Measurements of regional and global disparities

Development: An improvement in the quality of life. Although wealth comes into this, many other things are also important like health, education and security.

Indices: An arrangement of material or figures in a numerical order. We can use indices to compare countries. Indices can be useful because organisations and governments can use them to decided where investment and improvements are most needed. For example if a country has very higher birth rates, then the government may need to invest in family planning.

Gross domestic product (GDP): The total value of all goods and services produced domestically (inside a country) by a nation during a year.

UK economy: GDP figures explained by ONS - BBC article

Gross national product (GNP): The total market value of all goods and services produced by a nation in a year. It also includes the value of goods and services produced overseas.

Gross national income (GNI): The total value of good and services produced within a country together with the balance of income and payments from or to other countries. GNI is increasingly become the preferred monetary indicator.

Balance of trade: The difference between visible (physical) e.g. cars, TVs and books imports and exports.

Balance of payments: The same as balance of trade but also includes invisible exports and imports e.g. banking, insurance and remittances.

If a country has a balance of payments deficit i.e. the value of imports is greater than the value of exports then we sometimes say that the country is in the red. If a country has surplus we sometimes describe that country as being in the black.

Monetary: Relating to financial or money (currency) matters.

A Quarter: Sometimes you will hear figures quoted for GDP in a quarter. A quarter is simply a three month period e.g. January, February and March. A year is sometimes quoted as being per annum.

Problems with Monetary Measures

• Most countries use different currencies, because the value of currencies change against each other (exchange rates) it is hard to make accurate comparisons.
• All countries have a formal and an informal economy. The formal economy is regulated by the government and its value is known. However, the informal economy (things like shoe shining, car windscreen cleaning) aren't so the government nor economists know the true value of economies and therefore GNI.
• Some goods and services are unpaid e.g. volunteering in a charity shop or parenting. However, they contribute to the economy so shouldn't they be included?
• Looking at a country's overall GNI disguises intra-country variations. For example the East of China is becoming very rich, but much of the west is still very poor.
• Just looking at money also neglects many other important aspects of development e.g. education and healthcare.

Per capita: Because countries have different size populations, it is not fair comparing their total GNI (countries with bigger populations will normally have larger GNI). Therefore, economists and geographers normally look at GNI (or GDP/GNP) per capita. To calculate GNI per capita you take the total GNI of a country and divide it by the total population.

Human development index (HDI): HDI was developed in 1990 and is used by the United Nations to measure levels of development, HDI looks at three variables:

• GNI per capita
• Life expectancy
• Comparing expected years of schooling for current school children and mean years of schooling for adults age 25 (the old system just looked at adult literacy)

The HDI calculations score all countries between 0 and 1. The map below shows that according to HDI the most developed countries are in Western Europe North America and Australia while the least developed countries are in Central Africa.

HDI is what is known as a composite measure. This simply mean that more than one variable is taken into account, for HDI three variables are looked at. It can be harder to collect all the data for composite measures, but they do give a more complete and accurate picture of a country's are area's development.

ADVANTAGES OF HDI	DISADVANTAGES OF HDI
Composite indicator containing three elements. Better than just looking at money. It allows comparison between regions and countries Has been existence since so allows temporal changes Allows for analysis of differnt components	Does not take into account environmental factors e.g. China Data could be unreliable, incomplete or unavailable It is an average and does not show internal disparities Does not measure factors like human rights, gender and corruption Literacy measurement changed in 2011 so may make literacy compraisons harder.

Many terms are now used to describe countries at different stages of development, some of the most common are:

More economically developed country (MEDC): A developed country, where the tertiary sector is probably the most important sector of the economy.

Less economically developed country (LEDC): A poorer country where the most important sector of the economy is probably the primary sector.

Newly industrialising country (NIC): A developing country where the most important sector of the economy is probably the secondary sector.

Stages of Development All countries go through different stages of development. The Rostow Model attempts to show these stages. It states that all societies and countries started off being primary based (mainly farmers). Overtime countries may specialise in agricultural products that the physical geography of the area favours. With money earned from selling their products they will be able to invest in infrastructure and start to grow their industry (secondary sector). Again they may specialise in certain industries making more money. As companies and individuals become wealthier they may demand more services growing the tertiary sector. Primary sector: The sector of the economy using the land to harvest, mine or grow things e.g. forestry, farming and mining. Secondary sector: The sector concerned with making things from raw materials e.g. construction and manufacturing. Tertiary sector: The sector that provides a service e.g. teachers, doctors, hoteliers and hairdressers. Quaternary sector: The knowledge based sector of the economy e.g. IT, consultation and R&D.

Also countries at similar levels of development have grouped themselves together in organsiations to discuss development and economic policy. A couple are:

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS): These five countries have some of the fastest growing economies in the world, they are sometimes called the emerging markets. They have formed a group/organisation to discuss development strategies and economic policy.

