(6.1.1) How is global development measured + What are contemporary global patterns?

What is development?

Advances in a number of characteristics, such as:

• demographic conditions- birth rate, life expectancy

• economic progress- GDP, GNI

• life sustenance- provision of basic needs

• self esteem- independence, self-respect

• freedom- self-determination

What is often focused on in developmental geography and why?

Economy- GDP, GNI etc.

because there is often a strong correlation between economic strength and the other factors

What is GNI?

Gross National Income (total money earned by country + residents)

What is GDP?

Gross Domestic Product

(total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year/given time period)

What are some ways development could be measured?

• HDI

• Literacy rates

• workplace law/conditions

• % of population in higher/secondary education

• Drs/1000 people- access to healthcare

• exports vs imports

• access to clean water

What are some pros to using GDP/GNI as a measure of development?

• can use correlation between economy + social development for predictions

• provides insight into standard of living

• can compare growth in a specific time period internationally

• charities are attracted to designated ‘low-income’ countries

• quantitative data- easy to collect + compare

What are some cons to using GDP/GNI as a measure of development?

• only directly shows the economic aspect of a country, ignores other parts

• doesn’t account for wealth disparity or anomalous figures

• could put off tourist/investors by ‘low-income’ designation

• values skewed by cash-in-hand jobs

What is the continuum of economic development?

The World Bank’s classification of countries to account for the need for a scale of wealth rather than overly simple classifications such as ‘rich’ and ‘poor.’

What are the categories in the economic development continuum?

LICs- Low Income Countries

NICs- Newly Industrialising Countries

HICs- High Income Countries

What is the development gap?

A gap between the richest and poorest countries

(there was a line drawn after research in 1980 but it is not wholly accurate)