Development Gap - Causes of global inequalities - factors affecting development Flashcards
Give environmental factors that affect how developed a country is? (5)
- A poor climate
- Poor farming land
- Limited water supplies
- Lots of natural hazards
- Few raw materials
Main political factors that slow development? (3)
- If a country has an unstable government
- If the government is corrupt
- If theres a war and the country loses money
What economic factors affect development? (3)
- Poor trade links
- Lots of debts
- An economy based on primary products
Social factors that affect development? (3)
- Drinking water
- The place of women in society
- Child education
Environmental factor: A poor climate
- If a country has a poor climate (aka too hot or too cold) they won’t be able to grow much
- This reduces the amount of food produced
- In some countries this can lead to malnutrition eg in Chad and Ethiopia - people who are malnourished have a low quiality of life
- People also have fewer crops to sell, meaning less money to spend on goods and services, which also reduces their quality of life
- The government gets less money from taxes (as less is sold and bought). This means theres less to spend on developing the country eg to spend on improving healthcare on eduction
Environmental factor: Poor farming land
If the land in a country is steep or has poor soil (or no soil) then they won’t produce a lot of food
This has the same effect as a poor climate
Environmental factor: Limited water supplies
Some countries don’t have a lot of water eg Egypt, Jordan, this makes it harder for them to produce a lot of food, this has the same effect as a poor climate
Environmental factor: Lots of natural hazards
A natural hazard is an event that has the potential to affect people’s lives or property
When a natural hazard actually affects people lives/property, it’s called a natural disaster
- Countries that have a lot of natural disasters have to spend a lot of money rebuilding after disasters occur (eg Bangladesh - floods)
- So natural disasters reduce quality of life for the people effected, and they reduce the amount of money the government has to spend on development projects
Environmental factor: Few raw materials
- Countries without many raw materials like coal, oil or metal orea tend to make less money because they’re got fewer products to sell
- This means they have less money to spend on development
- Some countries do have a lot of raw materials but still aren’t very developes because they don’t have money to develop the infrastructure to exploit them (eg roads, ports)
Political factor: Unstable government
If a country has an unstable government it might not invest in things like healthcare, education and improving the economy.
This leads to slow development (or no development at all)
Political factor: Corrupt government
Some governments are corrupt. This means that some people get richer (by breaking the law) while others stay poor and have a low quality of life
Political factor: War in a country
If there’s a war in a country, the country looses money that could be spent on development
Equipment is expensive, buildings get destroyed and fewer people work (as they’re fighting)
War also directly reduces the quality of life of the people in the country
Economic factor: Poor trade links
Trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries
- World trade patters (who trades who) seriously influence a countries economy and so affect their level of development
- If a country has poor trade links (it trades a small amount with only a few countries) it won’t make a lot of money, so there’ll be less to spend on development
Economic factor: Lots of debt
- Very poor countries borrow money from other countries and international organisations (eg to help cope with the aftermath of a natural disaster)
- This money has to be paid back (sometimes with interest)
- Any money a country makes is used to pay back the money, so isn’t used for development
Economic factor: An economy based on primary products
- Countries that mostly export primary prodicts (raw materials like wood, metal and stone) tend to be less developed
- This is because you don’t make much profit by selling primary products (eg tea and coffee). Their prices also fluctuate - sometimes the price falls below the cost of production
- This means people don’t make much money, so the governemt has less to spend on development
- Countries that export manufactured goods tend to be more developed
- This is because you usually make a decent profit by selling manufactured goods. Wealthy countries also force down the price of raw materials that they buy from poorer countries
