Consequences of Uneven Development
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 5.1.9
What are the Consequences of Uneven Development?
Uneven development can result in large differences in:
Income
- Income is the amount of money earned each year. Wealth is the value of the assets that someone owns.
- In 2017, Malawi's GNI per capita was $338. In the USA, it was $59,530 (176x higher).
- The median net worth of US households is $97,000. In Malawi, the median net worth is close to zero.
Health
- Developed countries have better healthcare systems, more doctors and hospitals, and higher life expectancies than less developed nations.
- In Malawi, the infant mortality rate is 35 per 1,000 births. In the UK it is 4. So almost 10x as many babies die before age 1 in Malawi.
- Life expectancy is 81 in the UK and 63 in Malawi.
International migration
- People try to migrate to nations with a better quality of life (and usually nations with a better quality of life are more developed and higher income).
- The average income (salary) in the USA is $27,000 per year (it is only $10,000 in Mexico). This encourages people to move to the USA.
Test yourself on Consequences of Uneven Development
What are the consequences of uneven development?
What process leads to large differences in wealth, health and international migration?