Human Development
Human Development
What is development?
Development is the overall term which is used to measure how advanced a country
is compared to others. There are different types of development:
Measuring Development
Gross Domestic Product per capita is the total income of a country in a year divided
by its population. It shows the average money per person in the population and
can be used to measure development.
Advantages Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
The Happy Planet Index looks at how efficiently a country is using its resources to
benefit its population, without causing long-term damage to its environment. In
2012, Brazil ranked 21st on the HPI, UK 41st and Tanzania 133rd out of 151
countries.
Advantages Disadvantages
The Gender Inequality Index considers the level of female participation, and
decision-making process in the workplace, the level of education of women, and
their degree of control over pregnancy. The lower the score, the lower the level of
inequality.
Advantages Disadvantages
Political Freedom
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Political freedom measures political rights and civil liberties, including the freedom
of elections, the number of people voting or the number of people with the right to
vote, freedom of speech and individual rights.
Advantages Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
Due to geographical and historical factors, the world is made up of countries which
'have' and some which 'have not' - the development gap. Some of the social
indicators which can separate a country in terms of development include:
Birth Rate
Life expectancy
Literacy rate
Gender equality
Infant mortality
In the 1980s, the world had a clear north/south divide where Europe economically
dominated, and had been since the 19th century, later joined by the USA, Japan
and more recently the East Asia region.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Niger are the least developed
with a HDI with a score of 0.304.
The standard of living between Norway and the DRC is the most extreme
example of the development gap.
The development gap is not really closing between the most and least
developed nations.
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Theories of Development
There are many different theories to explain why societies develop. The two which
are discussed here are Rostow's modernisation theory and the dependency theory
Not every theory is going to be entirely correct and there are going to be some
problems with each theory. The issues with the Rostow Model are:
It makes the assumption that all countries start at the same level of
development
It disregards the fact that a each country will have different qualities,
quantities of resources, population or climate/natural hazards.
Out of date and based on the 18th and 19th century development of
European countries
Dependency Theory
The dependency theory evolved in the late 1950s and is based around the idea that
developed rich countries (core) are limiting the level of development of the poorer
countries (periphery) from the control of the world economy. The most developed
countries are able to exploit less developed countries through the use of their
economic and political power. The Dependency theory also suggests that the
unequal pattern of development has been reinforced by:
unbalanced trade - poor countries sell materials cheaply but buy expensive
products
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Regional disparity
Regions within a country are all going to develop unequally and at different rates.
Core regions
The core regions are the rich and usually urban areas of a country. They are well
connected and have the majority of the services, business and people, generating
wealth. It is where big businesses, industries and government have their
headquarters. The majority of people live here and services are good.
Periphery regions
The periphery regions are poor and remote rural areas often involved in producing
raw materials which the core regions will use.
) it was £1,011.
Mumbai:
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o manufacturing industry
o Bollywood
Core regions will often have advantages over the periphery regions.
Types of development
There are two different types of development schemes, top-down and bottom-up.
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Top-down
Top-down development schemes are usually very expensive and a country often
has to borrow money from large organisation like the World Bank or from
companies in developed countries. The decisions related to any top-down scheme
will usually be made by the government and any external groups involved. Local
people who will be affected by the scheme will have little say in the process and
had little influence in the project.
There are problems which exist with all top-down development projects. These
are:
the country will more than likely go into debt from the loans borrowed to
fund the scheme
the loan may also have some conditions attached, leaving the country to
be under some external control over the economy or other development
aspects of the country
jobs are not provided for the local people, instead a lot of machinery and
technology is used
The Three Gorges Dam in China is the largest dam in the world. It was designed to
meet the benefits of China as a country. It took 14 years to build, created a 405
square miles reservoir behind the dam and generated 22,500 MW of electricity.
The official cost of the project was US$26 billion but some estimates claim that it
cost as high as US$75 billion.
Benefits Costs
The Madeira River project is the largest project in the Amazon region's history. It's
a multinational project to build four dams, a navigation channel, three highways
and a electricity lines. The Santo Antonio dam is one of the dams in the Madeira
River Project and is 5km upstream from Pôrto Velho, the capital of Rondônia. The
dam will be producing 3,150 MW of electricity while costing $5.3 billion to build.
Benefits Costs
Brazilian Government
Bottom-up
Bottom-up development schemes are projects that are planned and controlled by
local communities to help their local periphery area. They are not expensive
because they use smaller, more appropriate technology, which the local people will
have to pay for. Because the project is on a smaller scale compared to a top-down
project, the environmental damage is often much less.
Peru is home to the Andes mountains, where there are steep slopes and plenty of
streams and rivers. On the eastern side of the Andes, 44% of the population live on
less than $2 a day. Because of the terrain, around the mountains and the high
rainfall it receives, a micro hydro scheme to produce electricity to the area is a
good investment.
The charity, 'Practical Action', has helped install nearly 50 micro hydro schemes,
now providing electricity to 30,000 people. Part of the costs are paid for by the
local people. The government also has a ten year plan to provide more micro hydro
schemes.
Benefits Costs
Villagers Villagers
Cheaper electricity -
Environmental and
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Ecosystems and
habitats are saved as
there is no need to
flood the area