Classifying Development
Before Social Geographers can try to find ways to close the gap between rich and poor countries, they needed to work out who was doing better and who was having a hard time. There are several ways in which Geographers decided to organise countries to work this out.
1. First, Second, Third and Fourth Worlds
This is a historical way to describe the ways to divide up the world. Europeans saw themselves as the most developed. They thought they were the First world. Then the wealthier regions they colonised would be the Second world, like the Americas, then the third world would be the poorer countries. But of course, there were gaps. What about Communist countries who didn't follow the same structure as Europe? Some were quite well developed but had never been part of Europe.
2. The Brandt Line
The Brandt line was a realy simple line which separated the rich North of the World from the Poorer South. This made a lot of sense, until you get to Australia, so the line had to duck underneath them and come up on the other side, It also doesn't consider New Emerging Economies, and now could be considered as out of date. See below:
1. First, Second, Third and Fourth Worlds
This is a historical way to describe the ways to divide up the world. Europeans saw themselves as the most developed. They thought they were the First world. Then the wealthier regions they colonised would be the Second world, like the Americas, then the third world would be the poorer countries. But of course, there were gaps. What about Communist countries who didn't follow the same structure as Europe? Some were quite well developed but had never been part of Europe.
2. The Brandt Line
The Brandt line was a realy simple line which separated the rich North of the World from the Poorer South. This made a lot of sense, until you get to Australia, so the line had to duck underneath them and come up on the other side, It also doesn't consider New Emerging Economies, and now could be considered as out of date. See below:
3. LEDC/ MEDC
This is the one you have most likely used. The L stands for "Less" and the M stands for "More" EDC= Economically Developed Country. This one is ok, but there are issues. Should we only consider and put value on the economic welfare of a country? What about those countries that have a long social and cultural history or where the people are happy, and safe, but each person works in a low paying job? At our school, we use HIC (High Income Country) and LIC (Low Income Country). Its still not perfect, but it tries to solve some of this.
4. Five-fold division based on wealth
Five categories are based on wealth:
This is the one you have most likely used. The L stands for "Less" and the M stands for "More" EDC= Economically Developed Country. This one is ok, but there are issues. Should we only consider and put value on the economic welfare of a country? What about those countries that have a long social and cultural history or where the people are happy, and safe, but each person works in a low paying job? At our school, we use HIC (High Income Country) and LIC (Low Income Country). Its still not perfect, but it tries to solve some of this.
4. Five-fold division based on wealth
Five categories are based on wealth:
- Rich Industrialising countries- the Uk would be classed here. But our manufacturing has been declining for a while.
- Oil exporting countries- This countries often have lots of wealth and use it to develop and conduct business abroad. BUT many of their citizens will remain poor because the wealth is often not distributed fairly.
- Newly Industrialising Countries- such as India, China and Mexico
- Formally centrally planned economies, like communist Russia- where the country was communist but has now become more like Western Europe such as Latvia. China still is communist but is a rapidly expanding economy.
- Countries who are heavily indebted and poor- many African countries fall into this category.
Measuring Development
Development Indicators help us find out different things about a country. It also helps us take a snapshot of a country iat a particular point in time. Remember though, no one statistic tells you everything you need to know about a country so it is always better if you use a group of stastics such as using the HDI or the PQLI.
Some development indicators you will have come across include:
Some of these are population related (they tell us about the people) and some are economy related (they tell us about the wealth and prosperity of a country). But, there are limitations to just using one measure to show you what a country is like. For example, the birth rate is excellent at telling you what a country is like- if people are having lots of babies, then it is fair to say that they are most likely living in an LIC, as in HIC's, women tend to have fewer babies because they also have careers, and are more educated. Women also have higher status in society. But other indicators like the death rate don't tell us much. The death rate is relatively low in all countries today due to advances in health care, and nutrition, and improved programmes in childhood health. Therefore, it is difficult to see any discernible patterns. When you use a combined statistic like the HDI (Human Development Index) this tells you more about what the country is like as a whole.
The HDI
The Human Development Index is an index based on 3 variables:
The maximum HDI a country can have is 1. The lowest is 0. The UK's is: 0.849, The Ivory Coast's is: 0.397. This tells you a bit more about the countries.
The PQLI
The Physical Quality of Life Index is the average of 3 social indicators: literacy rate, life expectancy and infant mortality rates. This is all about finding out how good peoples quality of life is.
Taken from BBC Bitesize:
Development indices
A development index measures a country's performance according to specific development indicators. Some countries may appear to be developed according to some indices, but not according to others.
Development indicators
Country Development indicators
Vietnam and Pakistan
Both countries have a similar per capita GDP. However, life expectancy and literacy are considerably higher in Vietnam than they are in Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia and Croatia
Saudi Arabia has a per capita GDP comparable to that of Croatia. However, in Saudi Arabia there is greater inequality between men and women when considering access to education and political power. So, although they are equal on an economic development index - Saudi Arabia is less developed on a human development index.
Problems with indicesDevelopment indices can be misleading and need to be used with care. For example:
Some development indicators you will have come across include:
- GDP
- GNP- the total value of all goods and services produced by a nation in a particular year.
- GNI - the total value of goods and service produced within a country including income recevied from and payments made to other countries.
- Birth Rate
- Death Rate
- Life Expectancy
- Infant Mortality Rate
- Literacy Rate
Some of these are population related (they tell us about the people) and some are economy related (they tell us about the wealth and prosperity of a country). But, there are limitations to just using one measure to show you what a country is like. For example, the birth rate is excellent at telling you what a country is like- if people are having lots of babies, then it is fair to say that they are most likely living in an LIC, as in HIC's, women tend to have fewer babies because they also have careers, and are more educated. Women also have higher status in society. But other indicators like the death rate don't tell us much. The death rate is relatively low in all countries today due to advances in health care, and nutrition, and improved programmes in childhood health. Therefore, it is difficult to see any discernible patterns. When you use a combined statistic like the HDI (Human Development Index) this tells you more about what the country is like as a whole.
The HDI
The Human Development Index is an index based on 3 variables:
- life expectancy at birth
- levels of education (literacy rate + time spent in school)
- income adjusted purchasing power.
The maximum HDI a country can have is 1. The lowest is 0. The UK's is: 0.849, The Ivory Coast's is: 0.397. This tells you a bit more about the countries.
The PQLI
The Physical Quality of Life Index is the average of 3 social indicators: literacy rate, life expectancy and infant mortality rates. This is all about finding out how good peoples quality of life is.
Taken from BBC Bitesize:
Development indices
A development index measures a country's performance according to specific development indicators. Some countries may appear to be developed according to some indices, but not according to others.
Development indicators
Country Development indicators
Vietnam and Pakistan
Both countries have a similar per capita GDP. However, life expectancy and literacy are considerably higher in Vietnam than they are in Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia and Croatia
Saudi Arabia has a per capita GDP comparable to that of Croatia. However, in Saudi Arabia there is greater inequality between men and women when considering access to education and political power. So, although they are equal on an economic development index - Saudi Arabia is less developed on a human development index.
Problems with indicesDevelopment indices can be misleading and need to be used with care. For example:
- Many indices are averages for the whole population of a country. This means that indices do not always reveal substantial inequalities between different segments of society. For example, a portion of the population of a highly developed country could be living below the poverty line.
- In some countries, the data used in indices could be out of date or hard to collect. Some countries do not wish to have certain index data collected - for example, many countries do not publish statistics about the number of immigrants and migrants.