Indicators of development

Question 1

What is development?

Answer 1

The improvement in the quality of life

Question 2

What is Gross National Product?

Answer 2

• The total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year
• plus the income earned by the country’s residents by foreign investments
• minus the income earned within the domestic economy by overseas residents

Question 3

How can GNP be made to account for different populations of countries so that comparisons can be made?

Answer 3

GNP is divided by the population of the country to give GNP per capita.

Question 4

What is the problem with GNP per capita?

Answer 4

It doesn’t consider how the cost of living varies between countries

Question 5

How can GNP per capita account for the cost of living?

Answer 5

The GNP per capita at purchasing power parity is calcucated

Question 6

What is purchasing power parity?

Answer 6

A way of comparing what the same amount of money can buy in different countries

Question 7

What is the development gap?

Answer 7

The gap between the wealthiest and poorest countries in the world

Question 8

What are the major limitations of GNP?

Answer 8

It is an average figure. It won’t tell us how wealth is distributed in a country or how the government invests the money at its disposal.

Question 9

Literacy rate?

Answer 9

The number of people in the population who can read and write

Question 10

Why is improving female literacy rates a fundamental achievement?

Answer 10

Strong relationship between the extent of female literacy and the infant and child mortality rates.

Question 11

Why is it important that people are literate?

Answer 11

They can access medical and other information that can improve their quality of life. A low adult literacy rate is an obctsacle to development

Question 12

What is life expectancy?

Answer 12

The average number of years a person born in a particular country is expected to live

Question 13

What factors influence life expectancy ?

Answer 13

1. Disease incidences e.g. Malaria
2. Physical environment conditions e.g. very low rainfall
3. Human environmental conditions e.g. pollution
4. Personal lifestyle e.g. smoking

Question 14

What is infant mortality?

Answer 14

Average number of deaths of children under 1 year of age per 1000 live births

Question 15

What does infant mortality reveal?

Answer 15

Health inequalities within and between countries

Question 16

What are some reasons for high infant mortality in developing countries?

Answer 16

low quality healthcare, diseases, poor hygiene/sanitisation, uncertain food suppy

Question 17

What are other measures of development?

Answer 17

School enrolment, people per doctor per 1000, energy consumption per capita, people living in urban areas, car ownership per 1000

Question 18

What is school enrolment?

Answer 18

The age at which people start schooling

Question 19

How does development affect school enrolment?

Answer 19

People start schooling at an early age of 2-4 years in developed countries. People in developing countries could start much later e.g 7 or 8 years

Question 20

How does the number of people per doctor per 1000 relate to development?

Answer 20

MEDCs have better healthcare and more doctors. There will be fewer people per doctor per 1000

Question 21

Why is energy consumption per capita higher in developed countries?

Answer 21

Electrical home appliances, transport by cars, many industries

Question 22

What source of energy is mostly relied on in LEDCs?

Answer 22

Wood fuel

Question 23

Where do you find higher rates of urbanisation?

Answer 23

MEDCs

Question 24

Why is there a greater car ownership per 1000 people in MEDCs?

Answer 24

Higher quality of life - people can afford cars