modern model of measuring development
- Happy Planet Index
- a measure of sustainable well being, which shows the extent of which countries deliver long, happy and sustainable lives for the people who live in them.
- Takes into account life expectancy, well being (0-10) and ecological footprin
why has the HPI been contested?
- covers only a minority of the world’s nations
- wellbeing is arguably subjective, as people will view their quality of life differently
- ecological footprint is controversial and criticized concept and can be difficult to calculate. has also been criticised for weighing ecological aspect too heavily
Hans Rosling’s model of human development
Suggests that environmental quality, health and life expectancy are more important as they unlock potential to economic development
traditional measure of development
- GDP growth per capita: reflects the countries economic activity and broadly represents the standard of living
- HDI: composite measure to create a single index figure for each country using: life expectancy, literacy, average length of schooling and GDP per capita.
advantages and disadvantages of traditional measures of development?
- GDP includes TNC income so economically holistic
- economic growth arguably drives other types of development (Dunn’s superpower model)
- advances in health and life expectancy can only be delivered by economic growth
Development involves much more than solely economic progress.
- Could be large division within high-ranking countries.
- Doesn’t take into account environmental aspects.
- does not show distribution of wealth (gender, age, rural/urban, rage gap)
explain why education is important to a country’s level of development?
- Education strengthens the human capital and means people can take up high-skilled, higher-paying jobs -> greater productivity and more attractive for FDI
- Helps people understand equality, so they can speak out their rights and participate in democracy
- Increases creativity and innvation so new products are developed bringing in income through purchase and patents
- Understanding of other cultures, so less discrimination and violence against other cultures, so resources can be focused not on conflict, but on development
why is access to education restricted in some countries?
- War - schools are destroyed, people fear their lives, investment focused on military + children and teachers at war.
- Rural areas - Not many local, good quality schools, too far away so children forced to work on agriculture.
- LIC’s - Lack of teachers, people cannot afford to go to school + govt can’t fund it -> eg in Sierra Leone, there is a student:teacher ration of 66:1, teachers have to work in shifts to manage
-> Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of children without access to education (32 million of primary school age) - Equality laws - Sharia Law means that girls cannot attend school, leads to lack of equality, eg in Afghanistan where at least 1.4 million girls are excluded from education
- Deprived areas within richer countries - No access to school or not enough teaching staff, due to lack of funding to deprived areas
consequence of girls not receiving equal education?
- less informed about health and contraception leading to higher infant mortality and birth rate
- educated women can contribute to the labour force, earn higher wages, and increase economic output and the productivity of the work force
- according to the World Bank, limited educational opportunities for girls can cost countries between $15 - $30 trillion in a lost lifetime of productivity and earnings
What did Hans Rosling notice with life expectancy over time?
Hans had noticed there has been a big improvement in life expectancy over time because of a continuum and there has been an increase in income to invest in healthcare and other factors to boost life expectancy
Causes of variations in health in different developing countries:
- Poor Healthcare - LIC’s don’t have the money to invest in healthcare + low education levels means less professionals. For example, Chad has 1 doctor for every 38,000 citizens (55) compared to UK 1 doc for 250
- Poor access to food - malnutrition leads to disease due to low capita income
- Poor access to clean water - waterborne diseases such as Cholera. 87% afghan water contaminated (66)
- Climate - Tropical or semi-arid areas are prone to diseases which are expensive to fund research to -> eg Sierra Leone has experienced an Ebola outbreak, and TB, Lesthoto HIV
- access to medicine due to cost and patents - eg Johnson and Johnson for TB drugs, 295 cases in every 100,000 people (65)
- Overcrowding - increase spread illness. Occurs in cities where there is a rapid growth of population - creation of informal settlements where poverty is high + doctors are limited, and infrastructure cannot keep up with increase, eg. in Nigeria (54)
- spending on healthcare: Brazils life expectancy is higher because Brazil has more spending on healthcare as they spend 9% of their GDP on healthcare compared to India’s 1.5% of spending meaning less people have access to healthcare so it can decrease life expectancy
Variation of life expectancy in developed world
Within the developed world variations in life expectancy are explained more by differences in lifestyles, levels of deprivation and poverty, the accessibility and quality of healthcare. Where there is no NHS access to healthcare is impeded by poverty.
- People in South east England have a longer average life expectancy (80.5 years in 2015) than people living in Scotland (77.1 years)
- For men at age 65 across the UK the average life expectancy was highest in Harrow (London) where men could expect to live a further 21.1 years compared with 16 years for men living in Manchester.
- The North east England has a below average life expectancy and a much higher death rate - with a higher proportion of those deaths being attributed to smoking and alcohol consumption.
- healthcare access (eg. NHS or private) will impact level or immediacy of care received (eg Switzlerland has mandatory health insurance)
- Climate (only 13% of people in Finland excersise) (UK - 37%)
Ethnicity and variations in life expectancy
- Aboriginal life expectancy for men is 10.6 years lower than the non-indigenous population.
- Aboriginal women are 9.5 years lower.
- The quality of life for aboriginal people is the second worse in the world.
- This is due to poor housing, dispossession of their traditional lands, low education level, high unemployment, ethnic discrimination, low representation, alcohol abuse and heavy smoking.
