LESSON 9 | GLOBAL DIVIDES

Human Development Index (HDI) 1990

A measure used to rank countries based on socio-economic development, considering indicators like real income, health, and education. (Todaro and Smith, 2012)

Per Capita Income

The total of all goods and services produced within a country divided by its population, indicating the average income.

Health

is measured based on the life expectancy at birth, the rate of undernourishment, the under-5 mortality rate, and the crude birth rate.

Education 

• Literacy is the number of adult males and females reported or estimated to have the basic abilities and capability to read and write.

•  It also includes the number of years attended school regardless of the quality of education received.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

The Philippines placed 106th out of the 189 countries and territories in the 2019 Human Development Report, with a human development index (HDI) value of 0.712. This placed the country at the tail end of countries with high human development group.

TOP 15 COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST LIFE EXPECTANCY NI THE WORLD, 2019

1 Japan: 84.2 Years

2. Switzerland: 83.3 Years

2. Spain: 83.1 Years

4. Australia: 82.9 Years

5. Singapore: 82.9Years

6. Canada: 82.8 Years

7. France: 82.8 Years

8. Italy: 82.8 Years

9. South Korea: 82.7 Years

10. Norway: 82.5 Years

1. Sweden: 82.4 Years

12. Iceland: 82.4 Years

13. Luxembourg: 82.4 Years

14. Israel: 82.3 Years

15. New Zealand: 82.2 Years

Here are the 10 countries with the highest HDI in 2021:

1. Switzerland: 0.962

2 . Norway : 0.961

3. Iceland: 0.959

4. Hong Kong: 0.952

5. Australia: 0.951

6. Denmark: 0.948

7. Sweden: 0.947

8. Ireland: 0.945

9. Germany: 0.942

10. Netherlands: 0.941

Top 10 Countries with the Lowest Human Development Index (HDI)

1 South Sudan - .385

2. Chad- .394

3. Niger - .400

4. Central African Republic - 404

5. Burundi - .426

6. Mali - 428

.7 Mozambique - .446

8. Burkina Faso - .449

9. Yemen- .455

10. Guinea - .465

BRANDT REPORT 

• Prior to the HDI there have been moves that created a literal and visual division among the different countries in the world. 

• One is the Brandt Report in the 1980’s which was written by the Independent Commission headed by Willy Brandt to review international development issues in the 1980’s. The result formed the so called Brandt Line.

Brandt Line

A division created in the 1980s representing the North-South economic divide among countries based on their GDP per capita.

Implication of the Brandt Line:

• Countries in the Northern part of the world are extremely wealthy 

• Countries appearing and lying on the southern part of the line are considered poor. 

• The introduction of the Brandt line initiated the use of the term “Global North” and “Global South” referring respectively to rich and poor countries (Royal Geographical Society, 2020).

Global North

Refers to wealthy countries situated in the northern part of the Brandt Line.

Home to all G8 (Group of 8 Industrialized Nations) Members (USA, Japan, Russia, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada) Western Europe, Developed Parts of Asia, Australia and New Zealand Technologically Advanced Highly Industrialized Steady market and stable prices of commodities The North holds ¼ of the world population, and controls 4/5 of the income earned anywhere in the world.

Global South

Refers to poorer countries situated in the southern part of the Brandt Line.

• Comprised of poor countries

• Africa, Latin and Developing Asia including Middle East

• Lacks the right technology

• Politically Unstable

• Economies are divided

• Foreign Exchange earnings are dependent on the primary product exports to the north Fluctuation of prices

• The South holds 3/4 of the world population, and has access to 1/5 of the world income.

Third World

A term used during the Cold War to refer to countries that were non-aligned or had rejected colonialism; now largely replaced by 'Global South'.

First world

(the capitalist, industrialized and democratic countries in the West)

Second World

(communist countries). The alliance of the “Third World” countries was.

Difference between “Global South” and “Third World”

As time passes, after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the term Third World has decreased in use.

It is being replaced with terms such as developing countries, least developed countries or the Global South.

Therefore, it is safe to conclude that “Global South” and “Third World” are simply the same; just used in different times.

World Bank Classification System

• The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) known as the World Bank (Todaro and Smith, 2012) has a very popular way of classifying countries known as the World Bank’s Classification System.

• Itincludes210economieswithapopulationofatleast 30,000 which are ranked using their levels of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. The countries are then classified as low income countries (LICs), lower middle income countries (LMCs), upper middle income countries (UMC’s), and high income countries.

Other Ways of Classifying Nations

• High income countries are members of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

• It is a unique assembly among governments of 38 member states with established market economies working with each other, as well as with more than 70 non-member economies to promote economic growth, prosperity, and sustainable development.

• The 38 member nations are composed of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. There are five countries from the Americas: Mexico, Chile, Canada, the United States, Colombia, and Costa Rica. The four Pacific members are Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Korea. While there are two countries from the Middle East, which are Turkey and Israel.

United Countries Nation’s Least Developed

• Another widely used classification of nations is that of the least developed countries.

• There are currently 46 economies designated by the United Nations as the least developed countries (LDCs).

• These 46 LDCs are distributed among the following regions:

1. Africa (33): Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia

2. Asia (9): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Timor-Leste and Yemen

3. Caribbean (1): Haiti

4. Pacific (3): Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu

1. Low income.

2. Low human assets.

G7

A coalition of seven industrialized nations formed to address significant international issues, originally established in 1975.

Britain, United States, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, and Germany.

G8

A group that includes the G7 plus Russia, formed in 1997.

G20 (1999)

A coalition of nations that addresses significant international issues, expanding beyond the G7 and G8.

Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, France, Australia, China, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Argentina, Turkey, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, and the European

Lisandro Claudio (2011)

Global South is a concept rather than a place. The term "global south" and similar categories are relevant and were used in the study of globalization. Moreover, the economists, scholars and economic activists made use of the term "global south" to give emphasis and as reference on the global differences in status of countries.

Matthew Sparke (2007)

"The Global South is everywhere, but it is also somewhere, and that somewhere, located at the intersection of entangled political geographies of dispossession and repossession.

SibaGrexagui (2011)

The Global South is not a directional designation or a point due south from a fixed north. It is a symbolic designation meant to capture the appearance of the bond that emerged when former colonial institutions that engaged in political projects of decolonization and moved toward the realization of a postcolonial international order.

Nour Dados and Rewyn Connell (2012)

"Global South" refers in general to the regions of Latin America, Africa, Oceania and Asia. It is considered similar to the terms "Third World" and "Periphery," that indicate regions outside Europe and North America. It refers to mostly (though not all) low-income and often politically or culturally marginalized countries.