way the Earth glows after dark, with artificial lighting continuing to expand worldwide but in uneven patterns.
Researchers report a 16 per cent net increase in global nighttime brightness between 2014 and 2022, though the picture is far from uniform.
The United States (US) remains the most luminous nation, followed by China, India, Canada and Brazil.
Much of the surge in brightness was driven by rapid urbanisation, infrastructure growth and rural electrification, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
Somalia, Burundi and Cambodia led the sharpest increases, with several African nations including Ghana and Rwanda also registering dramatic gains.
Prof Zhe Zhu of the University of Connecticut, senior author of the study published in Nature said:
“This isn’t just urbanisation. It is a massive expansion of energy access. Entire regions are moving from near-total darkness to joining the global electric network.”
Yet the study also documented deliberate dimming in parts of Europe, where stricter energy-efficiency rules and dark-sky conservation efforts have reduced radiance by 4 per cent.
According to reports, France has emerged as a leader, with policies that include switching off streetlights late at night.
Co-author Prof Christopher Kyba of Ruhr University Bochum described the French approach as “extraordinary.”
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Elsewhere, abrupt declines in brightness were linked to conflict and infrastructure collapse.
Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan and Lebanon all saw sharp losses, while Haiti and Venezuela experienced prolonged dimming tied to economic crises and unreliable power supplies.
The US showed a mixed picture, with a 6 per cent overall rise while the West Coast brightened in line with population growth and thriving tech economies.
However, parts of the East Coast and Midwest dimmed due to industrial decline and adoption of smart lighting systems.
Researchers processed more than a million daily images from a US government satellite, a departure from earlier studies that relied on monthly or annual composites.
The findings stressed the volatility of the planet’s nightscape shaped by both human decisions and disruptive events.
“Light pollution has profound ecological consequences, disrupting nocturnal ecosystems, animal migrations and human circadian rhythms.
“The Earth’s lighting footprint is constantly expanding, contracting and shifting,” Zhu warned.
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