4.3.1 measures of development Flashcards
(11 cards)
What are the characteristics of a developed country?
High GDP per head. High levels of education and healthcare, reliable and safe transport infrastructure. High productivity and investment. They may have experienced deindustrialisation and developed their service sector eg. France, UK
What are the characteristics of a developing country?
Lower GDP per head, low levels of physical/human capital. High levels of unemployment and underemployment. Low healthcare with high mortality rates and high population growth due to high birth rates. Institutional structures are weak and corrupt eg. Ethiopia.
What is the Human Development Index (HDI)?
Measure of economic development by the UN, based on three factors: health, education and income. The indicators are given equal weighting and a mean is taken to give a figure between 0 and 1. The higher the number, the greater the level of development.
How is health measured in the HDI?
Measured by life expectancy at birth
How is education measured in the HDI?
Measured as the mean years of schooling of adults aged 25+ and the expected years of schooling of a current 5 year old over their lives.
How is income measured in the HDI?
Measured by real GNI per capita at a purchasing power parity.
What are the advantages of HDI?
- takes into account three key factors which are important for economic development
- relatively easy to calculate because governments collect statistics used in the data
What are the disadvantages of HDI?
- some issues with figures = health doesn’t account for quality of life, education doesn’t account for quality and success of education recieved
- no consideration for income equality
- other factors may impact development eg. freedom from corruption and the environment
- not a precise measure, just an indicator
What is the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)?
An adjustment of HDI including a fourth indicator of development: inequality. The Atkinson Index adjusts measures for education, health and income according to the level of inequality. Broader than HDI but can still be criticised for not accounting for more measures
What is the Multidimensional Poverty index (MPI)?
Measures the percentage of the population that is multidimensional poor. It uses data for health, education and standard of living but uses a broader range of indicators within these categories.
- school attendance data used for education
- child mortality and nutrition data used for health
- availability of electricity, sanitation and safe drinking water in households, cooking fuel used, assets owned and type of floor in a house for standard of living
Used to highlight countries where areas are extremely rich but most of the population isn’t, focuses on poverty. However, can’t be calculated for all countries, data not always available, doesn’t account for environment
What is the Genuine Progress Indicator?
Calculated from 26 different indicators grouped into 3 main categories: economic, environmental and social. Aims to examine economic sustainability, to ensure development doesn’t limit amount produced and consumed in the future.
-Economic category looks at personal consumption, inequality and cost of unemployment.
-Environmental accounts for cost of pollution, loss of natural areas, co2 emissions, ozone depletion and depletion of non-renewable resources
-Social has 10 indicators ranging from value of housework and parenting to cost of crime, commuting, value of volunteer work.
Tends to show developed countries experiencing negative growth over time , due to environmental impact. Some argue that this proves development is unsustainable whilst others say the index is biased to prove the anti-growth case.
