What is Development – A Definitive Guide

The word ‘development’ is widely used to refer to a specified state of advancement or growth. It could also be used to describe a new and advanced idea or product; or an event that constitutes a new stage under changing circumstances.

Generally, the term development describes good change. But how do you tell which change is good?

In this regard, researchers explain three ways that the term ‘development’ is used:

Development as a vision:
Here, the term is used to describe how desirable a society or a region is, possibly with regard to what it can become

Development as a historical process:
This refers to social change that occurs over extended periods of time due to inevitable processes. For instance, it is widely believed that both communism and capitalism are an inevitable outcome of progress.

Development as action:
This refers to deliberate action to change things for the better, as with providing aid to alleviate hunger

All of these are definitions of development, but when it comes to distinguishing between nations that are more developed than others, or when describing some other international aspect, usually more meaning is implied in the word.

So, how do you tell what country is more/less developed than the other?

In terms of wealth, it is perhaps easier to identify countries that are richer or poorer than others. However, the typical indicators of wealth only reflect the amount of resources available to a specific society.

They don’t offer any details about the allocation of said resources, like information about the equitable distribution of income among different social groups; or about the shares of resources used to offer free education and health services; or even about the effects of production and consumption on the environment.

This is one of the biggest reasons why nations with similar average incomes differ widely with regard to their population’s quality of life, employment opportunities, education and health care, the availability of clean air and safe drinking water, and the threat of crime, among other factors.

To expand on the context of development here is a look at the goals/means of development, as well as what it means to achieve sustainable development.

A. Goals and Means of Development

Each country has its own unique set of priorities in their development policies. So, in order to compare the development levels of two or more nations, you must first, identify your own markers for achievement.

Your own indicators for measuring this achievement can then be used to assess countries’ relative progress in development.

But what markers should you use? Perhaps:

• Increase in national wealth
• Improved well-being of a large percentage of the population
• Exercise of freedom
• Increased economic security

According to the United Nations, good indicators of national achievement should evaluate “human development” with regard to:

• Life expectancy
• Adult literacy
• Access to all three levels of education
• Average income

So, the UN considers human development an all-encompassing component that incorporates multiple elements of an individual’s well-being, from their health status to their economic and political freedom.

Is economic growth always positive?

It is a fact that economic growth that increases a country’s total wealth also augments its capacity for reducing poverty and addressing other social problems. However, there are some examples in history where economic growth did not foster similar progress in human development.

In fact, growth was gained by compromising on equality, employment, democracy, cultural identity, and consumption of natural resources necessary for future generations. So, while growth was achieved, all these other elements were adversely affected.

With a deeper understanding of the links between economic prosperity and the growth of social and environmental factors, it is now widely acknowledged by experts and economists that this kind of growth is not sustainable, and must be transformed.

If social/human and environmental losses due to economic growth are observed to be greater than the economic merits (in terms of higher incomes by the majority of the population), the general result for people’s wellbeing tends to become negative. This kind of economic growth, therefore, becomes hard to sustain politically.

Economic growth is inevitably dependent on its natural and human/social conditions. For it to be sustainable, it must be dependent on a specific quantity of natural resources and services provided by nature, such as resource generation, pollution, and absorption.

Economic growth also needs to be constantly fed on the fruits of human development, such as a more qualified workforce with the capacity to innovate along technological and managerial lines for optimized use of their time; more favorable conditions for the growth of new businesses; more and better jobs; and greater democracy at different levels of decision-making.

On the other hand, slow human development can adversely affect, and possibly bring to a halt, fast economic growth.

The Human Development Report published in 1996 claims that not a single nation in the period between 1960 and 1992 was able to move from asymmetrical development characterized by slow human development and rapid growth to an ideal scenario where human development and growth could be mutually reinforcing.

According to the report, slower economic growth preceded slower human development: a pattern that was labeled a “dead end”.

B. Sustainable Development

This is a popular term among politicians across the globe, though it may have multiple interpretations depending on the audience.

Though sustainable development is critical, its concept has yet to be fully defined, as is evident from the constant revisions, extensions, and refinements of the term.

