CLASSIFYING COUNTRIES

 USA  Russia  Spain  Argentina  Mexico  Brazil  China  South Africa  Greece  Dem. Rep. Congo  Finland  Germany  Jamaica  Cuba  Ethiopia  Japan  Ukraine  Iraq  India  South Sudan PUT THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES INTO 3 GROUPS (ANY 3 GROUPS)  Give each group a title and briefly explain your reasoning for grouping each country as you did

 The easiest way to classify countries is to group them according to their levels of social and economic development  Social Development – refers to the level of education, healthcare, jurisprudence (legal rights), life expectancy, and rate of infant mortality of a country’s population  Economic Development – refers to the level of material wealth and trade in a country. This depends on per capita GDP (Gross domestic product), ratio of cars to people, and per capita electric power capacity

(1)Developed/Developing Worlds -this dated model grouped countries according to its level of economic development -A developed nation would include Canada and a developing nation may include China -This model does not allow for change in status for a nation METHODS OF GROUPING

(2) North – South -this simple model groups countries into temperate and tropical -This model is based on the premise that developed countries are located in temperate regions of globe and developing countries being located in the more tropical regions -This model is inaccurate because many nations like Argentina, Australia and even South Africa do not fit neatly into its parameters

(3) First/Second/Third World -this model was first used in the 1950’s -First world nations included capitalists countries like the USA, Canada, Britain -Second world nations were any communist country (USSR, Cuba, China) -Countries from the third world were all considered “developing” such as those in Africa, South America and parts of Asia -This model was entirely economic in nature and did not account for cultural development

(4) The Five-World Model First World – countries include those with the highest level of social and economic development, such as Canada, Japan and France Second World – countries include those that were or are still communist such as China, Cuba and Russia Third World – countries are those in transition to economic and social development and include Brazil and Mexico

Fourth World – countries that are in early stages of transition towards development Eg. Nigeria, Ecuador, Kenya Fifth World – countries that show little evidence of starting a transition towards development Eg. Bangladesh, Somalia, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo

 Things have actually never been better!!!!!!!  Hans Rosling Hans Rosling  the-world-bbc/ the-world-bbc/  The River of Myth The River of Myth BUT… THE LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD IS CHANGING FAST