Living Standards

What is a standard of living? A standard of living is a measure that geographers use to compare, contrast, and rank nations of the world It allows geographers to say that this country has a high standard of living and is one of the best places in the world to live Conversely, it also allows them to say that another country has a low standard of living and is one of worst places in the world to live

How is standard of living measured? A country’s standard of living is measured according to three criteria: Life expectancy Literacy rate Per capita gross domestic product

Life expectancy Life expectancy is the average number of years that an individual is expected to live in a particular nation or region For example, people born in Canada have a life expectancy of 81 years However, a person born in the African country of Burkina Faso has a life expectancy of 56 years

Literacy rates Literacy rates are the number of people who can read and write in a country per 1000 of population of that country

Differences in literacy rates Literacy rates are high in North America and Western Europe Well over 90% of both men and women are literate This is not true of other parts of the world – for example, in parts of Asia and Africa, only about 70% of men and 50% of women are literate

Gross domestic product (GDP) GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in one year GDP is one way of measuring a country’s wealth compared to other nations, as well as a growth rate of an economy If you divide the GDP by the number of people in a country, you get the average GDP per person, or per capita The U.S. has a per capita GDP of $52, 308 while Liberia has a per capita GDP of $752

United Nations Human Development Index The United Nations was set up after World War II – it is made up of many of the world’s nations The UN monitors and reports on standards of living around the world Each year, the UN publishes a Human Development report that ranks the world’s countries according to life expectancy, literacy rate, and per capita GDP

Human Development Index UN index gives a crude indication of the different levels of economic and social development among the countries of the world Once data on life expectancy, literacy rates, and per capita GDP are collected, the UN Human Development Index classifies countries into three broad categories

Three categories of development High human development – countries with low population growth, but high levels of economic growth and technological developments Medium human development – countries with growing population, with medium levels of economic and human development Low human development – countries with high levels of population growth, low levels of economic and technological development

2014 Human Development Index rankings In the category of High Human Development, the country that was ranked #1 in the world was …. Norway In the category of Low Human Development, the country that ranked last in the world (#187) was Niger