The only certainty about the term is that sustainable development entails relationships among these key components: social, economic, and environmental factors.

The United Nations World Commission on Environment Development argues that development can only be considered sustainable if it addresses the needs of the present without endangering the capabilities of future generations to meet their own needs.

Experts argue that it is impossible to achieve this ‘intergenerational’ equity without present-day social equity, especially if some economic groups continue to endanger the wellbeing of other segments of the population across the globe. For instance:

Example 1:

The greenhouse gasses emitted largely by the highly industrialized countries cause global warming, change in climate, and devastating floods in low-lying islands, resulting in the displacement and impoverishment of massive populations.

Example 2:

Pharmaceutical companies continue to enjoy massive profits at the expense of millions of disadvantaged people who cannot afford the highly priced medications needed to treat their life-threatening diseases.

Sustainable Development = Equitable + Balanced

For there to be sustainable development, equitability and balance must be put into account.

In other words, the only way development can be continual in perpetuity is if it creates a balance between the interests of different groups of people within the same generation and among generations.

Another condition that must be met is that the equitability and balance be attained simultaneously in three primary interrelated areas: social, economic, and environmental.

As such, sustainable development can be defined as the equality of opportunities for well-being. It needs the consideration of certain objectives that if ignored, can slow down or even reverse development in other areas.

The objectives of sustainable development fall in three categories:

Social objectives: These include education, security, equity, full employment, health, cultural identity, and participation, among others

Economic objectives: These include growth, stability, and efficiency, among others

Environmental objectives: These include a healthy environment for human beings, the conservation of nonrenewable natural resources, the rational use of renewable natural resources, etc.

The diversity of these objectives makes it a great challenge for any nation to attain perfect balance. For instance, can you justify a country that prioritizes national security over economic growth (income and employment) and environment sustainability?

Although there is no definite, scientific method of performing such comparisons and valuations, governments are faced with such decisions regularly.

For democratic republics, where decisions are made depending on the interests of the majority, then they must be made in the most participatory way possible.

But even then, there is no guarantee that the long-term interests of children and the next generation will be accounted for because minors and future generations cannot cast a vote for themselves.

To ensure that future generations inherit the needed conditions to sufficiently provide for their own wellbeing, present-day values must be informed enough to reflect their interests as well.

The necessary conditions for sustainable development

One of the biggest challenges for equity and balance is the fact that the world today is somewhat interdependent, and many aspects of sustainable development are global.

So, on the one hand, many decisions taken at the local or national level have international consequences – social, economical, and environmental. In the event that these consequences are adverse, the situation is referred to as “exporting unsustainability”.

On the other hand, national policies are seldom adequate to effectively address the many challenges of sustainability. As such, it becomes indispensable for the international cooperation on an array of transboundary and global challenges of sustainable development.

When it comes to achieving sustainable development, one of the biggest problems, possibly the biggest, is eradicating extreme poverty – both at the national and international level.

This is because poverty is in itself an evil, plus it blocks or inhibits the achievement of most of the other goals of development, from personal freedom to a clean environment.

Another closely related global problem is establishing and preserving peace in all nations and regions. Poverty and war are essentially destructive of all social, economic, and environmental goals of development.

The 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (alternatively referred to as the UN Conference on Environment and Development) arrived at the following conclusion:

Humans are at the core of concern for sustainable development. They’re entitled to a productive and healthy life in harmony with nature.

So, sustainable development can be described as the fulfillment of the long-term conditions necessary for human being’s multidimensional well-being.

Final Note

Development Diamonds versus The Human Development Index
When comparing the development of different countries, the most common approach examines the GNP (or GDP) per capita.

But as already discussed above, higher per capita income does not necessarily mean that its population is better off than those in a nation with lower income, because there are numerous aspects of human well-being that are not accounted for in these indicators.

So, the World Bank uses development diamonds to illustrate relationships among four socioeconomic indicators for a given country, relative to the averages for that country’s income group (high-income, upper-middle income, lower-middle income, and low-income).

These are:

• Gross primary or secondary education enrollment
• Life expectancy at birth
• Access to safe water
• GNP per capita

These aspects are presented, one on each axis and then connected with bold lines to form a polygon.

