Chapter 9 Development

Rich and Poor The world is divided between relatively rich and relatively poor countries. Geographers try to understand the reasons for this division and learn what can be done about it.

Development The Key Issues are: Why does development vary among countries? Where are more and less developed countries distributed? Where does level of development vary by gender? Why do less developed countries face obstacles to development?

Economic Indicators of Development The United Nation’s HDI includes one economic indicator of development: gross domestic product per capita. Four other economic indicators distinguish more developed from less developed countries: economic structure worker productivity access to raw materials availability of consumer goods.

Human Development Index Fig. 9-1: Developed by the United Nations, the HDI combines several measures of development: life expectancy at birth, adjusted GDP per capita, and knowledge (schooling and literacy).

Gross Domestic Product Per Capita The typical worker receives $10 to $15 per hour in more developed countries, compared to less than $0.50 per hour in less developed ones. Per capita income is a difficult figure to obtain. Geographers substitute per capita gross domestic product, a more readily available indicator, dividing the GDP by total population. The gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of the total output of goods and services produced in a country, normally during a year. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

Annual GDP per Capita Fig. 9-2: Annual gross domestic product (GDP) per capita averages over $20,000 in most developed countries but under $5,000 in most less developed countries.

Types of Jobs Average per capita income is higher in MDCs because people typically earn their living by different means than in LDCs. Jobs fall into three categories: primary (including agriculture) secondary (including manufacturing) and tertiary (including services) Workers in the primary sector directly extract materials from Earth. The secondary sector includes manufacturers. The tertiary sector involves the provision of goods and services, retailing, banking, law, education, and government.

Employment Changes by Sector Fig. 9-3: Percentage employment in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of MDCs has changed dramatically, but change has been slower in LDCs.

Productivity Productivity is the value of a particular product compared to the amount of labor needed to make it. Workers in more developed countries produce more with less effort because they have access to more machines, tools, and equipment to perform much of the work. Productivity can be measured by the value added per worker, the gross value of the product minus the costs of raw materials and energy.

Raw Materials Development requires access to raw materials, such as minerals and trees, which can be fashioned into useful products. It also requires energy to operate the factories. Colonialism. Effects on MDCs and LDCs? Most former colonies still export raw materials and import finished goods and services. The LDCs that possess energy resources, especially petroleum, have been able to use revenues to finance development. A country with abundant resources has a better chance of developing.

Consumer Goods Part of the wealth generated in more developed countries goes for essential goods and services (food, clothing, and shelter). But the rest is available for consumer goods and services. The wealth used to buy “nonessentials” promotes expansion. Among the thousands of things that consumers buy, three are particularly good indicators of a society’s development: motor vehicles Telephones televisions

Telephones per Population Fig. 9-4: Mean telephone lines per 1,000 persons, 2002. MDCs have several dozen phone lines per 1,000 persons, while the poorer developing countries may have less than 10.

Social Indicators of Development More developed countries use part of their greater wealth to provide schools, hospitals, and welfare services. In turn, this well- educated, healthy, and secure population can be more economically productive.

Student-Teacher Ratios Fig. 9-5: Students per teacher, primary school level. Primary school teachers have much larger class sizes in LDCs than in MDCs, partly because of the large numbers of young people in the population (Fig. 2-15).

Persons per Physician Fig. 9-6: There is a physician for every 500 or fewer people in most MDCs, while thousands of people share a doctor on average in LDCs.

Calories per Capita Fig. 9-7: Daily available calories per capita as percent of requirements. In MDCs, the average person consumes one-third or more over the required average minimum, while in LDCs, the average person gets only the minimum requirement or less.

Demographic Indicators of Development: Life Expectancy The HDI utilizes life expectancy as a measure of development. Demographic characteristics on the following pages also distinguish more and less developed countries. Babies born today can expect to live into their early forties in less developed countries compared to their mid-seventies in more developed countries. The gap in life expectancy is greater for females than for males.

Infant Mortality Rate About 90 percent of infants survive in less developed countries, whereas in MDCs more than 99 percent survive. The infant mortality rate is greater in the LDCs for several reasons: malnutrition, lack of medicine, or poor medical practices.

Natural Increase Rate The natural increase rate averages more than 2 percent annually in less developed countries and less than 1 percent in more developed ones. Greater natural increase strains a country’s ability to provide services that can make its people healthier and more productive.

Crude Birth Rate Less developed countries have higher natural increase rates because they have higher crude birth rates. The annual crude birth rate exceeds 40 per 1,000 in many LDCs, compared to less than 15 per 1,000 in MDCs. More developed and less developed countries both have annual crude death rates of about 10 per 1,000.

Key Issue 2: More and Less Developed Regions More developed regions Anglo-America Western Europe Eastern Europe Japan South Pacific Less developed regions Latin America East Asia Southeast Asia Middle East South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

More and Less Developed Regions Fig. 9-8: The less developed regions include Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

More Developed Regions: Anglo-America Anglo-America’s relative homogeneity reduces the possibility that a large minority will be excluded from participating in the region’s economy on the basis of cultural characteristics. Anglo-America was once the world’s major producer, but in the past quarter century its dominance has eroded. Americans remain the leading consumers. The region is the leading provider of high-tech services and services that promote use of leisure time.

More Developed Regions: Western Europe On a global scale, Western Europe displays cultural unity. Peripheral areas—southern Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greece—lag somewhat in development. To maintain its high level of development, Western Europe must import food, energy, and minerals. To pay for their imports, Western Europeans provide high-value goods and services. The elimination of most economic barriers within the European Union makes Western Europe potentially the world’s largest and richest market.

