Development
●Development is any improvement in the standard
of living of people in a specific country.Various
indicators are used to measure a country’s level of
development.
●Development :
Economics - having money, salaries, good jobs
Social - having education, human rights,
healthcare, retirement, entertainment
Political - human right, equal rights
Environment - recycle , greenery , protect the
environment
Development - low death rate, low birth rate, high life
expectancy
●Economic development :
The creation of new and better paid job that
provide better salaries for workers and more tax
money for the governments, which can then be
spent on improving services
●Social development :
Schemes that improve the standards of living for
the people of a country or region
E.g. improving healthcare , diets, sanitations
●Environmental development :
Schemes that reduce pollution levels and help to
protect threatened habitats or environment
●Political development :
When a country becomes more democratic
( allowing people to vote for their politicians )
Or when human rights or the rights of women are
better protected
●GDP and GDP per capita
●GDP stands for :
Gross Domestic Product
●Total value of all goods and services produced and
sold in a country per year is US ( $ )
●GDP per capita statistic gives a fuller picture of a
country’s economic development level. It is
calculated by taking the country’s GDP and
dividing it by the total number of people in the
country, giving an average income in $ per person
per year.
●Advantages & Disadvantages
GDP per capita gives a broad measure of the
economic prosperity of a country, allowing for
comparisons between nations and over time.
However,GDP per capita is an average measure
and does not account for disparities in wealth
distribution within a country.
●Indicator of development
●The World Bank defines and categorises countries
by income.
●Indicators that show a high level or low level of
development :
- Access to medical care
- Fertility rate & Infant mortality rate
- Life expectancy & death rate & Birth rates
- Literacy rate
- GDP per capita
- Population growth (natural increase)
- % of the population in the primary sector
- % of urban dweller
- Energy used per person
●Data from many years can be looked at so
changes through time can be identified.
●Data can be difficult and time-consuming to collect
so the information might not be up-to-date or
complete.
●Doesn’t include any information about the cost of
living in the country.
●Quick and easy way to compare and contrast
quality of life in different countries.
●
●Human Development
●Human development index – (HDI)
●The HDI is the most widely used measure of
quality of life. It is also used as a measure of
development. It takes into account three variables :
- GDP per capita
- Education
- Health
●The calculation is a little complicated, but it
assumes that the three variables are of equal
importance. The HDI is the average of the scores
achieved by a country in those three strands, and
scores range from 0 - 1.The higher the HDI, the
higher the level of development and the better the
quality of life.
●HDI
●Health
- Life expectancy at birth
●Education
- Expected years of schooling
- Many years of schooling
●Living standards
- Gross National Income per capita
●HDI has the mean of health, education, and living
standards of each country.
●Why is it a good measure?
Because it shows how the people are living in the
country.
●Diets of the world
●If the country is poorer the lesser the money they
use on food and diets.
●Type of food / junk or healthy
E.g. People in the USA spend money on buying
junk food.While people in African countries spend
less money on food and eats healthy.
●Gross Domestic Happiness
●The Happy Planet Index is a measure of
sustainable wellbeing, evaluating countries by how
efficiently they deliver long, happy lives for their
residents using our limited environmental
resources.
●It measure how happy people are based on :
- Life expectancy
- How happy people are (based on
questionnaire)
- The quality of the environment they live in and
how well cared for it is
●The exact function is a little more complex, but
conceptually it approximates multiplying life
satisfaction and life expectancy and dividing that by
the ecological footprint. The index is weighted to
give progressively higher scores to nations with
lower ecological footprint.
●It ranges from 0 - 60 with 60 being the happiest
people
●Quality of life in poorer countries vs rich
If the poorer countries have shelter,food and
friends and family they would be happy.Living in a
rich country would cost a lot so some people won’t
be happy
●The development gap
●There are 3 causes of uneven development :
- Environmental
- Historical
- Economic
●Environmental
- Lack of resources
- Barren soil
- Trading opportunities : harbours , rivers , and
access to sea (landlocked countries)
●Landlocked countries do not have access to the
sea, dependent on neighbouring countries to trade.
