Development Indicators

Question 1

What do we call countries with a high standard of living?

Answer 1

Developed countries (MEDC)

Question 2

What do we call countries with a low standard of living?

Answer 2

Developing countries (LEDC)

Question 3

What are the four main economic indicators of development?

Answer 3

GDP per person
GNP per person
People employed in agriculture
Energy used per person

Question 4

What is GDP?

Answer 4

Gross domestic product per person- value of all goods produced/services provided in a year divided by the measure of wealth per person

Question 5

What is GNP?

Answer 5

Gross national product - similar to GDPbut includes services earned abroad

Question 6

How does energy used per person indicate development?

Answer 6

It indicates wealth as the more industrialised a country is and the higher the standard of living the more energy we use

Question 7

How does people employed in agriculture indicate development?

Answer 7

High proportion of the population working in agriculture means little industry to produce wealth

Question 8

What are the problems with economic indicators?

Answer 8

A country may produce a lot of wealth but may not spread it equally amongst its people. Wealth also doesn’t give enough information on the quality of life people have.
We need to compare people’s wealth with the cost of living to find out how well off they really are.
Average figures can cover up how wealth is distributed e.g, people living in cities may be wealthier than people living in countries.

Question 9

What are the three main social indicators of development?

Answer 9

Health- population per doctor, infant mortality, life expectancy
Diet- calories per person per day, protein per person per day
Education- percentage of children attending primary school, literacy rate

Question 10

What are the problems with social indicators?

Answer 10

They use averages so don’t tell us the differences within a country
One indicator in isolation doesn’t give enough information on quality of life. Health care might be good but education and diet may be poor

Question 11

What are the two combined indicators of development?

Answer 11

Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI)

Human Development Index (HDI)

Question 12

What does the PQLI do?

Answer 12

Combines life expectancy, infant mortality, adult literacy to produce an index from 0-100. Higher PQLI, higher the development
PQLI over 77 is good

Question 13

What does the HDI do?

Answer 13

Combines life expectancy, infant mortality, adult literacy, GNP per person, cost of living, school enrolment to produce an index from 0-1. HDI of 0.8 indicates a developed country

Question 14

What are the five main physical factors which affect levels of development?

Answer 14

Climate 
Relief
Resources
Environment
Natural disasters

Question 15

What is the definition of development?

Answer 15

Any improvement that is made in the standard of living of the people

Question 16

How does a very cold climate affect development?

Answer 16

It is difficult to build infrastructure and houses because of permafrost.
It is unlikely to attract industry because it is so cold.
The cost of living is generally very high because of heating bills and food expenses (food has to be imported because it is too cold to farm).

Question 17

How does a very dry climate affect development?

Answer 17

Drought makes it difficult to grow crops. There is the risk then of crop failure and famine. The soil is made poorer by wind erosion.

Question 18

How does very steep land affect climate (relief)?

Answer 18

It is difficult to build infrastructure because of steep land
Remote and unlikely to attract industry, also poor farming because of the steepness of the land.

Question 19

How does a lack of minerals affect development? (resources)

Answer 19

There are no valuable minerals such as diamond or gold to sell, and no fuel deposits such as coal, gas, oil, or raw materials to encourage industry.

Question 20

How does unattractive scenery affect development? (environment)

Answer 20

Not attractive to tourists, therefore the country is making no money from tourism.

Question 21

How does much disease affect development? (environment)

Answer 21

Unhealthy workforce suffer long periods of illness meaning less people are working and earning money and the country’s quality of life is going down.

Question 22

How do floods, droughts and hurricanes affect development?

Answer 22

They have a devastating impact on infrastructure and harvests. The cost of damage repair is very high and landscapes can take years to recover.

Question 23

What are the three main human factors which affect development?

Answer 23

Population growth
Industrialisation
Trade

Question 24

How does population growth affect development?

Answer 24

In poorer countries, increased population means an increased demand for land, so farms become smaller as a consequence which means farmers produce less food and the risk of hunger increases.

Question 25

How does population growth affect development? (2)

Answer 25

The authorities cannot provide enough houses, hospital beds, jobs and schools for everyone so many are forced to live in shanty towns and take casual, poorly paid jobs and have little access to medical provision.

Question 26

How does industrialisation affect population?

Answer 26

Industries which produce wealth increasing profit and creates jobs are less likely to set up in developing countries as few people can afford to buy their products. This means goods have to be transported overseas market which increases costs. Becuase of the poor educational provision in these countries, people lack the skills to work in offices and high-tech industries . Some industries choose to set up in developing countries only to benefit from the large amount of workers who accept lower wages and poorer working conditions.

Question 27

How does trade affect development?

Answer 27

Developing countries only have primary goods to export which are low priced and greatly fluctuating.
Developing countries need to import manufactured goods which are expensive and non-profitable, so they operate trade deficits, which means they can’t afford to provide services which would improve their people’s standard of living. They have also borrowed large sums of money from developing countires which they spend much of their income on repaying interest on their debts.
When they do have goods to export they face difficulty as developed countries put up trade barriers to protect their own industries from cheaper foreign goods, meaning developing countries are subject to quotas or tariffs.