The impact of spatial statistics in Africa

This paper is concerned with the great impact spatial statistics has had in Africa. Brief reviews relating to the metrics defining Africa and to the models used within spatial statistics are provided. In addition, the converse of the title of the paper, that the geostatistical model of Krige and Matheron is truly ‘Out of Africa’, is discussed. Attention is then given to the impact of spatial statistics on the key areas of health, ecology, climate, geoscience and theory. Particular emphasis is placed on papers in Spatial Statistics which have African authors or co-authors, or which include African datasets, or both. Tentative recommendations are made throughout the text and an extensive, broad-based bibliography is included.