KS3 · Geography

The global development gap

Rich countries here, poor countries there? Tidy, but three quarters of the world's people live in middle-income countries. Start with what people actually do about the gap.

Geography · Reducing global inequality

Top-down or bottom-up?

People try to shrink global inequality in two broad ways. Top-down: the decisions come from above, from governments or large companies. Bottom-up: local people and communities are involved, especially in the decisions. Tick the strategy (or strategies) each feature goes with. Tip: ask yourself who is calling the shots.

  • A Top-down
  • B Bottom-up
  1. Decisions taken by governments or large companies
  2. Often large scale, expensive and high tech
  3. Transnational corporations (TNCs) as players
  4. Foreign direct investment (FDI)
  5. Loans from an IGO such as the World Bank
  6. Local people and communities involved in decision making
  7. Usually small scale
  8. Might use intermediate technology
  9. NGOs, community groups and workers as players
  10. Microfinance
  11. Unionisation
  12. Aid

Before we measure anything

What does 'the development gap' mean to you?

You've just sorted strategies for reducing global inequality. But what is the gap they are trying to close?

Which is closest to what you think right now?
How sure are you?

Why 'development' is contested

?

Reason it through

Why is development no longer seen as just economic growth?

Link 1 of 4

First link · your turn

First, how did people once define development? Have a guess before you reveal.

2
Locked — reveal the link above first
3
Locked — reveal the link above first
4
Locked — reveal the link above first

Every measure is a lens with a blind spot

Is GNI per head a good measure of the development gap?

The claim

GNI per head is a good measure of the development gap.

Place each piece of evidence to load the balance. Mark the strong ones — they count double.

  1. GNI measures the goods and services a country produces, including income earned abroad.

    Evidence 1: does it support or challenge the claim?

  2. The World Bank measures GNI per head in dollars adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).

    Evidence 2: does it support or challenge the claim?

  3. The Human Development Index (HDI) uses GNI per head to show whether people have a decent standard of living.

    Evidence 3: does it support or challenge the claim?

  4. GNI per head is a mean, so it implies everyone has the same income, which is never the case.

    Evidence 4: does it support or challenge the claim?

  5. The share of income received by the richest 10% shows how concentrated wealth is, and GNI per head cannot.

    Evidence 5: does it support or challenge the claim?

  6. Not everyone in a country with a high GNI is well off with a good quality of life.

    Evidence 6: does it support or challenge the claim?

  7. Political corruption increases inequality, and it affects the poorest most because they lack power.

    Evidence 7: does it support or challenge the claim?

  8. The HDI combines income with life expectancy and education, and that combination is seen as a strength.

    Evidence 8: does it support or challenge the claim?

More lenses, more blind spots

What can't each measure see?

Social measures relate more directly to quality of life, but they have limitations too. Which kind of limitation does each one run into?

Still to sort

The data may be wrong or incomplete (0)

The numbers collected can miss things or be inaccurate.

One figure hides differences (0)

A single number or picture covers up differences between places or people.

Imprecise or leaves something out (0)

The measure itself is rough, or ignores part of the picture.

6 of 6 still to sort.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Why the usual picture of rich and poor misleads, and what people do about it

What you need to know

  • The development gap is the difference in economic development and quality of life between lower income, newly emerging and higher income countries.
  • Development means progress in wealth, use of technology and human welfare, so it is social as well as economic.
  • Have a goMaya says: 'A country is more developed if it has more money. End of story.' Which two other strands could you hand her?

    Use of technology and human welfare.

    Wealth is only one of the three strands, which is why development is social as well as economic.

  • Quality of life is social and economic well-being, and some of it, like life satisfaction, is subjective.
  • World Bank income groups put almost half of all countries in the middle, with three quarters of the world's people.
  • Development is a contested term: Rostow's five-stage model saw it as purely economic, based on North American and European experience.
  • GNI per head is a mean, so it hides how income is shared out within a country.
  • Have a goFive friends earn £10, £10, £10, £10 and £60 a week. Work out the mean. Does anyone actually earn it?

    The mean is £20, and nobody earns £20.

    A mean spreads the total as if it were shared equally, which is why GNI per head says nothing about how income is distributed.

  • Every measure, economic or social, has limitations, so use several together. The HDI combines income, life expectancy and education.
  • Top-down strategies are decided by governments or large companies. Bottom-up ones involve local people and communities in the decisions.
  • Have a goThe people in a village meet and decide for themselves what to build. Top-down or bottom-up?

    Bottom-up.

    Local people and communities are making the decisions; top-down decisions come from governments or large companies.

  • Aid is the shared ground: it can be part of a top-down or a bottom-up strategy.

The big picture

The development gap is real, but the rich/poor picture misleads. Development means progress in wealth, technology and human welfare, every measure has a blind spot (averages hide inequality), and strategies to reduce inequality are top-down or bottom-up, with aid in both.

Key points

1Development covers wealth, technology and human welfare, so a country's progress can't be reduced to income alone.
2A rich/poor map misleads: most countries and most people sit in the middle-income groups.
3GNI per head is a handy comparison (adjusted for PPP) but a mean, so it can't show inequality inside a country.
4Each social measure has its own blind spot: unrecorded deaths, uneven spread, inaccurate census data, or one photo.
5Top-down is decided from above, bottom-up involves local people, and aid can be either.

⚠ Watch out

Assuming a high GNI per head means everyone in that country is well off. It's a mean, so it hides how income is shared; the richest 10%'s share and the HDI show what it can't.

🧠

Memory hook

Every measure is a lens with a blind spot, so always ask what it can't see. And for strategies: top-down = decided from above, bottom-up = decided with the people it affects.

✓

Check yourself

Without scrolling back: name one thing GNI per head can tell you, one thing it can't, and one process that can be part of either a top-down or a bottom-up strategy.

Flashcards

(14)
Development gap
The difference in economic development and quality of life between lower income countries, newly emerging economies and higher income countries.
Development
The progress of a country in wealth, use of technology and human welfare, so it includes social as well as economic progress.
Quality of life
A measure of social and economic well-being for individuals or a community. It has many aspects, and some, like life satisfaction, are subjective.
GNI per head
Goods and services produced by a country, including income earned abroad, divided by the population. It is a mean, so it hides distribution.
Purchasing power parity (PPP)
Incomes adjusted to reflect the local cost of a standard basket of goods, so comparing income across countries is fair.
Human Development Index (HDI)
A United Nations measure using life expectancy, education (expected and mean years of schooling) and income (GNI per head).
Infant mortality rate
Deaths of children under one per 1,000 live births. Better than the crude death rate for healthcare quality, but not all infant deaths are recorded.
Inequality
An unfair situation where some people have more opportunities, money and so on than others. It exists between countries and within them.
Top-down strategy
Decisions taken by governments or large companies. Often large scale, expensive and high tech.
Bottom-up strategy
Local people and communities are involved, particularly in decision making. Usually small scale and might use intermediate technology.
Transnational corporation (TNC)
A firm that owns or controls productive operations in more than one country.
Intergovernmental organisation (IGO)
An organisation established by treaty or agreement between countries pursuing a common goal, for example the World Bank.
Foreign direct investment (FDI)
Investment by TNCs. It can bring large-scale economic change, but profits leak out of the country and jobs may be short-term.
Why does a rich/poor income map mislead?
Almost half of all countries are middle income, and they hold three quarters of the world's people.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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