Development Flashcards

Traditionally, development was measured primarily by wealth.
Indicators used to measure wealth:
- GDP (Gross Domestic Product): The total value of the economy per year.
- GNI (Gross National Income): The total value of all services and goods produced in a country per year, including earnings from abroad.
- The poverty line: The percentage of people who earn less than a certain amount per day (in 2015, this was set at $1.90$ per day by the World Bank).

Wealthy countries may not necessarily spend their money in ways that promote development.

A development gap exists between the richest and poorest countries.
This gap was first noted in a 1980 report by German politician Willy Brandt.
Brandt's research led to the creation of a line (the Brandt Line) splitting rich and poor countries.
Rich countries were placed to the north of this line, and poor countries to the south.
This measurement, while simple, doesn't reflect the complexity of global economic development.
Development is now viewed as a continuum of economic development.

Dividing countries into only "rich" or "poor" is too simplistic.
The term 'development continuum' refers to the scale of wealth from poorest to wealthiest.
The wealth of countries can change over time.
The World Bank categorizes countries by wealth using GNI:
- High Income Countries: GNI of more than $12,736$ .
- Upper Middle Income Countries: GNI between $4,126$ and $12,735$ .
- Lower Middle Income Countries: GNI between $1,026$ and $4,125$ .
- Low Income Countries (LICs): GNI of less than $1,025$ .