Unit 2: The Development Gap

Check List

ü  Can you explain modern and traditional ways of dividing the world in terms of development?

ü  Can you name a range of measures of development and interpret what they tell us about a country?

ü  What are the different factors that contribute to development inequalities?

ü  Can you explain using case studies how  physical and human factors increase global inequalities?

ü  Can you explain how international efforts reduce global inequalities including aid, fair trade?

ü  Can you explain the advantages and disadvantages of two detailed case studies of aid at different scales and from different donors?

ü  Can you explain the pattern of development across the EU and how the EU tries to even out these differences?

 

Development is the when a country is improving. Development measures how economically, socially, culturally or technologically advanced a country is.

 

Can you explain modern and traditional ways of dividing the world in terms of development?

 

An early method of dividing the world was from a Western perspective (people living in Europe). They saw themselves as more developed therefore they called themselves "first world", the places Europeans colonised such as Australia was then called "second world", and the poorer countries were "third world". 

 

North/South Divide

In 1971 a report was published and a simple chloropleth map was created using GNP per capita. A line was drawn upon it and this was called the north south divide. See map: -

 

Source: http://www.geocurrents.info/category/demic-atlas

 

These were soon seen as too simplistic as countries became more varied in their stages of developed.

 

 

 

 

  Can you name a range of measures of development and interpret what they tell us about a country

 

When we study development we are comparing the levels of development of different countries. It is difficult to decide how developed a country is so we use development indicators to measure and compare the countries.

Development Indicators:

Name	Definition	More Developed =
Gross National Income (GNI)	A measure of a country’s wealth. The total value of the goods and services in a year.	Higher
Gross National Product (GNP)	Another measure of a country’s wealth. It measures the total goods and services produced by people of that nationality.	Higher
Birth Rate	The number of live births per thousand of the population per year.	Lower
Death Rate	The number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.	Lower
Infant Mortality	The number of babies who die under the age of one.	Lower
Literacy Rate	The percentage of adults in a population that can read and write.	Higher
Human Development Index (HDI)	A number calculated using BR, DR, LR, income and other factors.	Higher

 

It can be very difficult to measure development as there are so many different factors involved. However, these measures should correlate for example:

A more developed county with high GDP/GNI should have accesses to better health and access to cleaner water therefore death rate will also be low. People tend to have more money to spend on education and children do not have to work therefore a more educated population and high literacy rates. This can result in the lowering of the birth rate as women wish to focus on careers. These countries will also have a high HDI.

 

Vice versa

 

A less developed country would have a low GNP/ GDP, this would mean that most of the country survive on subsistence farming (farming enough for their family). These families would have a low level of income and therefore not much money to spend on education and health care resulting in low literacy rate, high birth rates and death rates.

 

Bitesize graph to show correlation

 

YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS FROM THE DTM IN POPULATION!!

 

Remember that these are averages and can be misleading (they don't show the riches or the poorest people in a country for example or there may be other factors that have influenced it). This means that we MUST use a range of indicators or use the HDI.