The last country case study before we look at unequal development

Case study –Ethiopia Page 104/5 in the textbook – these figures are more up to date Indicators (mostly 2008 estimate) Area: 1,127,127 sq km Population: 82,544,840 GDP - per capita $800 Birth rate: 43.97 births/1,000 population Death rate: 11.83 deaths/1,000 population Life expectancy at birth: 54.99 years Infant mortality rate: 82.64 deaths/1,000 live births People per doctor: 33,300 % working in farming: 80%

About Ethiopia As you may have noticed, Italy is obviously more developed than Brazil, but Ethiopia is very different indeed from either of them. Because of this, there is have a whole different set of data that the UN collect, in order to measure progress and to focus on what needs to be done in the very poor countries. For example, there is not real mileage to be gained in spending time and money looking at adult illiteracy or how many people live on less than $1 a day or who does not have piped water in the higher or even medium development index groups. But it is very important that we know this and other things about the poorest, so that we know what needs to be achieved. These special case places are LLEDCs – what is that? Least less economically developed countries

About Ethiopia So for example we know that: 40% of the people do not survive to 40 years of age 78% do not have access to clean water 38% of children are dangerously underweight for their age That 23% live on less than $1 a day and 78% live on less than $2 a day [ in £s right now that is £1.50 and £3.00]

But why is Ethiopia like this? Remember, that most of the poorest countries have suffered long term conflict, either internally or with their neighbours. In the case of Ethiopia, it lost its coast when Eritrea broke away from it in 1993 after a long war. It has been fighting with Eritrea since until 2002 when the border was finally establish. More recently, it has sent troupes into Sudan to help support the weak government there. During these times 13% of the GDP was spent on defence It has been subject to terrible droughts – several this century – as they are so dependent on agriculture, this rapidly leads to starvation and death, especially as the average calorie intake is so low.

Why is development so unequal Why is development so unequal? What are the reasons for such wide differences in development? Draw out environmental conditions – storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, disease, drought, floods Also see if they mention Why is there such a big ‘development gap’?

Location Many LEDCs are located in the Tropics. This region experiences up to 100 tropical storms or hurricanes every year, causing widespread damage. Earthquakes and volcanoes are also major hazards. Often subject to widespread flooding or drought, especially in monsoon areas on the edge of the Tropics or in the arid, desert regions just outside the Tropics. Hot, wet conditions are excellent breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects like mosquitoes and for the spread of bacteria and viruses.

Colonisation The act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies; "the British colonization of America“. Colonisation of many countries in Africa, South America and Asia by European powers since the sixteenth century has left a long-lasting legacy. Many colonisers used raw materials from the countries they claimed to build their own industries, to the detriment of that country. They also established trade patterns, some of which still exist today. The countries were divided up in ways that suited the colonisers, which it more difficult for the independent countries to government themselves fairly.

Echoes of the credit crunch Many LEDCs have been encouraged to borrow large sums of money from MEDCs and major global organisations. Paying back even the interest of these debts can account for up to a third of the country’s GDP. It was not until ‘Make poverty history campaign’ culminating in July 2005 at G8 meeting at Gleneagles that this was really taken seriously. Much debt, and consequently the interest payments have been removed from the outgoings of those governments who have proved that they will use the money saved for development – those that might still use the extra to buy arms have not been let off the hook.

Moving on to Unequal Development within countries Page 108 in the textbook

Differences within countries Not only do development levels vary between countries, they also vary within countries. This means that it is often concentrated in just one favoured region called the core, leaving other regions quite poor in comparison. These poorer regions are called the periphery. Known as the North-South divide – comment What does that red line show? Where do you think the core and the periphery is in the UK?

We are going to look at Italy difference in development in Italy. Point out what the map shows – the size of the circle the size of the industries and the coloured wedges show which industries are present. All the most important industries in the north and lots of them! This would tend to indicate that the North of Italy is the core and the south is the periphery – will this prove to be the case? We are going to look at Italy difference in development in Italy. Anyone any idea what their North-South divide might show?

Yes, it is the case!! In Italy, the north, especially the Po basin, is the core region and is wealthier and more developed than the south. The south of Italy, called the Mezzogiorno, is the periphery. This means mean "midday" or "noon" and are applied in this manner because the sun is directly above the southern horizon at this time of day.

North or South?

North or South? Sicily Genoa L R: N S S N Naples Milan

North or South?

North or South? Genoa Trani L R: S N N S Milan Bari

The North - Advantages Supplies of natural gas in the Po basin and HEP (electricity generated by water power) from the Alps. More jobs in industry and services. Fertile lowlands with irrigation water available. Large cities – Milan, Turin and Genoa – connected by an efficient transport system. Close to large European markets Better quality housing and services and higher standard of living.

South - Disadvantages Mountainous relief makes communication difficult. The climate is hot and dry in summer with a few months’ drought. Heavy winter rainfall causes soil erosion and flooding. The rocks are mostly limestone and form thin soils. Low yield of wheat, olives and vines Poor quality grazing for sheep and goats. Poor transport, little industry, emigration.

Issues Since the 1950s, the government has had a series of initiatives to improve the lot of those in the South. New motorways were built, giving work and improved communication New irrigation schemes were built to allow more reliable production of tomatoes, citrus fruits and vegetables. As we saw on the map, there are some centres of industry which were helped into existence by government grants. However, there is still one underlying problem that no-one likes to talk about – the role of the Mafia in quite a lot of things.

Here are the regions and the GDP per capita within each region Currently EU average = $32,700 In the North > $39,000 ≈ Sweden and Australia So those in the South <$24,000 ≈ Malta and other poor European countries

Once the EU began, they putting funding into under-developed areas All the shaded areas got EU Objective 1 funding Aims particularly to "narrow the gap between the development levels of the various regions" All these regions have a number of economic signals/indicators "in the red": low level of investment; a higher than average unemployment rate; lack of services for businesses and individuals; poor basic infrastructure. The Structural Funds support the economic activities in these regions by providing them with the basic infrastructure they lack, whilst raising the level of trained human resources and encouraging investments in businesses.

Despite all the efforts, the gap is still there and getting wider Many people with any ambition leave the area, many to go to the North to earn some money But over the past 100 years, many more of those to went abroad, to the USA for example, were from these poorer regions than for the better off parts in the North.

Homework Do another spider diagram – mind map for Ethiopia – remember the textbook – it is quite good on this one Attach another sheet along side the Italy one to compare the north and south – if you want to use some of the North- South pictures, open the PP and steal them!! For the really keen, there is also another 2 files on the wiki. One, the pdf, is a full report by Sbilanciamoci! (which I can’t say) showing how they have assessed the North-South divide – and it is 52 pages long! The other is a 4-page word document by Lindy, which summarises the first one. These both look at other indicators to see exactly how the north and south are different. Evidence that you have done the work is all that is needed!! E.g. photo – or message from parents or ???