The causes of the development gap Flashcards
North and south
1981, the Brandt Commission’s report on the world development emphasised what it saw as a division the wealthy ‘north’ and the poorer ‘south’.
Measuring the development gap
Traditionally measured by a country’s economy - GDP, GNI and such. GDP is better though because GNI includes income from shares, and company profits from manufacturing or investment overseas.
Refinement of the Brandt Line
World bank refined it into three main groupings: high, middle and low income countries, with middle divided into upper and lower.
Human development
More recent indicators of development have focused on demographic and social factors such as literacy rates, life expectancy, infant mortality and such. These can be combined to represent a larger picture of development.
HDI
Describes human development, both economically and socially. It is based on three factors - life expectancy, literacy and GDP per capita.
Gender
GDI shows the inequalities between men and women in terms of life expectancy, education levels and income. It is one of the 5 indicators used in the UN’s Human Development Report.
Continuum
Difference between countries is sometimes called a development continuum rather than a gap. Some people believe this better reflects reality: there is a gradation of countries at different levels of development rather than clusters in distinct groups.
Distribution
Development data can also provide information about the distribution of inequality.
It is clear that whatever indicator is used to measure global development, there are large differences between countries.