Measuring Development Slums of India Rich suburbs of London

We are learning to… Provide a definition for development Give examples of economic indicators of development Describe social indicators of development

I Can… Name and describe economic and social indicators of development Explain the problems associated with each Determine whether a country is developed or developing by studying its figures for economic and social indicators

Development There are huge differences in health and wealth from country to country Most countries are trying to improve the conditions in which their people live Any improvement that is made in the standard of living of the people is called development

Some countries are more developed than others – their people enjoy a high standard of living These are the developed or economically more developed countries (EMDCs) Those that have not developed as much are called developing or economically less developed countries (ELDCs) – their people have a much lower standard of living

Measuring Development It is very difficult to work out one person’s standard of living To try to measure precisely the standard of living of all the people in a country is impossible The best that can be done is to select a few indicators of development and measure these indicators Some examples would be: Average income Life expectancy Education Food intake etc. Can you think of any more?

Economic Indicators – these are commonly used indicators of development. They measure the wealth and level of industrialisation of a country: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person – is the value of all the goods produced and services provided in a country in one year. This is divided by the number of people living in the country to indicate the wealth of the average person Gross National Product (GNP) – similar to the GDP, but it also includes services earned abroad

Energy used per person - the amount of energy (coal, oil, gas, etc Energy used per person - the amount of energy (coal, oil, gas, etc.) that is used in a country can also indicate economic development. Countries with a lot of industries producing much wealth will also use a lot of energy. People with a high standard of living will use a lot of petrol in their motor cars and lots of electricity in their homes People employed in agriculture – a country with a high proportion of its people working in agriculture will have little industry to produce wealth. In addition, its farms are likely to be small and unprofitable. So a high percentage of people in agriculture is a good indicator of a less developed country, and vice versa

Problems with economic indicators Although a country may produce a lot of wealth, it may not be spread out amongst all of its people – a small number may be extremely wealthy while the vast majority remain poor The amount of wealth does not give enough information on people’s quality of life, for example how healthy they are, or how well educated The amount of income and wealth does not even show how well-off the people are. This needs to be compared with prices to find out what people can buy with that amount of money Rich house in India Poor house in India

Social Indicators – show how a country uses its wealth to improve the quality of life of its people. Those indicators that measure health include: Population per doctor Infant mortality (the number of children who die before they are 1 year old) Life expectancy Those that measure diet include: Calories per person per day Protein per person per day Those that measure education include: % of children attending primary school Adult literacy

Problems with social indicators Social indicators also use averages, so they do not tell us the differences within a country. E.g. The average number of calories per person might be 2500 per day, but half of the people might only receive 2000 calories and be severely undernourished, while the other half have 3000 calories and are well fed One indicator on its own does not give enough information on quality of life. Although people may be well fed, we do not know how healthy or how well educated they are India London

Task for today Read pages 28 – 30 Answer the questions on page 31 Extension Read pages 15 – 16 Answer the national 5 questions on page 17