H,HR + I

• Development


  The idea of what 21st Century life should consist of - essentials (such as access to clean water and electricity), access to services and opportunities
• Measures of development


  • GDP and GDP per capita - A measure of wealth and mean wealth through income
  • Life Expectancy - Measuring lifestyles and health
  • Literacy Rate - Quality of education which correlates to economic output
  • Infant Mortality Rate - Quality of healthcare and attitudes towards children
• Developments through technology and interdependency have changed the way we measure development
• Development can be interpreted differently for different societies; some countries value particular factors more than other countries do
• Complex indices to measure development

  • Happy Planet Index - Links life expectancy, wellbeing and equality with the impact of ecological footprint
  • KOF Index of Globalisation - Measures the strength of links between countries
  • World Happiness Index - Measures alternative ideas like social support, generosity & corruption
• Using different measures and indices can result in countries ranked differently for development
• Top 5 countries on HDI

  • They have large economies and advancing technology (quaternary) industries, resulting in a high GDP per capita
  • They have well structured cities and towns, with strong infrastructure and transport links, excellent supplies of clean water, electricity and food to households
  • They have free education systems, with opportunities to progress onto further education (universities) or into employment & apprenticeships

  
• Top 5 countries on HPI

  • Costa Rica - Abolished its army, instead spending its defense budget on education, health provisions and pensions. Government taxes all fossil fuel use, spending taxes on protecting its tropical rainforests. In 2015, 99% of its electricity was produced using renewable sources
  • Vietnam - Relatively high life expectancy for a developing country; people from Vietnam live 17 years longer than people from Gambia, despite having similar sized economies. Large education and public service provisions have reduced inequality within the population, with large reductions in population living in poverty
  • Norway - Provides free education, public pensions and healthcare. There is low unemployment, and individuals work reasonable hours in a workplace with a strong sense of community. However, Norway's ecological footprint (consumption of resources, greenhouse gas emissions, protection of habitats and wildlife) is three times a sustainable footprint
• Literacy rates may be unreliable, since the country itself measures it rather than an independent organisation. Therefore a country may claim to have a higher literacy rate to avoid intervention and portray the country as successful
• Westernisation - Model of Democracy and Capitalism

  • Democracy - A system of government based on the belief that the population has equal rights in deciding on how the country is run
  • Capitalism - The economic system where industry is owned by private businesses and are run to make profit as opposed to being run by the state
• Western development - equal rights, democracy, capitalism - is seen by some as a successful in promoting development, since historically western countries have been (and continue to the present day) leading in economic and political significance
• Western lifestyles are unsustainable, consuming large volumes of energy and water and creating a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions
• Many western countries have a large proportion of atheists or relaxed religious views. This can be reflected in laws: pro-abortion, divorce, mixed-gender schools. This can contradict other religions' laws
• Sharia Law - Model of Non-Secular Governance

  Law and religion are intertwined, unlike in Western governments where secularisation has occurred. Sharia Law is particularly different from Western laws in its attitudes towards marriage, inheritance and women's role in society
• Bolivia - Model of Sustainability

  The 2009 Constitution focused on Law of Mother Earth: Mother Nature has rights, including to remain in equilibrium and unaltered by genetic modification. The government has a duty in protecting Mother Nature, through reducing resource consumption to advocating for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction. Any damage previously against Mother Nature is the responsibility of our generation, and action should be taken to restore Mother Nature to equilibrium
• Communism - Model to Reduce Wealth Inequality


  Prominent industries are state-owned which means competition between businesses is reduced. As a consequence of less focus on profits, working conditions and pay should be more regulated and fairer
• Historically, communist states haven't been the most successful: Little economic growth, as there is no foreign direct investment or competition between companies. Wages were controlled by bureaucrats within government, so inequality still existed within wealth distribution and political voice. To maintain their one-party control, governments would restrict freedom of speech and human rights of their population
• Many communist states have opened themselves to globalisation, trade and political cooperation. For example, China has the fastest growing economy in the last 30 years since opening up to FDI and relaxing its one-child policy
• Authoritarian States


  The opposite to democratic states, where decisions are made by the government or an individual alone. Authoritarian states tend to have a bad record for development and human rights
• Health-related problems in developing countries

