Core Theme 2 - Disparities In Wealth And Development Flashcards
(86 cards)
What is the Human Development Index (HDI) ?
A composite measure of development. It includes three basic components of human development
What are the three components of human development ?
- Life expectancy from birth
- Adult literacy and average number of years schooling
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (decent standard of living)
Why has the UN encouraged use of HDI ?
- more reliable than single indicators such as GNI
- global measure
- composite index
Disadvantages of HDI
- doesn’t look at social factors factors e.g. happiness
- doesn’t measure internal disparities
Infant mortality rate (IMR)
The number of children in a country who die before their first birthday per 1000 live births
Why is the IMR used as an indicator of development ?
- high IMRs found in poorest countries
- most causes of death in areas with high IMR are preventable
- Where water supply, sanitation, nutrition, housing and basic healthcare are adequate, IMRs are low
Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
- GEM reveals whether women can take an active part in economic and political life
- tracks percentages of women in parliament, among legislators and the gender disparity in earned income, reflecting economic independence
- Norway is ranked first in GEM (0.837) + Yemen 70th (0.127)
The Education Index
- the Human Development Report 2009 provides an index of education
- based on adult literacy rate + combined enrolment for primary, secondary + tertiary schools
- Australia (0.993)
- Niger (0.282)
The Human Poverty Index 1 measures poverty in developing countries. It focuses on deprivations in three dimensions:
- the probability at birth of not surviving to age 40
- knowledge, as measure by the adult illiteracy rate
- the percentage of people without sustainable access to an improved water source and the percentage of children underweight for their age
Why does the Human Poverty Index 2 exist?
Because human deprivation varies with social + economic conditions, a separate index HPI-2 has been devised to measure poverty in selected OECD countries.
What are the indicators of HPI-2 ?
- the probability at birth of not surviving to age 60
- the adult functional illiteracy rate
- the percentage of people living below the income poverty line
- the long-term unemployment rate (12 months or more)
What is the difference between HDI and HPI?
Whilst HDI measures overall progress in a country in achieving human development, HPI reflects the distribution of progress and measures the backlog of deprivation that still exists.
How many people living in developing countries are hungry ?
815 million
The Food and Agriculture Organisation calculates that of the 815 million hungry:
- half are farming families, surviving off marginal lands
- 25% live in shanty towns
How much does malnutrition contribute to the child mortality rate in LEDCs?
Malnutrition contributes to 53% of the 10.6 million deaths of children under five every year in developing countries
What are the problems with malnutrition ?
- Undernourished infants lose their curiosity, motivation + will to play.
- Millions leave school prematurely
- Chronic hunger delays physical + mental growth of children
- Every year that hunger continues at present levels costs five million children their lives
- Hunger is responsible for reducing the GNP of some developing countries by 2-4%
What proportion of the world’s hungry people are female?
Seven out of ten
In India what proportion of children are underweight and what proportion are stunted?
In India, almost 45% of children under 5 years old are underweight, and over 45% are stunted
What is undernutrition?
- Undernutrition is caused by poor absorption of nutrients as a result of repeated infectious disease.
- It includes being underweight for one’s age, too short (stunted), too thin (wasted) and deficient in vitamins and minerals (micronutrient malnutrition)
6 Negative aspects of slums
- high concentrations of poverty + social + economic deprivation
- may include broken families, unemployment and economic, physical + social exclusion
- limited access to credit + formal job markets due to stigmatisation, discrimination + geographic isolation
- slums are recipients of industrial effluent + noxious waste
- suffer from waterborne diseases e.g. typhoid, cholera
- HIV / AIDS
Slums have the most intolerable of urban housing conditions, which frequently include:
- insecurity of tenure
- lack of basic services, especially water + sanitation
- inadequate + sometimes unsafe buildings
- overcrowding
- location of fragile, dangerous or polluted land
Positive aspects of slums
- slums are first stopping point for immigrants | provide low cost + affordable housing that lets immigrants save for their eventual absorption into urban society
- informal entrepreneurs operating from slums have clienteles extending to the rest of the city
- vibrant mixing of diff cultures frequently results in new forms of artistic expression
Case study: Ninga Mia, and Aboriginal shanty town
- Ninga Mia is an Aboriginal shanty town in the shadow of one of the world’s biggest gold minds
- A third of houses lack bathrooms
- Houses insanitary and overcrowded
Whereas Australia is ninth in the world for life expectancy, those born Aboriginal can expect to:
- die 20 years earlier than their non-indigenous compatriots
- have an IMR 4x higher than general population
- deaths from heart disease + strokes are 3x more common
- Aborigines are 45x more likely to be victims of domestic violence