Community suitability of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Moderately suitable confidence B · live score 72
93
best land · p90
99%
good land
—
one block
How each domain holds up
Legal & sovereignty 54
Governance, safety & tenure 54
Economy & cost 88
Society, freedom & health 63
Land & water 89
Climate, growing & hazards 88
Autonomy & access 80
Where it pushes back
Healthcare qualityGovernance & corruptionLegal entity & land framework
Within KwaZulu-Natal — 11 sub-regions
Estimated finer-grained reads from the same open data. Phase-1, not yet verified.
Umgungundlovu District Municipality
strongest Autonomy & access (97) ·
weakest Governance, safety & tenure (54)
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 75
Uthukela District Municipality
strongest Land & water (89) ·
weakest Governance, safety & tenure (54)
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 74
Amajuba District Municipality
strongest Autonomy & access (90) ·
weakest Governance, safety & tenure (54)
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 74
Uthungulu District Municipality
strongest Autonomy & access (90) ·
weakest Governance, safety & tenure (54)
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 74
Ugu District Municipality
strongest Climate, growing & hazards (90) ·
weakest Governance, safety & tenure (54)
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 73
iLembe District Municipality
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 73
Sisonke District Municipality
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 73
Umzinyathi District Municipality
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 72
Zululand District Municipality
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 72
Umkhanyakude District Municipality
pushes back: Healthcare quality
Moderately suitable 70
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
pushes back: Accessibility
Marginally suitable 61
Reading the land, criterion by criterion
Each signal names the open dataset behind it and how measured it is.
Legal entity & land frameworkcountry B OECD FDI RRI + manual
Education & schooling freedomcountry B HSLDA + UNESCO UIS
Seed & agricultural autonomycountry C UPOV membership proxy
Governance & corruptioncountry A World Bank WGI + Transparency CPI
Land tenure securitycountry A IPRI (de jure) + Prindex (de facto)
Business & economic viabilitycountry A World Bank B-READY, Heritage, Fraser
Cost of living, labour & landcountry A World Bank PPP, ILOSTAT
Monetary & capital sovereigntycountry A IMF/World Bank, Chinn-Ito
Personal freedomcountry A Cato/Fraser Human Freedom Index
Healthcare qualitycountry B WHO GHO
Disease / vector burden A Malaria Atlas + dengue Index P
Soil quality A SoilGrids (ISRIC)
Water availability & quality A WRI Aqueduct + AQUASTAT
Terrain & buildability A SRTM / NASADEM
Land cover & degradation A ESA WorldCover + Global Forest Watch
Biodiversity & alignment B Biodiversity Intactness Index
Climate & natural hazards A ThinkHazard + NASA FIRMS + USGS
Growing conditions A CHELSA / FAO GAEZ
Food & forage diversity B FAO GAEZ crop suitability + GLW
Coastal risk B Climate Central CoastalDEM
Energy potential A Global Solar Atlas + Global Wind Atlas
Natural building materials B SoilGrids clay + forest + geology
Environmental quality A SEDAC PM2.5 + VIIRS night-lights
Connectivity A Ookla + ITU (+ Starlink)
Accessibility A Malaria Atlas friction surface
Remoteness / surroundings A GPWv4 population density
Contamination legacy C Maus mining polygons + WRI power plants
Phase-1 desk screening
These are desk numbers from open data. Soil tests, water rights and the welcome of actual neighbours all wait for a visit — we'd rather say so than pretend.
Other regions in South Africa
Compare nearby options, ranked by overall suitability.