Global development Flashcards
The Brandt Line
The Brandt line divided the planet into the rich north and the poor south. However the world has changed a lot over the past 20 years and the brandt line is too simplistic eg: china and india are no longer seen as poor countries.
The World bank classification
A countries level of development is now classified as either a LIC (low income country - countries with a GNI per capita of 1045 dollars or less) MIC (medium income countries, income of more than $1045 but less than $12746 eg Mexico and Iraq) or HIC (Countries with an income above US$12745 eg Germany and the USA
Human development index
Calculated by the UN, its a compound index meaning it is more reliable as it covers many aspects of a country.
Measures of development include: Access to safe water, Birth and death rate and GNI per capita. Other important factors are life expectancy, literacy rate and infant mortality rate.
Why do we use more than one method of measuring development?
Using just one can be misleading eg: Zimbabwe is a LIC but 84% of people can read and write. Another example is china, not included in the WB’s list of HIC’s - Birth rates were reduced dramatically as they had a 1 child per family rule.
Factors influencing global development
Physical Factors - Some areas have a hostile of difficult landscape
Economic factors - Some countries have very high levels of debt
Environmental factors - Some places experience environmental issues which can prevent them from developing .
Social Factors - things like low education, poor water quality or lack of doctors.
Consequences of uneven development in LIC’s and HIC’s
Many LIC’s have a shortage of clean water and low levels of health. They have no Factories so they have to sell raw materials, earning much less money. Some governments in LIC’s are corrupt, and the money earnt is not necessarily used to benefit the people that need it and disparities in wealth and health occur.
HIC’s have good clean water and good sanitation systems, they are able to buy raw materials for a low price and process them into a more expensive product. Their imports cost less money than their exports and so they have a good balance of trade.
Population trends in the UK
The UK’s population rapidly rose between 1760 and 1880 as death rates fell due to better sanitation and food supplies, whilst birth rates stayed high.
There was then slower growth up to 1940, as death rates continued to drop due to medical advances but birth rates dropped rapidly due to the use of birth control and the industrialisation of the country (Stage 3). By 1940, the UK entered stage 4, the low fluctuating stage. As a result the UK has an ageing population.
Increase in young children
Higher birth rates of migrants in the last 10 years, many migrants are reproductive age and so have children - they also may have a religious culture that prohibits contraception or an ethnic culture that encourages a large family
Increase in Young adults
after 2004 when 10 new eastern european countries joined the EU, lots of people moved to the UK looking for work.
Increase in over 65’s
Compulsary education has taught people about the risks of diseases etc, as well as safety measures being invented. This all increased life expectancy.
