GCSE Geography "The Changing Economic World"; Measuring Development

What is development?

• Development = Can refer to..

  • A countries’ level of technological and economic progression.

  • A countries’ level of improvements made to the quality of life of the local population.

What are some examples of key economic indicators?

• Some economic indicators used are -

  • GNI (Gross National Income) = Calculates the total income earned by a country's residents, including income from abroad. Provides boarder insight into economic performance of country.

  • GDP (Gross Domestic Product) = Measures the total value of goods and services produced within a country's borders. Indicates the average economic output per person.

• Other economic indicators include -

  • Unemployment rates

  • Inflation rates

  • Poverty rates

What are some examples of key social indicators?

• Some key social indicators are -

  • HDI (Human Development Index) = Composite index measuring a country's average achievements in three basic dimensions: health (life expectancy), education (mean years of schooling), and standard of living (GNI per capita). Used as broader indicator towards a countries’ social development.

• Other social indicators include -

  • Life expectancy

  • Infant mortality rates

  • Birth and Death rates

  • Literacy rates

What are some the limitations with using socio-economic indicators?

• Some of the key limitations of using indicators are -

  • Oversimplification of complex issues, e.g. the extent of poverty within an LIC,

  • Potential for misleading conclusions, e.g. higher life expectancy = Higher quality of life.

  • Data misrepresentation, e.g. GNI of a country is not measured correctly due to informal economies.

  • “Eurocentric” bias = Data is only through the perspective of HIC’s in Europe; not fully representative of cultural perspectives.

How are countries measured in terms of their development?

• The 3 distinctive classification groups (formed by the World Bank) for socio-economic development are -

  • HIC (High income countries) = Nations with a GNI per capita above $12,696, e.g. USA

  • LIC (Low income countries) = Nations with a GNI per capita of $1,035 or less, e.g. Somali

  • NEE (Newly emerging economy) = Nations that have recently experienced significant economic growth, transitioning from low-income to middle-income status, e.g. BRIC countries.

What is the Demographic Transition Model?

Refers to the graphical model showing how a countries’ population changes as it develops economically, transitioning from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates.

What “high fluctuating” in reference to the Demographic Transition Model?

High fluctuating = High birth rates, high death rates and low total population; Caused by low productivity due in to over reliance on agricultural sector and limited trade and technology, e.g. regional tribes in Africa.

What is meant by “early expanding” in reference to the Demographic Transition Model?

Early expanding = High birth rates, falling death rates and increasing total population; Industrialisation leads to improved services (e.g. increase in quality of healthcare), with economy shifting into small-scale industry, e.g. Afghanistan

What is meant by “late expanding” in reference to the Demographic Transition Model?

Late expanding = Falling brith rates, falling death rates and increasing total population; economic diversification leads to rapid industrial operations growth, leading to developments in internal social opportunities (e.g. more widespread education), e.g. BRICS countries.

What is meant by “natural decrease” in reference to the Demographic Transition Model?

Natural decrease = Low birth rates, low death rates and high total population; post-industrial economy reliant on global markets and technological development. Aged workforce makes further economic development difficult and death rates surpassing birth rates causes aged population e.g. Japan.

What are some of the physical causes of uneven development in the world?

Some of the physical causes are -

• Location = A countries access to a coast can be key to opening international trade opportunities, and landlocked countries are severely limited in economic capacity.

  • C.S.; Sudanese oil exports = Due to economic conflagration over trade tariffs by North Sudan, South Sudan stopped producing oil altogether causing both regions’ economies to suffer.

• Climate = Due to environmental changes, e.g. climate change, warmer nations’ agricultural sector are likely to suffer extensively, causing depressions in performance

  • C.S.; Indian’s seasonal harvest season = Due to harsher conditions, Indian farmers are only able to maximise crop yield in the monsoon season, which only lasts 2 months.

• Natural Hazards = Natural hazards are able to cause a countries’ development to be setback exponentially, and climate change has only made these more frequent.

  • C.S.; Haitian earthquake (12 January, 2010) = Hitting the country with a magnitude of 7, the countries development was stunted severely, with infrastructural damage being around $8 bn. Bearing in mind the country was already in debt to international organisations by $1.5bn, e.g IMF, Haiti’s economy crippled extensively.

What are some of the historical causes for uneven development in the world?

Some of the historical causes are -

• Conflict = War has shown to have severe consequences, destroying essential infrastructure, causing extensive damage to many economies.

  • Syrian conflict (2012) = Due to the conflict, Syria’s GDP shrinked by around 60%, with their agricultural sector, which contributed to over 20% of the countries’ GDP, collapsing and leading to national food shortages.

• Colonialism = Due to colonial presence in many countries, many of the colonising countries (e.g. U.K and the British Empire) extracted a surplus of valuable materials from their colonies, causing these countries (e.g. India and Jamaica) to be more developed and the colonised to be widely disadvantaged.

What are some of the economic causes of uneven development?

Some of the economic causes are -

• Water; Clean water is a basic requirement for sustaining human life. If freshwater availability is limited, this can lead to diseases spreading and hinder development.

  • CS; The Bilharzia Disease = Refers to the parasitic infection caught from contaminated freshwater sources in tropical areas. Can lead to stunted physical and psychological growth.

• Education; A productive workforce requires literate anf well-educated people. If education is not available, the rate of development in a country is severely limited.

  • CS; Ugandan education system = Though primary education is free, secondary education requires term-based fees, which due to many children’s financial situation, forces the them out of school.

• Trade; The international exchange system is very much skewed in favour of HIC’s like U.S.A, with these countries purchasing goods at a cheaper price and pricing processed goods at higher prices to make profit, causing LIC’s to be overly dependent on their supply of raw resources.