Measuring Development
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 5.1.1
Measures of Development
Development is an improvement in a country's capacity to produce goods and services for its population. This usually improves people's standard of living in that country. The global development gap is the difference in the level of development between developing countries and developed countries. What can development be measured by?
Gross National Income (GNI) per head
- GNI is the total amount of money that a country's population earns in a year.
- GNI per head is equal to the GNI divided by the country's population.
Birth and death rates
- The birth rate is the number of live babies born per one thousand people in the population each year.
- The death rate is the number of deaths per thousand people in the population each year.
Infant mortality rate
- The infant mortality rate is the number of babies who die before the age of 1, per thousand babies born.
- In 1870, in the UK, the infant mortality rate was 160. Today it is 4.
Life expectancy
- The age that the average person born in that year will live until.
People per doctor
- The total population divided by the total number of doctors.
- This shows roughly how many people the average doctor has to be responsible for treating.
Literacy rate
- The percentage of the adult population who are literate (can read and write).
Access to safe water
- The percentage of people who are able to regularly drink clean water.
Human development index (HDI)
- The HDI is a measure that combines lots of different measures like education, healthcare, income, life expectancy, and others.
- The HDI scale ranges from 0 (least developed countries) to 1 (most developed countries).
Test yourself on Measuring Development
What do we call the difference in development between different countries?
What was the infant mortality rate in the UK in 1870, and what is it now?