- The lack of transport also contributes to the low access to healthcare.
variations of life expectancy in the UK
Describe the areas with higher life expectancies
Areas with higher life expectancies include the south east of the UK which could be down to higher investment in the area, better income to afford healthcare and other necessities which means there is higher levels of healthcare
variations of life expectancy in the UK
Describe the areas with lower life expectancies
Areas with lower life expectancies include South Wales and central west Scotland due to them being industrial areas with mining and ship building and due to deindustrialisation it has reduced income and unemployment causing deprivation and is this is also the case in Kent
variations of life expectancy in the UK
What is the Glasgow effect?
The Glasgow affect involves the lower life expectancy of residents of Glasgow compared to the rest of the United Kingdom. Can be caused by low income and poor health. Skilled workers move out, poor housing, higher deindustrialisation
- Research indicates Glaswegians have a 30% higher risk of premature death
variations in life expectancy in the UK?
Why does the Glasgow Effect exist?
In Calton the life expectancy is 7 years shorter for Men and 4 years shorter with Woman. More manual and unskilled jobs, higher suicide rates which are 30% more than the rest of the UK, high alcoholism and poor diet and homeless hostels but has gone up to 67 years for LE. Glasgow was in Managed decline due to a lack of investment and stopped in 1980s. Life expectancy is 15 years shorter compared to Bearsden
What is the life expectancy in the UK, India and Sudan?
In the UK the life expectancy is 81.4 years old, In India it is 67.3 years old and in Sudan it is 67.4 years old
How much of the population have access to clean water in the UK, India and Sudan?
99% of the population in the UK have access to clean water. In India 49% of the population have access to clean water and in Sudan 53% of the population have access to clean water
What is the literacy rates in the UK, India and Sudan?
The literacy rate in the UK is 99% and is 57.6% in India and is 48.6% in Sudan
What is the infant mortality rate in the UK, India and Sudan
The infant mortality rate in the UK is 3.6% and is 46.3% in India and is 53.5% in Sudan
explain why some countries have more rapid increase in life expectancy than others?
- government policy and implementation of vaccines - for example, Rwanda experienced a rapid rise in life expectancy since the 2000s because of heavy government investment in healthcare, including nationwide vaccination programmes and community health workers. This reduced deaths from infectious diseases such as malaria and measles, increasing average life expectancy
- rapid economic growth - China experienced rapid increases in life expectancy as economic growth allowed improved sanitation, clean water, and hospital access, particularly after health reforms in the 2000s. Rising incomes improved nutrition and living conditions, reducing mortality rates. (in urban areas)
- In contrast, countries such as Sierra Leone have experienced slower increases due to civil war, weak healthcare systems, and outbreaks such as Ebola and TB, which increased mortality and reduced life expectancy growth.
- starting point: countries such as the UK already have a high life expectancy, so increases are slower. This is because most preventable diseases have already been controlled, meaning further improvements rely on expensive treatments for age-related diseases, which is more complicated and will take longer to develop.
explain why indigenous people have lower life expentancies?
- in Australia, aboriginal Australians have an average 10 year lower life expectancy
- this is due to historical and systemic discrimination
- the dispossession of their homes means they are forced to live makeshoft homes and tents, even in very cold weather -> more susceptible to illness
- some cannot access healthcare or services due to remote locations so are more likely to experience poverty
- but conversely, the ongoing legacy of colonization has also led many Aboriginal Australians to mistrust and be reluctant to access mainstream services given their experiences of inequality, injustice and racism
Explain why government attitudes to education and health vary between countries
- economic development provides the means to bring about human development - the link between the two is determined by the government, who depend how much is spent on education and healthcare
- eg the UK spends 5% on education, 11% on healthcare (NHS) because it is a democratic state - top priority for voters, so this maintains votes
- dicatorships may seek to limit health and education of the population to prevent uprisings, while spending more on military and infrastructure (censored internet access and education – to prevent the digital diffusion of Western ideas of democracy which could create an uprising, eg Arab Spring 2011)
- socialist states are more focused on economic equality for its people, so will spend more on health and education - eg. Cuba spends 11% on health, 8% of GDP on education
- capitalist country will be focused on indiviudal economic gain, so assume improvement will occur through trickle down economics and benefits
- religion: some socially-conservative countries, including Pakistan, adopt Sharia law that emphasises a lower social status of women meaning that women have lower access to education and healthcare – and of a poorer quality when such women do access education and healthcare
IGOs’ views of development
- traditionally IGOs (WTO, WB, IMF) have followed neo-liberal policies of free trade (Washington Consensus - reduction of spending on public subsidies, tax reform, privatisation of state enterprises)
- but increasingly IGOs have emphasized the importance of social and environmental matters - UNDP helps countries make policies and plans, providing experties for working towards SDGs; OECD - platform formember states to compare policy experiences, identify good practices, and coordinate solutions to economic, social, and environmental challenges, while preserving individual liberty)
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tectonic processes and hazards spev and key processes88
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hydrological cycle and water security83
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the carbon cycle43
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coasts key terms/located examples etc129
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globalisation spev 🌐53
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superpowers spev 💪🏻32
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diverse places located examples (better)36
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HHRI31
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recent examples for globalisation/superpowers23