The resulting “diamond” shape can then be used for comparison purposes. This system, however, makes it hard to compare development achievements in countries with different income groups.

So, UN experts prefer to use the human development index (HDI), which is a simple average of three indexes identifying a nation’s achievements in:

Health and longevity (based on life expectancy at birth)

Education (based on adult literacy and combined primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollments)

Living standard (based on GDP per capita in purchasing power parity (PPP))

According to the UN, achievement in each area is determined by assessing to what extent each country has achieved these goals:

Life expectancy of 85 years

100 percent adult literacy and enrollments

Real GDP per capita of $40,000 in PPP

No country is yet to attain any of these goals, so the parameters are expressed as decimals or fractions of the ideal. The one problem with the HDI system is that it does not allow one to make judgment relative to its different components, or understand why a nation’s index changes over time.

But compared to the development diamond approach, the human development index is much better since it allows for countries to be ranked in order of their achievements in human development.

For more detailed analysis, the UNDP uses the human poverty index (HPI) to identify the proportion of people deprived of the opportunity to reach a certain basic level in each area.

So, whilst the HDI represents development achievements for the average citizen, the HPI helps to identify how evenly the benefits of development are spread within a country. A higher HPI indicates a greater level of deprivation, which translates to a higher level of poverty.

https://www.mdgmonitor.org/what-is-development-guide/

Measuring Development

Development – trade, employment, indicators

what is development?

the simplest definition of development is ‘the process of countries getting richer’.

a fuller definition would include not just the wealth of the country, but also descriptions of the population using ‘standard of living’ and ‘quality of life’

standard of living + quality of life

‘standard of living’ is the material well-being of a person; the value of their possessions and savings, the type of home they live in and wether they own items such as a washing machine, tv, car, mobile phones, computers etc.

‘quality of life’ is the general well-being of a person. It includes standard of living, but is also affected by education, health care, services,utilities, environment and social, political and religious freedom that a person experiences.

 

new definition of development:

development is, therefore, the improvements in standard of living and quality of life that follow from a country becoming richer.

 

Rich North and Poor South

countries of the world can be divided into three groups according to their levels of development.

most MEDCs are found in the north of the world and most LEDCs are found in the south of the world. exceptions include Japan, Australia and NZ.

within a country, there can be vast differences in quality of life and standard of living of the population.

 

Old world and new world

old names	world regions	new names
first world	western Europe north America Australasia	More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs)
second world	Russia China Eastern Europe	Countries in transition
third world	Africa Asia South America	Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs)

Facts about World Development

• 1 in 5 of the world’s population lives in the rich north, yet the rich north uses four-fifths of the world’s resources.
• the richest three people in the world have more money and property than all the money and property owned by the poorest 600 million people.
• 100 million people in the world are homeless.
• 900 million people have no education.
• 880 million do not have enough to eat
  30 percent of the world’s population can read.
• 1 per cent has been to university
• 1 per cent own a computer

Measuring Development

Countries exhibit different levels of development. The factors which affect development may be economic, social, cultural or technical.

Studying development is about measuring how developed one country is compared to other countries, or to the same country in the past. Development measures how economically, socially, culturally or technologically advanced a country is. The two most important ways of measuring development are economic development and human development.

Economic development is a measure of a country’s wealth and how it is generated (for example agriculture is considered less economically advanced then banking).

Human development measures the access the population has to wealth, jobs, education, nutrition, health, leisure and safety – as well as political and cultural freedom. Material elements, such as wealth and nutrition, are described as the standard of living. Health and leisure are often referred to as quality of life.

 

Indicators of development

There is no single way to calculate the level of development because of the variety of economies, cultures and peoples. Geographers use a series of development indicators to compare the development of one region against another. For example:

1 Health. Do the population have access to medical care? What level of healthcare is available – basic or advanced? Is it free?

2 Industry. What type of industry dominates? LEDCs focus on primary industries, such as farming, fishing and mining. MEDCs focus on secondary industries, such as manufacturing. The most advanced countries tend to focus more on tertiary or service industries, such as banking and information technology.

