Students should be able to:

(i) Discuss the problems associated with

defining ‘development’

The problems of defining development

Traditional notions of development focused on classifying countries according to their wealth. In the 1980s,
the Brandt line did exactly this (separating the rich north from the poor south), but quickly industrialising
economies in the ‘South’ such as Taiwan, demonstrated the inadequacy of this divide.

TASK: Add the Brandt line to the world map below:

The Human Development Report 1990

So, in the 1990s the UN report illustrated a move away from this notion of a focus on wealth and instead,
placed an emphasis on people and their quality of life.

TASK: Write the definition for development taken from the report:

The Human Development Report 1996

The UN report in 1996 built upon this notion yet again, stating that “human growth is the end goal an
economic growth is the way to reach it”. What do you think this means?

Modern development studies

Modern development studies see development as made up of two components:

 Economic development
 Social development

Economic Development

Countries regarded as being developed (MEDCs) have experienced restructuring of their economies. A vital
requirement of development is a move away from primary occupations (such as farming) towards tertiary
occupations (such as research). A country must also have a manufacturing economy so they can export
goods and make money.

TASK: Complete the table comparing the economies of Malawi and the United Kingdom:

MALAWI UNITED KINGDOM

Primary
Secondary
Tertiary

This wealth also needs to be distributed fairly among the population as a whole, if the country is to be
regarded as developed.

Social Development

Social development relates to the use of the wealth created to fund improvements in health care, education
and legal provision for all members of society, irrespective of gender, race or religion. These services should
be accessible to everyone as a right and not only to those who can afford to pay for them.

Summary

It is clear to see that development is a subjective concept and that no single definition exists. In 2015 the UN
launched The Global Goals for Sustainable Development programme with increased emphasis on human
rights, including gender equality issues and environmental issues, including climate change and the
sustainable use of resources.

TASK: Read the excerpt taken from the UN Development report. Use the resource to help you describe
how the definition of development has changed through time [5]
 Students should be able to:
(ii) Explain and evaluate two economic, two
social and two composite measures of
development

1. Economic measures

Economic measures are still very much in use, but they are only used to make a very broad classification of
countries into major income bands. They help to provide an indication of potential improvements in quality
of life in the future.

The two economic indicators we will be evaluating are:

 Gross National Income per capita

 Percentage of the population living on $1.90 a day

GNI pc

This is the most common economic measure. It is the total value of goods and services produced in a
country plus taxes and income from abroad in one year, divided by the total population.

Strengths Weaknesses

The World Bank divides countries up into four categories based on their GNIpc.

TASK: Complete the table on the following page for the four different income groups

Income group GNIpc US $ Number of countries Example of countries

Low Income
 Lower middle income

Upper middle income

High income

Percentage of the population living on $1.90 a day

One of the Millennium Development Goals was to reduce the proportion of the world population living in
poverty. In October 2015, the threshold for poverty was set at $1.90 This measure defines the percentage of
the population living on less than $1.90 a day

Strengths Weaknesses

TASK: Turn to page 217 of the CCEA textbook. Using the table at the bottom of the page, complete the
graph on the percentage of the population living on $1.90 a day. Answer the questions that follow.

1. Describe the trends apparent in the graph both spatially and through time [4]
2. Identify one weakness of using this economic indicator to demonstrate levels of development [3]

2. Social Measures

Social measures are increasingly used as indicators of development because they show the impact of
development on society.

The two economic indicators we will be evaluating are:

 Life expectancy at birth

 Infant mortality
Life expectancy at birth

The number of years a person is expected to live if the social conditions at the time of birth remain constant
throughout a person’s life.

Strengths Weaknesses

TASK: Study the figure below which shows life expectancy at birth for the UK. Describe the changes
from 1981-2081 [4]

Infant Mortality
Rate

Infant mortality
measures the number of
children who die before
they reach the age of 1
(from every 1,000 live
births, per year). This
helps to determine the
quality of ante- and
post-natal services in a country. The current IMR for the UK is 6, whereas the current IMR for Sierra Leone
is 195.

Strengths Weaknesses

3. Composite Measures

It was soon realised that no single indicator of development would give a true picture of quality of life. As
such, composite measures were introduced.

The two composite indicators we will be evaluating are:

 Human Development Index

 Gender Development Index

Human Development Index

In 1990, to coincide with a people centred definition of development, the UN published a composite
indicator known as the Human Development Index. The Human Development Index combines one
economic and two social indicators:

1.
2.
3.

HDI uses the combined aggregated score of these three indicators and ranks all countries on a scale of 0-1.

 Very high human development 0.8+

 High human development 0.7-0.79
 Medium human development 0.55-0.69
 Low human development 0.0-0.54

TASK: Complete the table below comparing the United Kingdom and Malawi

Malawi United Kingdom

Life expectancy
Expected years of schooling
PPPpc
HDI
Gender Development Index

HDI has been further extended to measure inequalities between males and females, giving a Gender
Development Index (GDI). As it is often females that are considerably underprivileged in LEDCs, this was
seen as a major improvement to HDI. GDI values are typically 8% lower for females, with the largest
differences recorded in those countries in the lower levels of development.

Strengths Weaknesses

ESSAY: With reference to specific measures of development, explain the problems of defining
development