social measures of development

• death rates

  the number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year
• death rates global variations

  they are low across the world. healthcare is improving in poorer countries, so people are less likely to die of everyday illnesses
• death rates limitations

  its not always a good indicator of development as it is linked to the age of the population - a youthful population of a poorer country could have a lower death rate than a wealthy country with an ageing population
• birth rate

  the number of live births per 1000 of the population per year
• birth rates global variation

  the more developed a country is, the lower its birth rate. many HICs have very low birth rates whereas LICs often have larger families
• birth rates limitations

  a high birth rate doesn't always mean underdevelopment, as factors like cultural practices and government policies can influence it
• infant mortality rate

  the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births
• infant mortality rate global variations

  the UK figure is just 4 deaths per year, but somalia has over 100
• infant mortality rate limitations

  the main problem is the accuracy of the data, many LIC births are not registered and level of infant mortality may be considerably above published statistics
• life expectancy

  the average number of years a person can be expected to live
• life expectancy global variations

  in general, the higher the life expectancy, the more developed the country. most NEEs have an expectancy of 65- 75 years, in LICs its 55, HICs is 75+
• life expectancy limitations

  in countries where infant mortality rate is high, the life expectancy of those who survive childhood is far higher than the mean suggests, wars can affect the numbers, can reverse due to things like obesity
• people per doctor

  the average number of people per doctor, can be expressed as a ratio
• people per doctor global variation

  generally, its greater in HICs than in NEEs, in the UK, the doctor to patient ratio is 1 : 350, whereas in Afghanistan its 1: 5000
• people per doctor limitations

  people can use their phones to get healthcare advice, which is not included in the measurement
• literacy rates

  the percentage of individuals aged 15 and older within a population who can read and write
• literacy rates global variations

  most EU countries have a literacy rate of 99 percent, in some LICs the figure is as low as 40 percent
• literacy rate limitations

  carrying out surveys can be difficult especially in conflict zones or squatter settlements, and it also ignores other skills such as farming that may be equally as valuable to the community
• access to safe water

  the percentage of people who have access to water that does not carry a health risk
• access to safe water global variations

  all EU citizens must have access to safe water by law, in rural angolia, only 34 percent of people have access to safe water
• access to safe water limitations

  water quality can decline due to flooding or poor maintenance of pipes or rising cost of water in cities may force poor people to start using unsafe resources and official data may underestimate these problems
• human development index

  every country has a HDI value between 0 - least developed and 1 - most developed