4.1.3

Evaluation of GDP

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Problems with Economic Measures of Development

Measuring development by looking at the money and wealth of a country has problems. There are many things that this measure of development cannot tell you about quality of life in a country.

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GDP

  • One problem with measuring development using GDP or an GDP per capita is that it doesn’t tell you how much money each individual person in a country actually has.
  • It only gives you the overall figure (GDP) or an average (GDP per capita).
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Inequality

  • So, a country’s GDP may look high but the wealth may belong to a few billionaires and the majority of the population may live in poverty and be very poor.
  • Inequality is the difference between rich and poor.
  • GDP does not measure this.
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Government spending

  • Another big problem is that the total GDP figure for a country does not tell you anything about what the government spends this money on.
  • If a country has a very high GDP but doesn’t spend it on improving the quality of life for the people in that country, is it still developed?
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Government spending cont.

  • For example, a country with a very high GDP could spend it on weapons and nuclear weapons instead of providing a clean water supply for all of the people in that country.
  • Is it still a developed country?

Jump to other topics

1Geography Skills

2Geology of the UK

3Geography of the World

4Development

5Weather & Climate

6The World of Work

7Natural Resources

8Rivers

9Coasts

10Glaciers

11Tectonics

12Climate Change

13Global Population & Inequality

14Urbanisation

15Ecosystems

16Life in an Emerging Country

17Analysis of Africa

18Analysis of India

19Analysis of the Middle East

20Analysis of Bangladesh

21Analysis of Russia

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