3 Education. Do the population have access to education? Is it free? What level of education is available (ie primary, secondary or further/ higher education)?

 

economic development indicators

 

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year. Most commonly used indicator of wealth. Usually listed in US $ to make for easy comparison between different countries.
• Gross National Product (GNP) measures the total economic output of a country, including earnings from foreign investments. GNP per capita is a country’s GNP divided by its population. (Per capita means per person.)
• Economic growth measures the annual increase in GDP, GNP, GDP per capita, or GNP per capita.
• Inequality of wealth is the gap in income between a country’s richest and poorest people. It can be measured in many ways, (eg the proportion of a country’s wealth owned by the richest 10 per cent of the population, compared with the proportion owned by the remaining 90 per cent).
• Inflation measures how much the prices of goods, services and wages increase each year. High inflation (above a few percent) can be a bad thing, and suggests a government lacks control over the economy.
• Unemployment is the number of people who cannot find work. Economic structure shows the division of a country’s economy between primary, secondary and tertiary industries.
• Demographics study population growth and structure. It compares birth rates to death rates, life expectancy and urban and rural ratios. Many LEDCs have a younger, faster-growing population than MEDCs, with more people living in the countryside than in towns. The birth rate in the UK is 11 per 1,000, whereas in Kenya it is 40.

India GDP vs GNP

India’s estimated GDP for financial year 2014-2015 is `125.41 lakh crore, showing a growth rate of 10.5percent from last year or $2,049.5 billion. GDP per capita is 75148. The GNP is 123.84 lakh crore rupees; per capita is $1,570.

Maharashtra is the wealthiest Indian state and has an annual GDP of US$220 billion, nearly equal to that of Pakistan or Portugal, and accounts for 12% of the Indian GDPIndia’s GDP is more than its GNP.

GNP= GDP + income from foreign sources (NR) – income paid to foreign citizens and entities (NP), as rightly mentioned by the others.

So for GNP< GDP, it simply means that the income of foreign entities and citizens within India is greater than the income of Indian entities and citizens in other countries

 

Human development indicators

Development often takes place in an uneven way. A country may have a very high GDP – derived, for example, from the exploitation of rich oil reserves – while segments of the population live in poverty and lack access to basic education, health and decent housing.

Hence the importance of human development indicators, measuring the non-economic aspects of a country’s development.

human development indicators include:

• Life expectancy – the average age to which a person lives, eg this is 79 in the UK and 48 in Kenya. It increased to 68 years in 2014 from 67.6 in the previous year and 53.9 in 1980.
• Infant mortality rate – counts the number of babies, per 1000 live births, who die under the age of one. This is 5 in the UK and 61 in Kenya.
• Poverty – indices count the percentage of people living below the poverty level, or on very small incomes (eg expenditure/ daily income under Rs 32 per day in rural areas; Rs 47 in towns and cities).
• Access to basic services – the availability of services necessary for a healthy life, such as clean water and sanitation.
• Access to healthcare – takes into account statistics such as how many doctors there are for every patient.
• Risk of disease – calculates the percentage of people with diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
• Access to education – measures how many people attend primary school, secondary school and higher education.
• Literacy rate – is the percentage of adults who can read and write. This is 99 per cent in the UK, 85 per cent in Kenya. As of 2015, the literacy rate in India is 72.1 per cent, which entails that over 300 million Indians do not have the ability to read and write.
• Access to technology – includes statistics such as the percentage of people with access to phones, mobile phones, television and the internet.
• Male/female equality – compares statistics such as the literacy rates and employment between the sexes.
• Government spending priorities – compares health and education expenditure with military expenditure and paying off debts.

 

HDI

The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) is a weighted mix of indices that show life expectancy, knowledge (adult literacy and education) and standard of living (GDP per capita). As Vietnam has a higher literacy rate and life expectancy than Pakistan, it has much higher HDI value even though it has a similar per capita GDP.

HDI is measured between 0 and 1. The USA has an HDI of 0.994 whereas Kenya has an HDI of 0.474. In 2015, India has been placed at 130th position with 0.609 score in the medium human development category. Country’s rank was 135 with 0.586 score in the 2014 report

 

Factors influencing development

Factors which influence the rate at which a country may develop can be physical or human. Understanding the reason why a country may be in poverty is important, as it helps to understand what may help the country to develop. These factors can be divided into physical and human factors.