●Historical
- Colonial history
- Artificial borders
- Conflicts
- World system
●Economic
- Poverty trap
- Lack of investment in healthcare and
education
- Decreasing terms of trade (TOT)
●Uneven development
Uneven
development
Historical Colonialism Political
-Civil wars -poor
and political governance
struggles for
power
Physical Climates Landlocked Natural Natural
-droughts are countries Hazards resources
common -no access to -natural -ability to
sea disasters exploit the
stop the resource for
countries the benefit of
from the country
developing
Economic Trade Foreign Debt
-sell primary Investment -They are in
produce -controlling debt and
world trade is some
important countries
cannot make
enough
money to
spend on the
necessary
development
infrastructure
●Reducing the gap
●One way to reduce the development gaps is by
providing financial aid.
●Financial aid is provided to African countries in
particular. They are poor because they have a
huge amount of debt to pay back.
●
●Debt relief has been granted to some countries and
agreements have been made. This has sometimes
worked, as the countries were able to use the
money, they would have used to pay back loans,
saved to improve quality of life for their people.
●Debt relief problems :
- Countries may get into further debt expecting
that this will also be written off in the future.
- Corrupt governments may keep the money
rather than use it to help the poor.
- Countries who provide debt relief may expect
something in return.
E.g. exploitation of resources
●Trade is always thought to be a good way of
stimulating economic development. In an era of
globalization, most countries want and need the
chance to take part in international trade.
●Most countries have something which the rest of
the world is prepared to buy. Those export sales
allow the developing countries to import what it
needs to progress its economic development -
machinery, vehicles, fertilizer and so on.
●What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
(SDGs)
In June 2012, governments agreed at the UN
Conference on Sustainable Development ( also
known as RIO + 20 or Earth Summit 2012) to
launch a set of universal sustainable development
goals. The SDGs aim to focus on social,
environmental and economic development in a
coordinated way. The goals will be applicable to all
countries.
The SDGs were introduced by the United Nations
in 2015 and replaced the Millennium Development
Goals which had been the focus for development
between 2000 and 2015.
Debt cancellation
● What is Debt Cancellation?
- Debt cancellation (or debt relief) is when a
country’s debt is partially or fully forgiven.
- This means the country no longer has to pay
back some or all of the money it owes to other
countries, banks, or organizations like the
World Bank or IMF (International Monetary
Fund).
●Why Do Countries Have Debt?
- Poorer countries often borrow money to:
○Build infrastructure (e.g., roads, schools,
hospitals).
○Respond to emergencies (e.g., natural
disasters, wars).
○Improve their economy (e.g., start businesses,
create jobs).
- However, if they can’t repay the debt, it
becomes a big problem.
Why is Debt a Problem for Poor Countries?
●High Interest Rates: Poor countries often pay a lot
of interest on their loans, making it hard to repay.
●Less Money for Development: Money that could be
spent on healthcare, education, or clean water is
used to pay back debt instead.
●Debt Trap: Countries borrow more money to pay
off old debts, creating a cycle of debt.
●How Does Debt Cancellation Help?
- Frees Up Money: Countries can spend more on
development instead of repaying debt.
- Improves Lives: Money can be used for
healthcare, education, and clean water.
- Boosts the Economy: Countries can invest in
businesses and create jobs.
●Challenges of Debt Cancellation
- Moral Hazard: Some argue that cancelling
debt might encourage countries to borrow
recklessly in the future.
- Conditions: Debt cancellation often comes
with rules, like requiring countries to spend the
money on development or reduce corruption.
- Not a Complete Solution: Debt cancellation
helps, but it doesn’t solve all
problems—countries still need fair trade, aid,
and good governance.
