Levels of Development (Cambridge (CIE) O Level Geography)

Levels of Development

• Development is the progress that a country makes to improve the quality of life for its population and make the country more independent 

• The quality of life includes subjective evaluations of life such as happiness 

• These different components are not independent of each other but linked - for example health and environment are dependent on income and they in turn may impact happiness:

  • Physical - Water supply, housing, power and heat, climate, diet and nutrition etc

  • Social - Family and friends, education, health etc.

  • Psychological - Happiness, security, freedom etc. 

  • Economic - Income, job security, standard of living, mobility etc

• Development is not a smooth, continuous process

• Development can occur for a number of reasons:

  • Investment in agriculture (tractors, fertilisers etc.) improves food supplies, which improves the health of people

  • Improvements in supplies of power to rural areas 

  • Improvements in access to education for females and overall literacy rates

• It can be slowed, halted and even reversed by:

  • War/conflict

  • Disease

  • Disasters 

  • Economic recession

Cycle of wealth

• One of the key indicators of development is the cycle of wealth

• Economic development creates wealth and if a country has a stable and effective government this leads to the development

• As the economy grows, more people work and are earning more money:

  • The government can then collect more taxes and people have more disposable income to spend which increases business profits

  • The taxes collected and profits made by companies can then be invested in future growth as well as infrastructure, education, healthcare etc...

The cycle of wealth

Measures of national income

• The traditional method of measuring wealth is through the country's GNP (gross national product), GDP (gross domestic product) and GNI (gross national income)

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is the total value of goods and services produced within a country in a year divided by the population of the country

  • There can be huge differences in GDP depending on the size and population of a country

  • Dividing it by the population means that more meaningful comparisons can be made between countries

• GDP per capita is an average this means that the variation in wealth is hidden

  • It is possible that two countries can have the same average GDP per capita but that one has a few very wealthy people and lots of people living in poverty whereas the other has a more equal distribution of the wealth

• There is no way of knowing what the GDP is spent on - for example, GDP increases after an earthquake due to the rebuilding which is needed this does not mean that the country is more developed or that everyone's quality of life has improved

• As countries have different numbers of people (population), then GNP per capita (per person) is used

  • This allows comparison between countries where total population figures are different

  • GNP of the UK is lower than India, but the GNP per capita of the UK is higher than India (India has a higher population compared to the UK)

  • However, GNP per capita does not take into account the cost-of-living in the country - $1 will go further in Bangladesh than in the USA

• To even this discrepancy, the GNP per capita at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is calculated

• Comparison between countries level of development is easy to see, but it fails to identify:

  • How wealth is distributed around a country - the wealth gap

  • Government investment in the country - Cuba has higher literacy rates, a lower infant mortality rate, and similar life expectancy than America, despite Cuba's low GNP per capita but Cuba's government has long prioritised social investment 

• Levels of development vary on a local, national and international scale

• There are differences between areas of the same city, the same country and between countries

• These include:

  • Literacy

  • Life expectancy

  • Infant mortality

  • Doctors per 1000 people

  • Energy consumption per capita

  • Internet access

  • Car ownership

Human development index

• The Human Development Index (HDI) was developed by the UN in 1990 and is a measure of the disparities between countries

• The index takes into account four indicators of development:

  • Life expectancy at birth

  • Mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 years

  • Expected years of schooling for children at school entering the age

  • Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP$)

• Countries can be divided into four groups using HDI

  • Very High Human Development (VHHD) 

  • High Human Development (HHD)

  • Medium Human Development (MHD)

  • Low Human Development (LHD)

• HDI is scored from 0 to 1 

• The higher the HDI the higher the level of development and quality of life

• Norway has the highest HDI at 0.957 

• Niger has the lowest HDI at 0.394

Gini coefficient index

• GNP and HDI are unable to identify inequalities between countries

• The wealth gap in some countries is more significant than in others

• The Gini coefficient index is used to analyse the distribution of wealth and identify countries where wealth distribution is the most unequal:

  • Measured on a scale of 0 - 1.0 or as a percentage

  • A low value means that the distribution of wealth is more equal - a measurement of 0 would mean that wealth is distributed completely equally

  • A high value means the distribution of wealth is unequal - a measurement of 1 would indicate maximum inequality

  • The Gini coefficient index is usually between 0.24 and 0.63 or 24%-63%

• The highest inequality is currently in South Africa, Central Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Suriname

• The lowest inequality is in the Czech Republic and Croatia

Indices of political corruption

• Political corruption can have a devastating impact on both development and human welfare

  • It means money is often not invested in infrastructure, development and human welfare but goes to wealthy individuals

  • It leads to a lack of trust between local/national governments and the population

• Transparency International scores 180 countries around the world out of 100 based on the levels of public sector corruption

• The higher the score the less corruption has been found

  • Denmark, New Zealand, Finland and Singapore have the lowest levels of public sector corruption scoring 85/100 or more

  • Somalia, Syria and South Sudan have the highest levels of public sector corruption scoring less than 15/100