Uneven development

• Factors affecting the level of development of a country

  • Physical factors:
  • Poor climate
  • Poor farming land
  • Few raw materials
  • Lots of natural disasters
  • Economic factors:
  • Poor trade links
  • Lots of debt
  • Economy based on primary products
• Poor climate


  Lack of growth, malnutrition, low quality of life, fewer crops to sell, less tax revenue, less money spent on healthcare
• Poor farming land


  Difficult to grow crops or graze animals, produce food
• Few raw materials


  Fewer products to export, less money made, can't afford infrastructure to extract
• Poor trade links


  World trade patterns influence country's economy, affects trade relationships, less money made
• Lots of debt


  Borrowed money must be paid back, less money can be used for country's development
• Economy based on primary products

  Primary products make less money than manufactured goods, economic disadvantage
• Causes of uneven development

  • Colonization
  • Conflict, especially civil war
• Colonization


  Countries colonized are often at a lower development level, raw materials removed, profits made
• Conflict, especially civil war

  Slows or reduces development, money spent on arms and training soldiers instead of development, important services disrupted, increase in infant mortality