If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I like trains. So when I come across a video titled "This Sahara Railway Is One of the Most Extreme in the World," there's a high probably that I'm going to watch it — even if it's over 6 years old. Now for a second, I thought that I may have already written about this rail line, but AI tells me that I haven't.

The Mauritania Railway is one of the most iconic and famous lines in the world. It's approximately 704 kilometers long and it was built for the sole purpose of transporting iron ore from the Zouérat mines in northern Mauritania to the port city of Nouadhibou on the Atlantic coast. Iron ore represents somewhere around half of Mauritania's exports.

This railway runs some of the longest trains in the world — each train can have over 200 cars, which translates into trains that are up to 3 kilometers long. They can also transport up to 17,000 tons of iron ore, making it one of the heaviest trains anywhere in the world.

But what I find most fascinating about this railway is the informal economy that unintentionally emerged on top of it. Because the trains return from Nouadhibou to Zouérat empty, local fishermen and traders use it to transport product inland to towns along the line. And for many of these towns, this is their lifeline — it's their only connection to the outside world.

It's not a fun trip, nor is it a safe trip. It also takes 20 hours to travel from one end to the other. But it's importantly free and it provides economic opportunity. It's an extreme example of the power of rail. Here you have a single railway that likely shoulders at least a quarter of the country's entire GDP, and that's without including any of the benefits derived from its informal contributions.

If you haven't yet seen the above video, I would encourage you to take the 12 minutes and give it a watch. The visuals are important to see. And there's a reason it has over 10 million views.

Cover photo by Andrzej Kryszpiniuk on Unsplash

Shaping Cities in an Urban Age is the third book to come out of the London School of Economic's Urban Age project. It was published last fall. The first two titles were, Living in the Endless City (2011) and The Endless City (2007).

If you're familiar with the first two publications, you'll know that these books are heavily illustrated. Lots of maps, charts, and diagrams. So they make great coffee table books. But they're also filled with insightful essays -- this one has 37 of them.

In this particular book the focus is on the following:

"It identifies current trends that are making cities more fragmented, less equitable and environmentally more damaging, and argues powerfully for a more integrated social, environmental and spatial approach that can inform and inspire city-makers that are shaping an increasingly urban world."

I am sharing this with all of you today because I have always really enjoyed these books. They have a way of quickly putting things into perspective globally.

Around 2.5 billion more people are expected to live in an urban agglomeration by 2050. And 90% of this growth is expected to happen in just two places: Asia and Africa. This is an unprecedented shift that will obviously create many challenges and many opportunities.

This book is about that.

Image: Phaidon

This recent post by Sam Karam at NewGeography illustrates the relationship between female literacy and total fertility rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, India, and China. The overarching argument, which won’t surprise any of you, is that, “higher female literacy is a reliable predictor of lower fertility and improved prosperity.”

The following graph uses data from populyst, the UN Population Division and UNESCO. The time period for the dataset varies by country but approximately corresponds to the latest 2000′s. All Sub-Saharan countries are represented, except for the Congo, Somolia, and South Sudan.

Noteworthy about this dataset is that the biggest decline in the total fertility rate happens precipitously after female literacy reaches and exceeds 80%. What is also interesting, but not surprising, if that the countries with the lowest gender equality rankings tend to also have high fertility rates. And that’s because low gender equality tends to translate into lower female literacy rates. 

According to populyst, the above phenomenon – precipitous decline in TFR with rising female literacy – has already proved itself out in China. 

Based on data from the World Bank, China’s total fertility rate dropped from 6.38 in 1966 to 2.75 in 1979. And since the one-child policy was only enacted in 1979, it doesn’t appear to be driven by that. (I would have initially expected some sort of surge in births prior to that policy.) From 1982 to 2000, the female literacy rate in China rose from 51% to 87%. Today it is 99.6%, which is basically the same as it is for males.

For a more detailed look at the above data, check out this populyst post.