  • Poor healthcare - low levels of development mean countries don't have money to invest in their healthcare. Low education levels also mean they don't have as many healthcare professionals as developed countries
  • Poor access to food - malnutrition leaves a population more open to diseases
  • Poor access to clean water - Waterborne diseases such as cholera are prevalent in developing countries
  • Climate - many developing nations are situated within Africa and South Asia, which have tropical or semi-arid climates
• Journalists in Myanmar are imprisoned regularly for portraying the government negatively
• Developing countries


  Tend to face different health-related problems than developed countries, they also tend to have a lower life expectancy
• Factors contributing to health issues in developing countries

  • Poor healthcare - low levels of development mean countries don't have money to invest in their healthcare, low education levels also mean they don't have as many healthcare professionals as developed countries, people may have to travel a long way to access healthcare (hospitals are mainly in big cities and may be poorly equipped), they may not have the money to invest in things like vaccines
  • Poor access to food - malnutrition leaves a population more open to diseases
  • Poor access to clean water - Waterborne diseases such as cholera are prevalent in developing countries
  • Climate - many developing nations are situated within Africa and South Asia, which have tropical or semi-arid climates, the warmth and moisture typical to theses climates promote tropical diseases such as Malaria, which needs specialist medical attention and nets to protect families from mosquito carriers (both are expensive)
  • Overcrowding - will also increase the spread of tropical illnesses, since contagion can pass easily between houses, overcrowding tends to occur in rapidly growing cities, where migrant settlers cannot afford or find space to live in; instead, informal settlements are established on the periphery of the city, with little infrastructure or planning, in these shanty towns, poverty is high, services (doctors, schools, police) are extremely limited and houses are in close proximity to each other, allowing easy spread of fire and disease between households
• Diseases tend to affect the more vulnerable members of society (young children, elderly people, pregnant women) which means infant and maternal mortality rates tend to be high for developing nations
• Factors contributing to good health in developed countries

  • Excellent access to clean water, some countries rarely experiencing severe drought
  • Most populations have disposable income, which they can spend on improving their lifestyle and wellbeing: central heating, fitness/ gym membership, dishwashers, this will reduce their risk of illness and injury, promote healthy living and so extend their life expectancies
  • Japan has some of the longest living people, who would argue that the Japanese lifestyle and diet is one of the reasons for the longevity, European countries have become conscious of their diet, especially since most Europeans have office-based jobs so burn less calories
  • Developed nations have good healthcare access, life insurance and can afford advancing medical procedures and medicines
• Health issues in developed countries

  • Lifestyle choices - including smoking, alcohol consumption and excessive saturated fats - limits developed nations life expectancy, especially in America and the UK, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer affect a large proportion of the population and have added strain to their healthcare systems within the last few decades
  • Large cities such as London, Paris and New York are still susceptible to infectious disease, due to their large population density and high net movement of people daily, they are also prone to extreme weather events (long- period heatwaves, blizzards) that can heighten illness, isolate vulnerable individuals and put pressure on supplies of water and food
• There can be variations in health and life expectancy within a country as well as between countries, often, this difference in health is directly related to inequality
• Reasons for variations in health across the UK

  • Changing Employment - As the UK develops, more people are employed in tertiary and quaternary industries, therefore fewer people have physically demanding/ laborious jobs
  • Increasing wealth (on average!) - Households earn more on average, so can spend more on improving their lifestyles (gym membership, home-cooked foods) and so have higher life expectancies
  • Fewer risks to life in the last decade, due to the introduction of stricter health & safety regulations in the workplace, increased vaccination programmes and improved knowledge from a young age of the hazards of smoking, crossing roads, etc.
  • Economic decline - often due to deindustrialisation - can lead to sudden unemployment and deprivation within a community, this is the case for previous mining towns and villages in Scotland and Wales which have some of the lowest life expectancies and highest deprivation levels, where coal mining was closed 30 years ago
  • Culture - Traditionally, men would finish their day at work with a drink at the pub in working men's clubs, this culture of after work drinks can encourage a culture of excessive drinking and smoking
  • Densely populated cities are vulnerable to infectious diseases, especially due to the large net movement of people (tourists, business people, locals), this will limit life expectancy for cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham
• Reasons for health inequality within a population

