A WORLD OF REGIONS

 The North-South Divide is a socio-economic and political categorization of countries. The

Cold–War-Era generalization places countries in two distinct groups; The North and the
South. The North is comprised of all First World countries and most Second World countries
while the South is comprised of Third World countries. This categorization ignores the
geographic position of countries with some countries in the southern hemisphere such as
Australia and New Zealand being labeled as part of the North.

GLOBAL NORTH VS. GLOBAL SOUTH

GLOBAL NORTH

• United States, Canada, Western Europe. Outermost Regions of the European Union

• Developed parts of Asia, Australia and New Zealand

• Home of all G8 (France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States,
Canada and Russia) and to four of the five permanent members of UN Security Council

GLOBAL SOUTH

• Africa, Latin America

• Developing Asia, Including Middle East

GLOBAL NORTH GLOBAL SOUTH

• First World • Third World

• Richer and More Developed • Poor and Less Developed
• 95% has enough food and Region
shelter • 5% has enough food and
• Economy: industries and major shelter
businesses, commerce, and • Source for Raw Materials of the
finance North
• Textiles, lumber, clothing, • Cotton Production
machinery, leather and wooden • Depended entirely on cotton
goods and agriculture
• Railroad Construction

Major Differences North-South

POPULATION

• The Worlds Population is 7.8 billion people, and is expected to reach around 11 billion
people by the end of the century.

• The most populous country is China (1.4 billion) and 2 nd is India (1.3 billion)

• The Global North cover the one-quarter of total Population while the South cover three-
quarters of total Population

WEALTH
• The total Wealth in the World is 431trillion-2021

• The Richest Man: Jeff Bezos with a net worth of 177 billion USD

• The Richest Country in the World is Luxembourg ($118,001 per capita) and 2 nd is Singapore
($97,057 per capita

• The Global North is controlling the 80% total income of the world

• Inversely, the South only controlling the 20% total income of the world

STANDARD OF LIVING

• South lacks the right technology, it is politically unstable, its economies are divided and its
foreign exchange depend on primary products exports

to the North

• About 95% of the population in countries in The North have enough basic needs and have
access to functioning education systems.

• In the South, as little as 5% of the population is able to access basic needs such food and
shelter

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

• The North of the Divide is comprised of countries which have developed economies and
account for over 90% of all manufacturing industries in the world.

• The economies of most countries in the South rely on imports from the North and have low
technological penetration

• The south serves as the Raw Materials of North

AGRICULTURE

• The Global South is characterized with a very high rate of people working in rural areas and
according to (Todaro, 2006) over 65% are rurally based, compared to less than 27% in the
Global North. Similarly 58% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, compared to only
50% in Global North. Agriculture contribute s about 14% of the GNI of Global South Nations
but only 3% of the GNI of Global North. Todaro further urged that people in the Global South
countries concentrate on the agricultural production because since their incomes are low
their first priorities are food, clothing and shelter and also due to the primitive nature of
technologies, poor organization and limited physical and human capital inputs.

What is Brandt Line?

• It is a divisionary line which simply separates the rich countries in the North from the poor
countries in the South. It encircles the world at latitude of 30°N. It crosses North and Central
America , North of Africa and India, and then it goes down towards the South, placing
Australia and New Zealand above the line

HISTORY OF THE DIVIDE

• The idea of categorizing countries by their economic and developmental status began during
the Cold War with the classifications of East and West. The Soviet Union and China
 represented the East, and the United States and their allies represented the West. The term
“Third World” was coined by states hoping to navigate between the two poles of the Cold
War, and ultimately gave birth to the Non-Aligned Movement. These countries were
generally less economically developed than their First- and Second-World counterparts. As
some Second World countries joined the First World, others joined the Third World, a new
and simpler classification was needed. The First World became the “North” and the Third
World became the South

CLASSIFYING COUNTRIES

Countries can be classified into three different types:

• Most Developed Countries (MDC’s)

• Less Developed Countries (LDC’s)

• Least Developed Countries (LDC’s)

REASONS:

• There are three(3) main reasons why our world is so unequal today

• Colonialism

• Trade

• Debt