Physical FactorsClimate: The Sahel region in Africa suffers from a lack of rainfall. This means that droughts are common. The result is that crops may suffer. There are certain diseases which thrive in tropical climates, such as malaria and yellow fever, because of the hot and humid conditions.

Natural Hazards: Floods, droughts and tectonic activity can limit future growth and destroy buildings and agricultural areas. This also means a country may divert income to help recover from these events.

Landlocked countries: 15 countries in Africa are landlocked. This means it is more difficult to trade as goods have to be driven through other countries to get to the coast for shipping. It is also more difficult for new technology to reach a landlocked country, as the fibre optic cables are laid under the ocean.

Natural Resources: Natural resources such as minerals, gas and oil can help improve a country’s level of development. However this is closely tied in with the ability to exploit the resource for the benefit of the country. There are also countries, such as Japan, which are low in natural resources, but have based their development on human factors such as education and skills.

 

Human Factors

• Historical Development: Colonialism hindered a developing country’s level of development. A colony helped supply food and minerals to countries like Britain and France. There was investment in colonies, but this was focused on things that would help the trade between the countries.Borders of some colonial countries were set without attention to tribal and cultural differences, causing tensions and instability.
• Political Factors: Poor governance does not help a country to develop. Money that could be spent on development may be used to fund military weapons or an affluent lifestyle of an elite group of people. (civil war)
• Economic factors: World trade is often not fair. LEDCs tend to sell primary produce. LEDCs have to compete with each other to win the trade – which lowers the prices farmers get. A poor harvest means less income. There is more money to be made in processing goods, which MEDCs tend to do. Foreign investment can help a country to develop. Africa receives less than 5 per cent foreign direct investment. It has 15 per cent of the world’s population. Europe receives 45 per cent of foreign direct investment, and only has 7 per cent of the world’s population. Who controls world trade is also important, and it is developed countries that control the most trade. Many LEDCs are in debt to MEDCs. Some of their income has to pay off these debts.
• Social factors: A poorer country finds it more difficult to invest in education. The problem is made worse because many countries have a high dependency ratio. Having money to invest in a healthcare system is important for a country to develop. That is because it is difficult for sick people to work hard. Clean water is essential for health. One in six people do not have access to safe water. If water is not safe, people may be unable to work or care for their families because of illness.

Classification of industries

Industry is classified into different sectors – primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. The employment structure of a country shows how the labour force is divided into the different sectors.

Anything naturally occurring in or on the Earth/ in the sea before being processed is considered raw material. These are obtained through primary activities like mining, fishing, forestry and farming. Such industries are called primary industries.

Secondary industries are those that take the raw materials produced by the primary sector and process them into manufactured goods and products. Examples of secondary industries include heavy manufacturing, light manufacturing, food processing, oil refining and energy production.

The tertiary sector is also called the service sector and involves the selling of services and skills. They can also involve selling goods and products from primary and secondary industries. Examples of tertiary employment include the health service, transportation, education, entertainment, tourism, finance, sales and skill.

The biggest area of expansion in the tertiary sector in the UK has been in financial and business services. According to government statistics, 25 years ago one in ten people worked in this industry, now it is 1 in 5.

The quaternary sector consists of those industries providing information services, such as computing, ICT (information and communication technologies), consultancy (offering advice to businesses) and R&D (research, particularly in scientific fields).

The quaternary sector is sometimes included with the tertiary sector, as they are both service sectors. The tertiary and quaternary sectors make up the largest part of the UK economy, employing 76 per cent of the workforce.

Comparing employment structures

The employment structure of a country shows how the labour force is divided between the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Different countries have different employment structures. The employment structure of a given country can tell you quite a lot about its economy.

In the richest countries, for example, there will usually be more people working in the tertiary/quaternary sector than in the primary and secondary sectors. In the poorest countries, there tend to be more people working in the primary sector than in either the secondary or tertiary sectors.

