DEVELOPMENT: COUNTRY,

PEOPLE AND ECONOMY

 Learning Objectives
• To understand that there are different ways of classifying
parts of the world according to their level of economic
development and quality of life.
• To understand different economic and social measures of
development.
• To understand the limitations of economic and social
measures and global variations in economic development
and quality of life.
 KEY
QUESTION:
Why Does Development
Vary Among Countries?
Development is a continuum, and for
the most part it is linear.

Most countries start at a similarly

undeveloped point (low income, low life
expectancy), and move along the
‘process’ toward higher development.
Low- and middle-income economies are
usually referred to as developing
economies, and the Upper Middle Income
and the High Income are referred to as
Developed Countries.

UNITED NATIONS
DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
 How Can We Measure Development?
Economic Indicators Social Indicators
• Gross National Income (GNI) • birth rate
• GNI per head • death rate
• Gross Domestic product (GDP) • Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
• people per doctor
• literacy rate
• access to safe water
• life expectancy

Problem

You must not look at just one indicator of development, because it can be misleading.
 Causes of Uneven Development
Can you list some reasons why some countries are more developed
than others?

Photo courtesy of John Hill (@commons.wikimedia.org) - Photo courtesy of Max Wolfe (@commons.wikimedia.org) - Photo courtesy of Walter Lim (@commons.wikimedia.org) -
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Photo courtesy of Walter Crane (@commons.wikimedia.org)

- granted under creative commons licence – attribution
 Points of crisis- like war or extreme
political instability- can cause a country
to ‘revert’ backwards developmentally,
but this is usually a temporary condition.

War-related
devastation
in Syria
 Thus, to look at a country’s level of
development is to see only a ‘snapshot,’
for development is dynamic and
constantly changing.
 To measure the level of development in
different countries, the UNITED NATIONS has
developed a ranking called the HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI).

The HDI ranks countries

according to three key criteria
1.) A decent standard of living
2.) A long and healthy life
3.) Access to knowledge
 The HDI ranks countries on a scale
from 0 (very undeveloped) to 1.0 (very
developed).

Countries over .8 are called More

Developed Countries (MDCs), while
those under .8 are called Less
Developed Countries (LDCs).
 There are four HDI categories
countries fall into:
1.) Very High Developed (HDI of .8 or
higher)
2.) High Developing (HDI
between .7-.79)
3.) Medium Developing (HDI between
.52-.69)
4.) Low Developing (HDI .51 or
below)
HDI Rankings by
Country
DEVELOPMENT BY REGION
 EXAMINING
COMPONENTS OF THE
HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
INDEX (HDI)
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
People in the developed/developing
world GENERATE and SPEND wealth in
different ways.
 A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
Measured using specific metrics:
• GROSS NATIONAL INCOME (GNI) – value
of goods services produced by a country per
year, including in/outflow of money
• GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) –
Same as GNI without money flows
• PURCHASING POWER PARITY (PPP) –
Adjusts GNI/GDP to reflect buying power
• ‘PER CAPITA’ – Adjusts GNI/GDP to a per
person basis (averaged)
 A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
Measured using specific metrics:
• SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND – social
wealth fund is a state-owned investment
fund that invests in real and financial assets
such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious
metals, or in alternative investments such
as private equity fund or hedge funds.
What’s your take about the Maharlika
Wealth Fund?
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
The HDI also accounts for the
ECONOMIC SECTORS prevalent within
a country:
• PRIMARY – Extraction of materials
from the Earth
• SECONDARY – Refining of raw
materials into finished products
• TERTIARY – Provision of
goods/services in exchange for money
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING

PRIMARY
SECTOR

SECONDARY
SECTOR

TERTIARY
SECTOR
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
PRODUCTIVITY greatly impacts the wealth
of a nation.

In developed countries, productivity per

worker is far higher, leading to higher profits
and incomes.
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
Notable disparities exist in the ownership
of CONSUMER GOODS between the
developed/developing world.
A DECENT STANDARD OF LIVING
HDI can be adjusted to reflect inequality
within a country, called INEQUALITY-
ADJUSTED HDI.
A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE
A major contributor to a country’s HDI
ranking is LIFE EXPECTANCY AT
BIRTH, which measures how old
people will live to be on average.
 A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE
World average life expectancy is 70, but
major disparities exist between countries
and regions.

Many developed countries see lifespans

in the high 70s/over 80, while many
developing countries fall far short of the
world average.
 A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE
Developing countries have a wide range
of life expectancy, particularly prominent
at the regional level:
• Latin America: 75 years
• South Asia: 65 years
• Sub-Saharan Africa: 55
years or less
A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE
A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE
More than 99.5% of babies in the
developed world survive their first
year, compared to about 94% in
developing countries.
 ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
The UN believes that access to
knowledge is essential to the
possibility of leading a life of value.
 ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
The YEARS OF SCHOOLING metric
measures the educational attainment of
those 25 and older.

• World Average: 7 years

• Developed countries: 11 years
• Developing countries: 6 years
 ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
Access to education has increased in
recent decades. EXPECTED YEARS OF
SCHOOLING is the years in school a
typical 5-year-old will experience.

Developed Countries: 16 years

Developing Countries: 11 years
 ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
These numbers imply that half in
the developed world will graduate
college, while half in the developing
world will not graduate high school.
 ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE
Also important:
Pupil/Teacher Ratio – Average 14 in
developed world, 26 in developing
world.
Literacy Rate – Greater than 99% in
almost all developed countries; high
in many developing countries, but
very low in others.
Variations in
Development
within
Countries and
Regions
 Many developing regions contain
wide disparities in development
between countries.

This is largely due to the unequal

distribution of wealth-generating
resources.
 SOUTHWEST ASIA is a prime example.

Highly-developed, oil-rich nations like

Saudi Arabia or the UAE stand in stark
contrast to comparatively undeveloped
countries like Jordan or Yemen, which lack
oil resources.
Level of development can also
vary widely within a country.

Often, a divide exists between

urban ‘haves’ and rural ‘have-nots.’
 CHINA’s
wealth is
concentrated
along the
Eastern coast,
where
manufacturing
cities and
ports lie.
 Wealth in
MEXICO is
concentrated
along the US
border
(manufacturing)
and the Yucatan
peninsula
(tourism)
Education is the best economic
policy there is!
-TONY BLAIR
THANK YOU!
PLEASE MESSAGE ME ANYTIME IF
YOU HAVE CONCERNS.