  • Gender - In some countries, inequality in the roles of gender will affect their health, historically, in England, the men of the family would mine and so would be exposed to particulates and risks (mine collapsing, gas explosions, accident with equipment), therefore, men would have a lower life expectancy due to their occupations, this is the case for mineral mining across Africa, where men face respiratory diseases and chemical exposure whilst the mother raises the family or have less-hazardous occupation
  • Socio-Economic Groups - Low socio-economic groups are employed in the more riskier or physically demanding jobs, due to the health risk associated with the work, also, low socio-economic groups have some of the lowest education rates, this can affect their attitude to healthy lifestyles and achieving a higher-paid, lower-risk job
  • Ethnicity - Indigenous and minority communities can have the lowest life expectancies within a country, this may be due to limited provisions in accordance with their culture, if indigenous communities rely on the natural environment for food and resources, some countries that limit their space and degrade the natural environment will damage the health of their indigenous communities, alternatively, if health services are run in a way that conflicts with a minorities' religion, some individuals may avoid medical assistance, physical isolation from services - indigenous communities tend to live isolated in remote rural locations, so have a restricted access to health services, emergency services and medicine, this may mean severe diseases go undiagnosed, individuals face a large risk of infection if cut and often resort to herbal, traditional medicines rather than seeking outside medical attention
• Importance of education for development

  • Night School - For farmers, attending night school can educate them on new technologies or research into new agricultural practice, this can pass down into an individual's practice, which could improve productivity and crop yield, alternatively, individuals may wish to improve their qualifications to progress in their employment, this enables them to earn a higher wage and so they can afford to improve their quality of life, for parents on low income, by attending night school and improving their earnings, they may also affect their child's education; instead of working to contribute to the family's income (often in sub-standard jobs), children can attend primary education and so improve their future earnings and opportunities
  • Primary Education - Education can improve the health of a population, if someone can read, they can educate themselves on illnesses and be able to read medicine instructions, if they suffer from less illnesses, a family can continue to earn and so afford a better quality of life, especially for girls, basic education can educate young people on contraception and health
  • Further Education - A workforce will have to be skilled to attract high-income opportunities and technical TNCs, locations can build a reputation for their skilled workforce, such as Bangalore's growing IT industry where workers can speak multiple languages (especially English) to communicate with customers in call centres, the expansion of a country's quaternary industry depends on a young population, educated in specialist technical subjects (such as Science, Engineering, Computer Science) at degree level, the knowledge gained by employees by working for quaternary TNCs may be passed down into households, where more of the population can repair & operate household appliances (e.g. washing machines) which can significantly improve quality of life
• Barriers to education


  • Gender inequality - the predominant reason why many children don't attend primary or secondary education, some interpret their religion or traditions to deem that girls aren't capable or shouldn't mix with boys, many families in developing countries prevent their children from attending school, instead sending them to work from an early age
  • Epidemics, conflict or corrupt governments - can also restrict school attendance and the ability for schools to provide education
• Social development


  Links directly to the level of economic development, the wealth of a country demonstrates its capability to provide for its population, if a country has more income they have more money to invest in areas which can improve the social wellbeing of its population
• Approaches to improving social development

  • Welfare states - can aim to provide a stable economy by providing for those unemployed or disadvantaged, only MEDC governments that can afford the balance can adopt this approach
  • Totalitarian regimes - focus on political and military enforcement, they aim to gain wealth through streamlining services and being efficient as possible, this in turn will allow them to create new job opportunities or infrastructure, indirectly helping the poor
  • IGO's - have been key since 1945 in the economic development and rebuilding across the world after the effects of WWII, organisations including the IMF, WTO & World Bank have the same aims and objectives that have made them successful in globalisation, however, some argue that IGOs have helped TNCs succeed, whilst widening the inequality between rich and poor
• United Nations


  Focus on protecting human rights, peace & serenity, social advancement
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

  A framework for development for emerging countries and for developed countries to provide assistance, the framework ran from 2000 to 2015 and included goals such as eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, combating AIDS, HIV, Malaria and other diseases, developing global partnerships for development, promoting gender equality, reducing infant mortality, improving maternal health, and encouraging environmental sustainability
• The success of MDGs is questionable, for example, the goal to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger was not fully achieved
• Some argue that IGOs have helped TNCs succeed, whilst widening the inequality between rich and poor
• United Nations


  Focus on protecting: Human rights, Peace & serenity, Social advancement
• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

  1. Put into place as a framework for development for emerging countries and for developed countries to provide assistance

  2. Ran from 2000 to 2015

  3. Included goals such as: Eradicate Poverty and Hunger, Universal Primary Education, Combat AIDs, HIV, Malaria and other diseases, Develop Global Partnerships for Development, Promote Gender Equality, Reduce Infant Mortality, Improve Maternal Health, Encourage Environmental Sustainability
• The success of MDGs is questionable