India:

Industrial location factors – general

Different industries require different inputs. Industries are more likely to locate where these inputs are readily and cheaply available. Factors that influence where an industry locates include:

• power supply
• communications – including transport, telecommunications (distribution firms close to highways/ motorways)
• labour supply – including workers with the right skills (accountants in BKC/city centre)
• access to market – where the goods are sold (eg: clothing stores will be in town/ steel factories close to docks)
• grants and financial incentives – usually from governments raw material

International Trade: leading to interdependence of nations.

international trade is the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services between countries.

Exports – are goods and services sold to other countries

Imports – are goods and services bought from other countries.

Balance of trade – is the difference between total value of goods and services imported and goods and services exported. (Surplus and deficit balance of trade)

Usually, MEDCs export valuable manufactured goods such as electronics and cars and import cheaper primary products such as tea and coffee. In LEDCs the opposite is true. This means that LEDCs have little purchasing power, making it difficult for them to pay off their debts or escape from poverty.

How can trade lead to development in LEDCs?

Increasing trade and reducing their balance of trade deficit is essential for the development of LEDCs. However, sometimes MEDCs impose tariffs and quotas on imports. Tariffs are taxes imposed on imports, which makes foreign goods more expensive to the consumer. Quotas are limits on the amount of goods imported and usually work in the MEDC’s favour.

The result of the pattern of world trade is that the workers in primary industries in LEDCs often lose out. They receive low wages and often have poor standards of living. They cannot afford education for their children and many children are required to work to help their families earn a living.

 

Answer: Fair Trade

Fair trade means that the producer receives a guaranteed and fair price for their product regardless of the price on the world market. This means their quality of life should improve, as well as the long-term prospects for their children.

Fair trade sets minimum standards for the pay and conditions of workers. The Fair Trade Organisation promotes Global Citizenship by guaranteeing a fair, minimum price for products. In this way, they support producers in improving their living conditions. About 5 million people benefit from Fair Trade in 58 countries. (Charities: Oxfam, Traidcraft etc)

Fair trade products are becoming more widespread and include tea, coffee, sugar, chocolate and cotton.

Transnational corporations

A TNC (transnational corporation) is a company that has interests in more than one country.

The revenue of some TNCs is greater than the entire GDP of some LEDCs.

Usually headquartered in an MEDC, transnational corporations set up raw material extraction, processing, manufacture and assembly in LEDCs for lesser wages, cheaper labour, large work forces leading to less cost price for production and more profits. (Nike)

 

advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of TNCs	Disadvantages of TNCs
provide employment	jobs are part-time, unskilled and/ or on short contracts.
gives regular wages	wages are minimal/ very low
people can be potentially trained and become skilled	highest skilled jobs are done by people from country of origin of TNC (usually MEDCs0
increases wealth of the surrounding areas	profits from the TNC go back to the country of origin
brings new technology and facilities to the new country	company could move out any time leading to economic crisis
contributes to the development of infrastructure in the local area standards of health and safety and environmental protection are often low.

Aid

Aid is the help that is given by a country to another country.

More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs) have high levels of economic development compared with Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs). Many MEDCs make allowance in their domestic budgets to provide aid to LEDCs. Many charities also exist to provide aid to LEDCs.

As suggested by UN, each country should give about 0.7% of their GNP as aid. Norway is one of the most generous countries giving about 0.92 % of their GNP as compared to the 0.1% given by USA.

 

Types of aid

Emergency or short-term aid – needed after sudden disasters such as the 2000 Mozambique floods or the 2004 Asian tsunami. Can include supplies and/ or money.

Conditional or tied aid – when one country donates money or resources to another (bilateral aid) but with conditions attached. These conditions will often be in the MEDC’s favour, eg the controversial Pergau Dam project in Malaysia, where Britain used aid to secure trade deals with Malaysia.

Charitable aid – funded by donations from the public through organisations such as OXFAM.

Long-term or development aid – involves providing local communities with education and skills for sustainable development, usually through organisations such as Practical Action.

Multilateral aid – given through international organisations such as the World Bank rather than by one specific country.

Advantages and Disadvantages

https://8greatgeography.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/development/