Many of you will have looked at the idea of using composite forms of data before. We have used them in various parts of this course to compare different countries. But how valid is that data? We are going to look at the key components of the HDI and GII and evaluate how successful they are as indicators . To do this you will be watching a YouTube clip, using a data focused website to explore examples and the course textbook ' Geography Global Interactions. study and Revision Guide' by Simon Oakes page 44.
Watch the YouTube clip and make notes on how life expectancy is measured.
For our key countries - USA, UK, China, Morocco and Niger use the 'Useful Resource' to find our their life expectancy.
Different countries of the world are classified according to their level of social and economic development. Levels of development are dependent on physical or environmental, economic, demographic, socio-cultural and political factors. Development involves complex series of interlinked processes [refer to the development cable diagram].
Purely Economic Measures:
Gross Domestic Product [GDP] is the total economic output of a country in a year. It is the total value of all final goods and services produced within an economy over a period of time, usually a year. GDP is an indicator of the local/national economy.
GDP per capita to understand how the wealth is distributed within the population, however as it is an average, extreme rich and poor will be neutralized by the result. GDP per capita is the total output divided by the total number of people or population, i.e. the average amount of money each person makes.
Gross National Product [GNP]: GNP is the total value of all the goods and services produced domestically and abroad by the citizen’s of a country. GNP represents how the nationals of a country are contributing to the country’s economy giving importance to citizenship but overlooks location.
Gross National Income [GNI]: The total value of goods and services produced in a country [i.e. GDP], together with the balance of income and payments from or to other countries [including interest payment and dividends]. GNI per person provides a better picture of the wealth distribution.
Better solution to GNI measure is to consider GNI at PPP:
Purchasing power parity [PPP]: Is the measure of the average earnings in relation to local prices [i.e. how much one can buy in local currency equivalent to 1 dollar]. PPP is a macroeconomic approach to compare economic productivity and standards of living between countries. It is based on “basket of goods” approach to compare the buying power of a local currency. The GNI of a country is converted into US dollars on the basis of how the value of a currency can be compared to other countries in relation to the buying power of the currency. PPP is calculated by comparing the price of good ‘X’ in different countries. To make a meaningful comparison of prices across countries, a wide range of goods and services must be considered. The popular “Big Mac Index” [the price of Big Mac hamburger across many countries] is popularly used to compare PPP in many cases.
Why only economic indicator is not reliable to measure development or disparities?
- These measures are purely economic and are not composite indicator. They do not provide any idea of human capital formation [education, training, health condition], gender equality, and condition of human rights. Even as an economic indicator it is not a holistic one as it does not include the income generated by the informal economy, which plays a significant role in many developing countries.
- There are alternative well developed composite measures available since 1990s like HDI including GDI etc that measures average achievements of the population in terms of health, education and access to goods and services.
Click here to see Ranking of world’s Economies based on GDP and PPP
Composite Indices
HDI was devised by the United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] in 1990s and has been in use in its current form since 2010. HDI is a composite indicator that ranks countries from 0 to 9 index values based on the following criteria.
Unit 5: Human development and diversityUnit Contents
- 5.1 Development opportunities
- 5.2 Changing identities and cultures
- 5.3 Local responses to global interactions
- Revision materials
Detailed examples and case studies
Detailed example
- 5.1.2 Closing the development gap
- 5.3.4 Civil society and international-mindedness
Case study
- 5.2.3 Diasporas
Places explored
Northern Africa
- 5.1.2 Closing the development gap
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Middle Africa
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Southern Africa
- 5.1.3 Social entrepreneurship
Western Africa
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Central America
- 5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
South America
- 5.1.2 Closing the development gap
Northern America
- 5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
- 5.2.3 Diasporas
Eastern Asia
- 5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
- 5.2.2 Glocalization and cultural hybridity
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
- 5.3.4 Civil society and international-mindedness
South-eastern Asia
- 5.2.3 Diasporas
Southern Asia
- 5.1.3 Social entrepreneurship
- 5.2.2 Glocalization and cultural hybridity
- 5.3.1 Resistance to global interactions
Eastern Europe
- 5.3.2 Anti-immigration movements
Northern Europe
- 5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
- 5.3.1 Resistance to global interactions
- 5.3.2 Anti-immigration movements
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
- 5.3.4 Civil society and international-mindedness
Southern Europe
- 5.3.2 Anti-immigration movements
Western Europe
- 5.3.1 Resistance to global interactions
- 5.3.2 Anti-immigration movements
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Australia and New Zealand
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Global
- 5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
Podcast
- 5.2.1 Global spectrum of cultural traits
- 5.3.2 Anti-immigration movements
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Financial Times
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
Photography
- 5.3.3 Geopolitical constraints on global interactions
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What is human development in geography?
“Human development is a process of enlarging the range of people's choices, increasing their opportunities for education, health care, income and empowerment and covering the full range of human choices from a sound physical environment to economic, social and political freedom.”What is HDI in AP human Geography?
A common statistic used to measure an area's development is the Human Development Index [HDI], which measures average life expectancy, amount of education, and per capita income. Since 1990, the United Nations has used the HDI as a way to rank all of the countries in the world in terms of their development.What is IB geography like?
The geography course embodies global and international awareness in several distinct ways. It examines key global issues, such as poverty, sustainability and climate change.What are the four main components of human development class 12?
Ans. The four components of human development are- Equity, sustainability, productivity and empowerment.