Ch 28 - The Economic and Sustainable Development
Economic growth: an increase in the real output of an economy over time (less multidimensional)
Economic development: qualitative measure of the county’s standard of living (more multidimensional)
- involves reducing widespread poverty and reducing income inequalities and decreasing employment opportunities
Sources of economic growth in less developed countries:
- Increases in human capital (improvements in training and education)
- Increases in physical capital ( improvements in machinery will benefit productivity)
- New technologies (can induce economic growth as efficiency in manufacturing increases)
- Institutional change (encouragement of entrepreneurship)
- In the long term, economic growth is usually necessary for economic development
- an increase in the quality of life tends to require an increase in real incomes
Sustainable development: economic development that is conducted with depletion of natural resources
- Relationship between sustainability and poverty: poor people in LEDC’s have to rely more on the environment than rich countries/people
- Environment may be their source of food, fuel, sanitation, and waste disposal. However, the use of the environment results in further environmental problems
Characteristics of LEDC’s: (Less economically developed countries)
- Low levels of GDP per capita
- High levels of poverty
- Relatively large agriculture sector
- Large urban informal sector
- High birth rate
Formulas:
- Child dependency ratio: % of population under 15 / % of population 15 to 64
- Old age dependency ratio: % of population over 64 / % of population 15 to 64
Millennium Development Goals
- These are the world's targets for addressing poverty and improving the global standards of living. These goals are to…
- Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Global partnership for development

The role of Aid:
- Programme aid: funding provided for specific programmes which is dependent on the recipient adhering to specific conditions.
- Project aid: aid which is given for a specific purpose, including support for schools and hospitals.
- Humanitarian aid: food aid, medical relief and emergency relief aid which is often provided by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs)
- Official development assistance: aid which is granted to economically less developed countries by governments is called.
- Foreign aid: money, food or resources given or lent by one country to another.