GCSE Geography- Development (DRAFT)

First World

Highly developed, industrialised countries e.g. France, USA, UK, Italy

Second World

The communist-socialist, less industrialised states known as the Eastern Bloc (e.g. Soviet Union)

Third World

Countries defined by high poverty rates, lack of resources and unstable financial standing e.g. Egypt

Why do we no longer use the first, second and third world classification system?

Implies racism and hierarchy

MEDC

More Economically Developed Country

LEDC

Less Economically Developed Country

HIC

High Income Country

NIC

Newly Industrialised Country

LIC

Low Income Country

NEE

Newly Emerging Economy

Quality of Life

A person’s well-being in terms of health and happiness

Which development indicators relate to quality of life?

• Tied in with UN universal human rights

• Right to freedom

• Right to marry

• Right to freedom from discrimination

• NOT ECONOMIC

Standard of Living

Based primarily on income and what that level of income will allow a person to buy in the way of necessities and luxury goods. Standard of living refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain group of people in a certain geographical area.

GDP

The value of the finished domestic goods and services produced within a country’s borders

GNP

Measures the output of a country’s residents regardless of the location of the actual underlying economic activity. Income from overseas investments by a country’s residents counts, whereas foreign investments in the country do not.

GNI

The total amount of money earned by a nation’s people and businesses. Used to measure and track a nation’s wealth from year to year. Includes GDP and overseas income sources.

GNI per capita

The value of a country’s income, divided by the number of people in a country

Economic/Employment structure

Measures the percentage of the GDP that is created through the different sectors of the economy

Birth Rate

The number of live births per 1000 people. BR is often higher in lower income countries.

Death Rate

Number of deaths per 1000 people. High DR can indicate a less developed country.

Infant mortality rate

The number of babies who don’t survive to the age of 1 per 1000 live births

Life Expectancy

The average age that a person may live to

Literacy Rate

The percentage of adults who can read and write

Access to safe water

The percentage of people who have access to safe, clean water

Access to the internet

The percentage of people who have access to the internet

People per doctor

This measures the average number of people that could be seen by a doctor at any one time

Unemployment Rate

The share of workers in the labour force who do not currently have a job but are actively looking for work.

HDI

Human development index combines data for life expectancy, adult literacy and GDP per capita to produce one single measure that is put on a scale from 0 - 1

GDP per capita

A country’s wealth divided by its population

Limitations of only using a single development factor

Not able to judge the whole development level. You should instead use a combination of factors to offer a more holistic view of a country’s development.

How do social and economic indicators link nationally to show a country’s development?

Government money from taxes can be spent on roads, defence, education and healthcare

How do social and economic indicators link on an individual basis to show a country’s development?

Work and wages give people a disposable income that they can spend on a range of goods and services e.g. shops, restaurants, holidays and hairdressers.

How do social and economic indicators link in terms of business when determining a country’s development?

Money can be reinvested by businesses as they seek to expand and creates the multiplier effect as more businesses are then drawn into the area and the government improves infrastructure in the area to cope with this expansion.

Development Gap

The widening difference in lands of development between the world’s richest and poorest countries.

Advantages of using infant mortality rate to measure development

Measures competency of healthcare system

Disadvantages of using infant mortality rate to measure development

Infants are not a reliable demographic to base the entire population’s development from

Advantages of using birth rate to measure development

Good indicator of availability of contraceptives and social progress

Disadvantages of using birth rate to measure development

• It is better to indicate the status of women rather than social development

• Does not take migration into account

Advantages of using access to internet to measure development

Can show which countries are more economically advanced

Disadvantages of using access to internet to measure development

Some people (e.g. nomadic communities) may decide to be offline

Advantages of using literacy rate to measure development

• Good indicator of quality of education

• Good benchmark for future potential

Disadvantages of using literacy rate to measure development

• There are other ways a society can progress as a whole

• Does not take into account homeschooled people

Advantages of using death rate to measure development

• Good indicator of healthcare system

• Good indicator of average age of a population

Disadvantages of using death rate to measure development

• Some deaths may not be recorded, e.g. in nomadic communities

Advantages of using people per doctor to measure development

Good indicator of funding towards higher education + healthcare systems

Disadvantages of using people per doctor to measure development

• Private doctors

• Doesn’t take into account spatial variation or population sparsity

Advantages of using life expectancy to measure development

• How healthy the population is

• Healthcare systems and support

Disadvantages of using life expectancy to measure development

Doesn’t factor in genetic reasons or disease (e.g. Covid)

Advantages of using GDP per capita to measure development

Is a good indicator of the state of the economy and provision of services

Disadvantages of using GDP per capita to measure development

Can hide inequalities as it does not show the distribution of wealth

Advantages of using unemployment rate to measure development

• Gives an idea of opportunities in a country

• Future progression of workforce.

Disadvantages of using unemployment rate to measure development

Doesn’t factor in wages or salaries

Advantages of using social cohesion to measure development

Indicates segregation levels and can feed into other factors

Disadvantages of using social cohesion to measure development

Doesn’t factor in sanitation or economic ability. You can be in a very happy and cohesive community while being very poor.

Single indicators of development

• Measure one variable

• e.g. life expectancy

• Aren’t very comprehensive

Composite indicators of development

• Are more representative of a society as a whole

• e.g. HDI

3 indicators of HDI

• life expectancy at birth

• level of education (literacy rate and years spent at school)

• income (adjusted for purchasing power)

Benefits of using HDI to measure development

• shows people and their capabilities are as important as economic wealth

• comprehensive

• indicates social development

Limitations of using HDI to measure development

• Wide regional divergence

• Only reflects long term changes

• Higher national wealth does not indicate welfare

• ‘per capita’ statistics hide inequalities

• Economic development can depend on uncontrollable factors e.g. war

Gini coefficient

A measure of inequality. The higher the number, the higher the inequality

State two ways of measuring inequality

• Gini coefficient

• Indices of political corruption