8.1.2
Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
What are Underdevelopment & Global Inequality?
An underdeveloped nation is one that is not yet fully developed because it has been prevented from doing so by other, frequently richer, countries.

What is underdevelopment?
- Underdeveloped nations have usually been exploited by richer countries and their residents forced into poverty.
- Based on the Human Development Index 2020, Niger is the most underdeveloped nation in the world.
- An underdeveloped nation is different to an ‘undeveloped’ nation.
- An undeveloped nation is one that has not yet become developed but may do so in the future. The opportunity is still there.

What is global inequality?
- Global inequality is the difference in money, status, rights and opportunities between different countries.
- Life expectancy is a good way to illustrate global inequality.
- Baby girls born in the UK in 2018 can expect to live on average to 90.2 years and baby boys to 87.6 years (Office for National Statistics)
- Compare this to the average life expectancy for babies born in the same year from Malawi (64), Nigeria (54) and Somalia (57) (World Bank data).

Factors affecting life expectancy
- Life expectancy can be affected by many things including access to food, access to vaccinations and access to clean water and sanitation.

Inequality in Nigeria
- Difficulties in addressing inequality can come from the fact that there is also vast inequality within each nation.
- Take Nigeria as an example. Oxfam say that the combined wealth of Nigeria’s five richest men - $29.9 billion - could end extreme poverty in the country (currently 5 million people face hunger).
- More than 112 million people are living in poverty in Nigeria, yet the country’s richest man would have to spend $1 million every day for 42 years to spend all of his money.
1Theory & Methods
1.1Sociological Theories
1.2Sociological Methods
2Education with Methods in Context
2.1Role & Function of the Education System
2.2Educational Achievement
2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools
3Option 1: Culture & Identity
3.1Conceptions of Culture
3.2Identity & Socialisation
3.3Social Identity
3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation
4Option 1: Families & Households
4.1Families & Households
4.2Changing Patterns
4.3The Symmetrical Family
4.4Children & Childhood
5Option 1: Health
5.1Social Constructions
5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare
5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare
5.4Mental Health
6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare
6.1Poverty & Wealth
7Option 2: Beliefs in Society
7.1Ideology, Science & Religion
7.2Religious Movements
7.3Society & Religion
8Option 2: Global Development
8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations
8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation
9Option 2: The Media
9.1Contemporary Media
9.2Media Representations
10Crime & Deviance
10.1Crime & Society
10.2Social Distribution of Crime
Jump to other topics
1Theory & Methods
1.1Sociological Theories
1.2Sociological Methods
2Education with Methods in Context
2.1Role & Function of the Education System
2.2Educational Achievement
2.3Relationships & Processes Within Schools
3Option 1: Culture & Identity
3.1Conceptions of Culture
3.2Identity & Socialisation
3.3Social Identity
3.4Production, Consumption & Globalisation
4Option 1: Families & Households
4.1Families & Households
4.2Changing Patterns
4.3The Symmetrical Family
4.4Children & Childhood
5Option 1: Health
5.1Social Constructions
5.2Social Distribution of Healthcare
5.3Provision & Access to Healthcare
5.4Mental Health
6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare
6.1Poverty & Wealth
7Option 2: Beliefs in Society
7.1Ideology, Science & Religion
7.2Religious Movements
7.3Society & Religion
8Option 2: Global Development
8.1Development, Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
8.2Globalisation & Global Organisations
8.3Aid, Trade, Industrialisation, Urbanisation
9Option 2: The Media
9.1Contemporary Media
9.2Media Representations
10Crime & Deviance
10.1Crime & Society
10.2Social Distribution of Crime
Practice questions on Underdevelopment & Global Inequality
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1Factors that can affect life expectancy. Fill in the list
- 2Complete the statistics about Nigeria (Oxfam). True / false
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