BRIC countries try to shift global balance of power - BBC article

The Group of Twenty (G20): The G20 is a group of the World's twenty biggest economy (it includes the EU as an economic union). They meet regularly to discuss economic policy.

Marginalisation: When a group pf people become separated from society.

Polarisation: This is when there is a massive division between two groups. For example a country might become polarised economically if the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.

There are numerous indicators, other indicators include:

ECONOMIC INDICATORS	SOCIAL INDICATORS	ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
Internet connectivity: The percentage of people connected to the internet. Mobile ownership:The amount of people who own mobile phones. GDP/GNP/GNI per capita: The amount of money made by a country divided by its population. See above for specific explanations. Unemployment Rate: The percentage of people who do not have a job. sometimes economists look at long term unemployed or unemployment amongst different age groups. Debt Ratio: The amount of money a country owes in relation to its GDP. Economic freedom index: An indices that looks at individuals and companies freedom to work, hire, invest, borrow, lend, produce and consume in the manner they chose. Car ownership: The percentage of people that own cars. Income: The average income of countries Home ownership: The percentage of people that own their own homes. Doctors: The number of doctors per 100,000 of population.	Birth rates: The number of births per 1000 of population per year. Death rates: the number of deaths per 1000 of population per year. Infant mortality: The number of deaths before the age of one per 1000 live births per year. Chile mortality:The number of deaths before the age of five per 1000 live births per year. Life expectancy: The average that someone is expected to live from birth with a country or region. Total fertility rate: The average number of children a female is expected to have in her lifetime. Murder Rate: The number of murders per 100,000 of population per year Adult literacy: The percentage of adults who can read and write. School enrollment: The percentage of people that enroll in primary school or complete primary/secondary school. University graduates: The percentage of people who start university or the percentage of people who complete university courses. Calorific Intake: The average number of calories consumed by different age groups. Malnutrition rate: The percentage of children underweight or under height for their age.	Forest Cover: The percentage of land covered in forest. Areas Protected: The percentage of land that is officially protected i.e. National Parks or Reserves. Pollution levels: the amount of different pollutants in the land, water or atmosphere. Biodiversity: The variety of plants and animals within a country. Endangered Species: The number of species that are endangered within a country.

An excellent website for comparing development indicators of different countries is: Nationmaster

Sarkozy's happiness index is worth taking seriously - Independent article

Of course its possible to measure almost anything. Below is a map showing what development indicator each US state came bottom in:

Compare the development of different countries using "Ifitweremyhome.con": http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/index/SV

Infant Mortality: The number of deaths before the age of one per 1000 live births per year.	Education	Nourishment
Reducing infant mortality is a Millennium Development Goal (number four). Despite this there are still huge differences in the rates of infant mortality around the world. Measuring infant mortality accurately can be problematic because in many LEDCs birth certificates and death certificates are not always given and many births take place outside of hospitals. Infant mortality rates can be high for a number of reasons including: The health of the mother Natal care Education levels Diet Disease Conflict Access to healthcare and medication Global Infant Mortality Rate	Education can be measured in countless ways including; adult literacy, student teacher ratio, school enrollment, number of school years completed and number of university graduates. Access to primary education is another Millennium Development Goal (number two). Access to education is a considered an important goal because it helps individuals and countries to move out of poverty, by getting a better job, reducing birth rates, etc. When looking at education it is important to look at the education received by boys and girls. The yellow parts of the map below show where girls are disadvantaged and the red areas where boys are disadvantaged. Gender Parity in Primary Education	Nourishment is an important indicator because it can affect peoples ability to work, get educated and fight disease. Again the elimination of hunger is a Millennium Development Goal (number one). Even though Malthus predicted that we would run out of food and have mass famines and conflicts over food, there is currently enough food for everyone. However, food is distributed unevenly causing problems. The darker areas of the map below show areas where large numbers of people are undernourished. Map showing Undernourishment

Problems and Limitations of Development Indicators Although development indicators can be useful for governments, NGO's etc. to know where to target investment or where for industries to locate a new factory, or even for where an individual to move to, they do have their limitation. These limitations include: Countrywide statistics disguise intra-country variations. For example if you look at the map below, the east of China is a lot richer than the west, but if you looked at China's overall GDP you would not know this. In many countries data is inaccurate or incomplete. Some countries also refuse to release certain pieces of information or data. Most development indicators (with the exception of HDI) focus on only one aspect of development. Most indicators use averages and tend to neglect or highlight the sectors of the population that are marginalised. Indicators are always out of date. Once information has been collected, analysed, presented and published a lot of things can have changed either for the better or worse. Development indicators can be manipulated, used or ignored to suit peoples needs. One indicator may suggest an area is developed while another may suggest an area is undeveloped.