Development - An improvement in the quality of life and standard of living for the population of a country

Quality of life - the general well being of individuals and societies

Standard of living - the level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain group of people in a certain geographical area

Emerging countries - A country with high and medium development

Development indicators - usually a numerical measure which can be used to compare different countries levels of development

Gross Domestic Product - total value of everything produced by all the people and companies in a country within a certain time period

Human Development Index - Composite indicator that combines health (life expectancy), knowledge (adult literacy) and standard of living (GDP per capita - per person) and country is given a score between 1 and 0 - 1 is best

Economic development - An increase in a countries wealth

Social development - A number of changes that have a direct impact on the populations quality of life

Political development - Freedom for the people to have a greater say in who governs their country

Cultural development - better equality for women and better race relations

Development gap - difference between the parts of the world that are wealthy and the parts which aren't

Brandt line - virtual socioeconomic and political line on the globe which splits the developed and wealthy countries in the 'North' from the poorer developing countries in the South

Climate - countries with average rainfall and moderate temperatures can grow their own food to support population, while places like Africa suffer from droughts where the crops die so people grow hungry, and diseases are widespread

Natural resources - resources like minerals and fossil fuels help countries to develop. Extraction and sale of these resources generates income for the country

Landlocked countries - no coastline means hard to trade - have to rely on goodwill of neighbours to allow them to transport products to the coast in return for imported goods

Natural hazards - more likely to occur in some places than others. These countries are developing as income goes to helping those affected regularly

Colonies - supply food to the country that 'owns' them eg. Brazil sent minerals and food to Portugal - hindered the development of colonies but aided the 'mother country'

Trade - some trading partnerships go back to colonial times. Countries with good trading partners or countries on trade routes developed more quickly than those which couldn't trade

Politics - countries with stable governments developed more quickly. War hinders development as money goes to the military. Competition can halt development as money spent on the rich

World trade - developing countries sell primary goods to developed countries while developed countries sell manufactured goods - developed make more money

Infrastructure - roads, railways, airports, facilities and electricity are more common in developed countries - companies want to invest in places with good infrastructure as they know goods will be produced and moved quickly

Foreign investment - helps a country to develop as brings money and improved infrastructure. Companies from developed countries are now investing in developing countries as cheaper

Employment structure: number of people employed in each sector of industry

Primary sector - collection and extraction of raw materials

Secondary industries - manufacturing and assembly industries - take natural resources and process them to add value and turn them into products

Tertiary industries - service industries - provide advice, knowledge of skills to help others

Quaternary industries - new, high-tech research and development industries - work to invent, improve or discover something new

Overseas competition - cheaper labour and resources elsewhere

Improved transport links - meant easy to access resources abroad