Measuring Development
Geography: Edexcel A Level, topic 4.6.1
Measuring Development
There are many different measures of development, including single measures and composite measures.
GDP
- A single measure of development looks at one aspect of the quality of life.
- An example of a single measure of development is Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is the total value of goods and services produced in a country over one year.
GDP cont.
- While it is good at showing the economic growth of a country over time, it does not account for inequality within the country. It also doesn’t give any insight into what that country spends their income on.
- Is this GDP spent on improving the quality of life of the people or it is spent on the military whilst poverty remains in the country?
- According to the International Monetary Fund (2018), ranked on their GDP, the biggest economies in the world are the United States, China and Japan. The USA has a GDP of $20trn vs China's GDP of $14trn.
Life expectancy
- Global rankings of development are different when examining life expectancy rather than GDP.
- Here, according to the World Health Organisation, Japan tops the ranking with a life expectancy of 84.2 years whilst America is outside of the top ten with 78.5 years.
Composite indices
- A composite index combines several measures of development to give a more holistic view of development.
- Economic measures of development include income per capita and the balance of the different economic sectors.
- Examples include the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Gender Inequality Index (GII).
The Human Development Index (HDI)
- The last Human Development index saw Norway, Australia and Switzerland complete the top 3.
- The HDI includes: life expectancy at birth (which shows the healthcare provision of a country), the expected and mean years of schooling (which shows the education provision of a country) and the Gross National Income (which shows the state of the economy in the country).
- A score of 1 would be the highest achievable score in the HDI. In the 2015 rankings, Norway had a score of 0.949.
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Environmental quality index (EQI)
- The EQI looks at a number of environmental factors together.
- An example of one factor would be air pollution measures.
The Development Gap and Inequality
The gap between rich and poor (or income inequality) is widening globally and nationally. This suggests that globalisation has created winners and losers within different countries and between different countries.
Measuring inequality
- We measure inequality using the Gini Coefficient.
- A Gini coefficient of 0 would mean that everybody in the country was equal and 100% of the wealth was shared between 100% of the population.
- A Gini coefficient of 1 would mean that the country is perfectly unequal and 100% of the wealth is owned by one person.
Realities of the Gini coefficient
- In reality, a score of 0 or 1 is not possible and so countries lay somewhere in between.
- South Africa is an example of a very unequal country with a Gini coefficient of 0.62 in 2017.
- Iceland is one of the most equal countries with a Gini coefficient of 0.25 in 2017.
Inequality between countries
- Some people argue that globalisation enables the rich (the TNCs and global elites) to accumulate wealth faster than the poor do (those who provide cheap labour or are switched-off).
Inequality within countries
- The World Inequality Report in 2018 found that in the US, the share of national income that the top 1% own has increased from 11% in 1980 to 20% in 2014.
- In the UK, London was recently found to be the most unequal city while Sunderland was the most equal.
Test yourself on Measuring Development
According to the World Health Organisation, which country tops the life expectancy rankings with 84.2 years?
What was the UK's most equal city in recent studies?
Which country had a Gini coefficient of 0.25 in 2017?