Development

human factors

Economic indicators of development

Development is an increase in the standard of living of the people in a country. It includes economic factors, such as wealth, and social factors such as literacy.

Both social and economic indicators can be used to determine if a country is developed or developing, and to identify the main similarities and differences between them.

Economic indicators of development

These measure the economic output or wealth of a country. They include Gross National Product (GNP) per person, which is the value of goods produced by a country divided by the total population to give an average income for each citizen.

Problems with looking at only one indicator such as GNP are:

• This is an average and so may be easily skewed by a few very wealthy families which may mask extreme poverty for the majority of the population.

• It does not take into account the cost of goods which affects what people can buy with their wages.

• How wealthy a country is does not take into account how this money is used as it does not show data on how well educated people are or how good their diet is.

• It does not take into account differences between urban and rural areas, eg in Brazil between poor favela areas and wealthier inner cities.

Social indicators of development

Social issue	Indicator
Health	Number of people per doctor
Education	Percentage of adults who are literate
Diet	Number of calories consumed per person per day
Life expectancy	Average age people are expected to live to
Infant mortality	Number of children per 1,000 born who die before the age of one
Population change	Number of babies born per 1,000 women per year

factors effecting global population distribution

Population distribution is the spread of people across the world, ie where people live.

Population density is the number of people living in a particular area – usually 1 square kilometre – and can be written as total population/land area.

In 2022 the population of the world reached 8 billion people, the vast majority of whom live in the developing world. The world’s population is spread unevenly across the globe with concentrations of large numbers of people living in the same area. The world as a whole has more ‘empty’ areas than ‘crowded’ areas. There are several physical and human factors to explain this.

physical factors influencing global population distribution

Climate

• People prefer to live in temperate climates where there is enough rainfall and no extremes of temperature.

• A lack of fresh water for drinking or irrigation stops people living in an area.

• Very high temperatures make farming difficult. Dehydration and heat stroke are other issues.

• Areas with high humidity are also uncomfortable places to live and can be affected by diseases such as malaria.

• Very cold temperatures make it difficult to grow crops or to build homes and transport links as the ground can be frozen for much of the year.

• Frostbite makes it difficult to work outside for any length of time, and protective clothing would need to be worn.

physical factors influencing global population distribution

Relief

• Steep slopes make the use of machinery difficult.

• Steep slopes also make it difficult to build houses, roads and railways.

• High, mountainous areas are too cold which makes it difficult to grow crops.

• High mountainous areas are often remote which makes them difficult to access.

• Flat, low-lying areas have deeper soil which makes it easier to grow crops.

physical factors influencing global population distribution

Natural resources

• Few natural resources, such as coal, in an area means there is a lack of industry and therefore a lack of employment opportunities.

• Scenery is a resource and can attract tourists, bringing job opportunities.

Soils

• Areas with fertile soils, e.g. river deltas, are good for growing crops to feed the population.

• Poor soils with few nutrients mean there will be a low agricultural output.

Human factors influencing global population distribution

• Jobs, eg in manufacturing and service industries encourage people to move to find work. Tourism can also attract visitors to an area, providing local people with jobs.

• Areas with good transport links, such as roads and railways, will attract people and industry which creates employment opportunities.

• Remote areas which are isolated and have poor transport links do not attract people.

Population patterns

According to the United Nations more than half of the world's population now live in urban areas, most notably in high-density cities. This number is expected to increase to 60 per cent in 2030.

Globally, more than 4 billion people live in urban areas. This is projected to increase to more than 7 billion by 2050. Urbanisation rates are increasing rapidly in developing countries as people migrate from rural to urban areas.

In developing countries, many people still live in rural areas, as there are large numbers of people working in primary industries such as farming, whereas in developed countries most people are employed in service industries.

developed countries

The population pyramid of the UK shows low birth and low death rates, and high life expectancy.

The effects of this population structure are as follows:

• Too many elderly people, puts an added strain on services e.g. health care.

• Extra money is required to build more care homes to accommodate elderly people.

• The Government has to spend more money on pensions and less money elsewhere e.g. education.

• Fewer children born means that less maternity hospitals and schools are needed.

• Teachers and midwives are made redundant as they are surplus to requirements.

• In the future, not enough people of working age are available to fill job vacancies.

• The Government has to spend money recruiting foreign skilled workers to fill jobs.

• People have to work longer as the age of retirement is raised.

developing countries

The population pyramid of India shows high birth and death rates and low life expectancy.

The effects of this population structure are as follows:

• Too many young people, puts an added strain on services e.g. health care.

• Extra money is required to build more schools to accommodate children.

• The Government has to spend more money on education and less money elsewhere e.g. industrial development.

• More children born means that more maternity hospitals and schools are needed.

• More teachers and midwives are required to be trained.

• In the future, too many people of working age to fill job vacancies.

• Unemployment and poverty increase.

• Not enough homes, so shanty towns increase.

population growth

The population of the world was relatively low and steady until the 1950s when there was a population ‘explosion’. Since then, there has been a rapid increase in the world’s population so that in 2011 it passed 7 billion. The majority of this population growth is, again, in the developing world.

The reason for this rapid expansion is mainly due to the decrease in global death rates while birth rates remained very high. This meant that many more people were being born than were dying so the population grew. This difference between birth rates and death rates is called the natural increase.

information on developed countries

In developed countries like the UK both birth rates and death rates are low.

Birth rates are low because:

• Women's status has improved.

• Contraception and family planning is more readily available.

• More career and job opportunities for women.

• The cost of raising a family has increased.

• More people are entering into relationships later, so there is less opportunity to have large families.

Death rates are low because of:

• Advances in modern medicine.

• Vaccinations against diseases, eg measles.

• Improvements in water and sanitation.

• Enhanced food production and storage.

• Better transport for food.

• Lower infant mortality rates.

The population in the developed world is therefore fairly stable and neither rising nor falling significantly.

information on developing countries

In developing countries like India death rates have also decreased but birth rates have remained extremely high.

Birth rates are high because:

• Children are needed to work and bring in an income for the family.

• Children are required to look after elderly parents because of a lack of pensions.

• Lack of availability and knowledge of contraception and family planning.

• High infant mortality rates, so parents have more children in the hope that some survive.

• Religious beliefs– certain religions encourage large families.

• In some developing countries, children can be viewed as a sign of virility.

Death rates are fairly high because of:

• Lack of food caused by famine.

• Malnutrition caused by poor diet.

• Poor sanitation and lack of clean drinking water.

• Natural disasters destroying crops.

• High levels of disease, eg malaria.

• Lack of doctors, medicines and healthcare.

• War, eg Afghanistan.

As birth rates are higher than death rates there is rapid population growth in developing countries.