Global Groupings

Split the world in rich and poor

The Brandt Line (or also known as the North – South Divide) In the ‘global north’ living conditions are high due to high wealth In the ‘global south’ living conditions are low due to low amounts of wealth

Changing Trends Splitting the world into developed and developing is no longer possible This is because many different countries are at different stages of development Because of this we can now group countries into different categories based on their economic state

Economic Groupings Least developed countries (LDCs) Newly industrialised countries (NICs) Ex – Soviet states Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) G8

Least developed countries – world’s poorest low income countries. Around 50 states. These countries are characterised through not engaging with many globalisation factors e.g. Afghanistan and Sudan Newly industrialised countries – Middle income countries. Since 1970s exports and average incomes have risen in places like Brazil, as well as the Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, S. Korea and Taiwan. Recently joined by India and China (R(ecently)ICs)

Ex – Soviet States – Break up of Soviet Union in 1989 created 15 new countries or which many have low GDP and score low on Human Development Index (HDI). Russia is only real middle income country Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – Since 1960s, countries like Saudi Arabia have become some of the richest countries in the world due to oil exports. However, even though many of the countries display above average wealth, it is often unevenly distributed across the population (e.g. in Nigeria

Organisation of Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) – around 30 nations where wealth is distributed more evenly. Groups like the G8 including the UK are examples of these countries

Trading Blocs There are six major trading blocs around the world Caricom This can be another way of grouping countries, and again rules out the oversimplification of just labelling countries developed and developing

Political Groupings – not Economic Groups Two differences 1.Agreements have been drawn up that allow national boundaries to be crossed by flows of goods, money and sometimes workers. National laws have to be amended in order for free trade 2.Can contain varying levels of economic development. Like NAFTA, some countries like the TNCs in the USA exploit cheap labour in Mexico to cheaply manufacture goods. This is described as a spatial division of labour