1.Development Gap

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MEDCs are more economically developed countries, or richer countries such as UK or USA

LEDCs are less economically developed countries, or poorer countries such as India or Kenya

The development gap is the difference between the MEDCs and the LEDCs

Development can be measured using the development indicators eg. economic indicators like how much money is earned, or social indicators like peoples quality of life such as the percentage of people who can read or write

Indicators- can you tell if they are social or economic?

Gross National Income (GNI) per person- the value of everything a country

produces per person

Life expectancy-how long people live on average

Number of people per doctor

Literacy rate -Percentage of people who can read and write

Percentage of workers employed in farming

Percentage of the population living in towns and cities

An economic indicator is good for telling us roughly how rich or poor a country is, but it wrongly assumes that everyone in that country has an equal share in its wealth

Social indicators are also average figures that hide variations in society

Human Development Index- this combines measures of health, wealth and education e.g.

Life expectancy at birth measures in years (as a measure of health)

Adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and third level education enrollment

GPD (Gross Domestic Product) measures in US$ ( as a measure of wealth)

Advantages of HDI (Human Development Index)

It does not rely solely on wealth as an indicator, it helps us to get a picture of a country's quality of life by including health and education as well.

By including education, it looks to the country's potential for future development and as well as what has been already achieved in terms of healthcare and wealth

It reveals how rich countries use their wealth e.g. an oil rich country, where little is pent on education, will have a low HDI despite having a high GNI.

Historical Factors

European countries such as the UK and Spain in the past took over large areas of the world as colonies. They imported raw materials from the colonies, and the colonies did not get much money for this.

In the past UK imported Cotton from India.

Environmental Factors

Many LEDCs suffer hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.

The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami destroyed large area in India

Some diseases are common in hot wet climates where LEDCs are.

Dependence on primary activites

In most LEDCs large numbers of people work in primary activities such as farming or mining.This does not earn much money for the country.

Zambia gets 98% of its income from exporting copper.

Debt

Some LEDCs have large debts, so spend their money on repayments instead of Hospitals and schools

Ecuador owes $10 billion

Politics

Some LEDCs have unstable governments, which changes frequently, and have corrupt people working for them.

ONE organisation:USA

An American organisation that is attempting to reduce the global development gap.

The core aims

To raise awareness of global poverty, hungry and dieases

The action taken

Supplied 59 million bed nets to help stop Lemuria

Cancelling $70 billion of debt from African countries

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