More Developed Regions: Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is the only region where the HDI has declined significantly since 1990. For many Eastern Europeans, the most fundamental problem was that by concentrating on basic industry, the Communists neglected consumer products.

More Developed Regions: Japan Japan has an extremely unfavorable ratio of population to resources. The country has one of the highest physiological densities. Although Japan is one of the world’s leading steel producers, it must import virtually all the coal and iron ore needed for steel production. Japan’s economy developed by taking advantage of the abundant supply of people willing to work hard for low wages. Having gained a foothold in the global economy by selling low-cost products, Japan then began to specialize in high-quality, high-value products. Japan’s dominance was achieved in part by concentrating resources in rigorous educational systems and training programs to create a skilled labor force.

More Developed Regions: The South Pacific The HDIs of Australia and New Zealand are comparable to those of other MDCs. The area’s remaining people are scattered among sparsely inhabited islands that generally are less developed. Australia and New Zealand are net exporters of food and other resources, especially to the United Kingdom. Increasingly, their economies are tied to Japan and other Asian countries.

Less Developed Regions: Latin America The level of development is relatively high along the South Atlantic Coast from Curitiba, Brazil, to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mexico’s development has been aided by proximity to the United States. Large areas of interior rain forest are being destroyed to sell the timber or to clear the land for settled agriculture.

Less Developed Regions: China Within a few years China is projected to exceed the United States as the world’s largest economy, although the U.S. economy would still be much larger on a per capita basis. Exploitation of the country’s resources by Europe and Japan further slowed China’s development. China’s is now a leading exporter of low-cost goods.

Less Developed Regions: Southeast Asia The region’s tropical climate limits intensive cultivation of most grains. Economic development is also limited by several mountain ranges, active volcanoes, and frequent typhoons. Rice is exported in large quantities from some countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, but imported to other countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines.

Less Developed Regions: The Middle East The Middle East is the only one of the nine major world regions that enjoys a trade surplus. Government officials in Middle Eastern states, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have used the billions of dollars generated from petroleum sales to finance economic development. Many governments in the region have access to more money than they can use to finance development. However, not every country in the region has abundant petroleum reserves.

Less Developed Regions: Middle East Continued The Alternative Human Development Index (AHDI) points to three causes in the region’s relatively low HDI: lack of political freedom, low education and literacy rates, and lack of opportunities for women. Often money that could be used to promote development is diverted to military funding and rebuilding war-damaged structures.

Less Developed Regions: South Asia India is the world’s leading producer of jute, peanuts, sugarcane, and tea. India has multiple mineral reserves. However, the overall ratio of population to resources is unfavorable. India is one of the world’s leading rice and wheat producers. The region was a principal beneficiary of the Green Revolution.

Less Developed Regions: Sub-Saharan Africa Some of the region’s economic problems are a legacy of the colonial era. European colonies were converted to states without regard for the distribution of ethnicities. The fundamental problem in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa is a dramatic imbalance between the number of inhabitants and the capacity of the land to feed the population.

Key Issue 3: Development and Gender Gender-related development index Economic indicator of gender differences Social indicators of gender differences Demographic indicator of gender differences Gender empowerment Economic indicators of empowerment Political indicators of empowerment

Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) Fig. 9-10: The GDI combines four measures of development, reduced by the degree of disparity between males and females.

Economic Indicator of Gender Differences Fig. 9-11: Women’s income is lower than men’s in all countries, but the gender gap is especially high in parts of the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America.

Gender Differences in School Enrollment Fig. 9-12: As many or more girls than boys are enrolled in school in more developed countries, but fewer girls than boys are enrolled in many LDCs.

Life Expectancy and Gender Fig. 9-14: Women’s life expectancy is several years longer than men’s in MDCs, but only slightly longer in many LDCs.

Women as Legislators Fig 9-18: Over 20% of legislative seats are held by women in China, some European nations, and several LDCs. In many other LDCs, under 10% are held by women.

Key Issue 4: Development Strategies Development through self-sufficiency Elements of self-sufficiency approach Problems with self-sufficiency Development through international trade Rostow’s development model Examples of international trade approach Problems with international trade Financing development

Core and Periphery in World Economy Fig. 9-22: This north polar projection of the world shows that most of the MDCs are in a core area north of 30° N latitude. The LDCs are mostly on the periphery of this map.

Elements of the Self-Sufficiency Approach According to the balanced growth approach, a country should spread investment as equally as possible across all sectors of its economy, and in all regions. The approach nurses fledgling businesses by isolating them from competition of large international corporations. Countries promote self-sufficiency by setting barriers that limit the import of goods from other places. The approach also restricts local businesses from exporting to other countries.

Problems with the Self-Sufficiency Alternative Inefficiency: This approach protects inefficient industries. Companies protected from international competition do not feel pressure to keep up with rapid technological changes. Large bureaucracy: A complex administrative system encouraged abuse and corruption.

Development through International Trade The international trade model calls for a country to identify its distinctive or unique economic assets. A country can develop economically by concentrating scarce resources on expansion of its distinctive local industries.

Problems with the International Trade Alternative Uneven resource distribution Market stagnation Increased dependence on MDCs

Rostow’s Development Model A pioneering advocate of this approach was W. W. Rostow, who in the 1950s proposed a five-stage model of development. According to the international trade model, each country is in one of these five stages of development. 1. The traditional society. 2. The preconditions for takeoff. 3. The takeoff. 4. The drive to maturity. 5. The age of mass consumption. A country that concentrates on international trade benefits from exposure to consumers in other countries.

Chapter 9 Development The End