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INDICATORS OF DEVELOPMENT (Social: this is improvements in people’s…
INDICATORS OF DEVELOPMENT
Social: this is improvements in people’s quality of life, like literacy, health care and life expectancy.
Birth Rate
: Number of live births per 1000 people per year.
Advantages
: It is a clear indicator of a countries level of development, and can be used for predicting the future situation and planning accordingly.
Disadvantages
: It can be affected by population policies like China's one child policy. Also the figures in less developed countries aren't necessarily accurate.
Death Rate
: Number of deaths occurring per 1000 people per year.
Disadvantages
: It doesn't actually say what is responsible for the high death rate, e.g. a high death rate could be a result of a natural disaster not poor health care. It is also very difficult to get accurate figures from the less developed countries.
Advantages
: It indicates the level of health care provision, water quality, sanitation, and living conditions. It is also easy to use.
Infant mortality:
Number of children who die before reaching age 1 per 1000 live births per year
Disadvantages:
It is hard to get an accurate figure because many births in the less developed countries wouldn't be registered. There is evidence from some countries that the level of infant mortality is well above that disclosed. High infant mortality could be a result of social or political factors, for example in China the figure would be very high because of the countries one child policy.
Advantages:
indicates quality of health care, wter quality and food supply. It is a very easy indicator to understand and focuses on one of the most significant aspects of development.
Doctors per 1000
: The number of doctors shared between 1000 people.
Advantages
: Shows how good the healthcare services are
Disadvantages
: It is limited down to health.
Literacy Rate
: Percentage of population over age 15 who can read/write.
Advantages
: Indicates the amount of education on offer. It shows how many children could/couldn't attend school.
Disadvantages
: Takes no notice of other skills the people cuold have which are as valuable, like a good understanding of farming techniques, also when it is used on its own it doesn't say wehther the figure is a consequence of too few schools or the fact that children are having to work.
Access to Education:
How many people attend primary and secondary school and higher education as a percentage
Advantages:
As the education gets better, the country gets better.
Disadvantages: In developing countries, it might not be easy to work out how many children aren't in education. Also the demographic profiles will be different between developed and undeveloped countries.
Quality of life:
Measures health, comfort, well-being and happiness
Advantages:
Some items like healthcare show development.
Disadvantages:
Difficult to get objective measures. Health and happiness don't necessarily increase/decrease with development.
Percentage of Access to Safe Water:
Percentage of people who have access to safe water, this will be higher in richer countries as there is a developed system of water pipes.
Advantages:
As water is essential, highly developed countries will have good water supply so this is a good measure.
Disadvantages:
Some countries will naturally have plenteous good water, whereas others will have water shortages.
Life Expectancy:
Number of years a person is expected to live for. Higher in more developed countries where there is a better health care system, more awareness of healthy diets and greater access to services that make people healthier and live longer like gyms
Advantages:
Clear correlation to development and healthcare systems and knowledge of diets.
Disadvantages:
Some undeveloped countries still have healthy diets.
Standard of Living:
Level of wealth and material goods available to a person/community in US dollars
Advantages:
Shows how wealthy a country is. Increase in wealth comes with development.
Disadvantages:
Wealth is a single measure so it might not measure diversity effectively.
Economic: these are improvements in wealth, like GNI and GDP.
GNI per capita:
Average of the gross national income (the value of products, taxes and income from abroad) per person, per year, in dollars
Advantages
: When it is mapped, it can show clear patterns and variations between countries. it can also be used to help prioritise aid payments and is easy to calculate using official government figures.
Disadvantages:
The average figures an be very misleading because a few very wealthy people in a country can distort the figures. In poorer countries, many people work in farming or in the informal sector, where their income is not taken into account by official GNI records. Data about income is sensitive and people might not always be honest.
GDP per capita:
Average of the national gross domestic product per person per year in dollars
Advantages:
Easy to compare as the population of a country is taken into account, it gives a figure for every country and good figures at that- so that world leaders know where to spend money. It is also a good indicator to show provision of services.
Disadvantages:
It hides extremes and doesn't say how wealth is spread. It also doesn't take into account the cost of living and only takes money into account. Also the illegal workers and volunteers aren't included.
Absolute Poverty:
This is how many cannot afford their basic human needs, like food, safe water and shelter.
Advantages:
Provides a clear measure in which is easy to conduct research from. It enables comparisons to be made over time for the same society.
Disadvantages:
It is limited in terms of global use, as poverty is not comparable from the UK, for example to deprived areas of Africa who to which poverty means struggling economically to survive whereas in the UK, it means difficulties in proviing that of wider society but surviving and struggling on. Also it assumes that the basic needs are the same for everyone in every society, Spiker (2012) says that a minimum standard can't be applied globally e.g. food in the Uk being unable to drink milk would be classes as poverty but in other countries milk is not a dietary need and indiciduals are unable to digest it, food needs also differ depending on individuals within a society. Also the budget standard approach is too dependent on the judgement of researchers these judgements are subjective and bias based on ones' belifs. Also poverty changes over time. A luxury in the 1940/50's was television then in the 90's almost everyone had a TV.
Relative Poverty
: This is whether people lack an adequate income compared to the society around them.
Advantages:
Reflects conditions in society at a specific time.
Disadvantages:
It can give a skewed understanding of who lives in poverty, as people can be categorized as poor even if they are well-off simply because they have much less income relative to the rest of the population.
Others
HDI (Human Development Index):
This measures average life expectancy, level of education and income for each country in the world. Each country is given a score between 0 and 1- the closer a country gets to 1, the more developed it is.
Advantages:
Maps can show clear patterns and differences between countries. It provides a composite measure of index, including social aspects as well as wealth. It can also be used as a measure of improvement following development initiatives.
Disadvantages:
Only takes into account a selection of measures and doesn't take account of other important indicators. It can hide variations and inequalities that exist with countries. Also the data from some countries can be unreliable.
Internet Users:
An indicator showing the percentage of the population who have access to the internet.
Advantages:
It is useful as it relies upon other infrastructural improvements so i't s a proxy measure for electricity, satellite access and disposable incomes.
Disadvantages:
It doesn't take into account variations within countries and can hide inequalities, especially regarding the use of internet by poor people.
Employment Type:
The proportion of population working in primary, secondary, tertiary or quarternary jobs.
Advantages:
It is clear evidence of the country's growth.
Disadvantages:
Countries can become more developed by copying other countries' steps to getting there. For example China, by copying others, might be technologically very advanced and yet have large levels of primary industry.
United Nations:
Assesses development by looking at the value of infrastructure (roads, buildings, machinery, etc), 'human capital' (the skills and health of the people) and 'natural capita' (resources like forests, fuel and water).
Advantages:
Considering more varied criteria gives a more detailed picture of a country.
Disadvantages:
Considering many factors may not highlight particular highs/lows of development.
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT:
Social Development: This means improvements in people’s quality of life, like literacy, health care and life expectancy.
Environmental Development: this means improvements in the quality of the natural world like air pollution and water quality.
Sustainable Development: this means meeting the needs of the present and at the same time protecting the needs of those in the future like the development of renewable energy.
Economic Development: This means improvements in wealth, like GNI and GDP.