Measuring Development

• development = the progress in economic growth, use of technology and improving welfare a country has made (when a country develops the average quality of life improves)
• global development gap = the difference in development between more and less developed countries
• gross national income (GNI)


  the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year - measure of wealth
• GNI per head


  the gni divided by the population of a country (also known as gni per capita) - measure of wealth
• birth rate


  the number of live births per thousand of the population per year - measure of education/health - gets lower as a country develops
• death rate


  the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year - measure of health - gets lower as a country develops
• infant mortality rate 


  the number of babies who die before they are 1 years old, per thousand babies born - measure of health - gets lower as a country develops
• people per doctor


  the average number of people for each doctor - measure of health/education - gets lower as a county develops
• literacy rate


  percentage of adults who can read and write - measure of education - gets higher as a country develops
• access to safe water

  percentage of people who get access to clean drinking water - measure of health - gets higher as a country develops
• life expectancy


  the average age a person can expect to live to - measure of health - gets higher as a country develops
• gni per capita can be misleading when used on its own because it is average (a small number could be very wealthy and majority of people are poor)
• social indicators can also be misleading if they're used on their own because as a country develops some aspects may develop before others making a country seem more developed
• human development index (HDI) = calculated using gni per capita, life expectancy and education levels - every country gets a value between 0 (least developed) and 1 (most development)
• HIC = wealthiest countries, gni per capita is high

  examples = UK, USA, Canada, France
• LIC = poorest countries, gni per capita is low

  examples = afghanistan, somalia and uganda
• NEE = wealth doesn't stay the same, some get rapidly richer as their economy moves away from primary/secondary industry

  examples = BRICS (brazil, russia, india, china and south africa) and MINT (mexico, indonesia, nigeria and turkey)
• hdi tells you about the country's level of economic development and quality of life of those who live there