GCSEGeographyAQARevision NotesThe Changing Economic WorldThe Changing Economic World: OverviewThe Changing Economic World: Key Ideas

The Changing Economic World: Key Ideas (AQA GCSE Geography): Revision Note

Exam code: 8035

Written by: Bridgette Barrett

Updated on 26 March 2026

Key ideas

The Changing Economic World section covers the following key ideas from the AQA GCSE Geography specification (opens in a new tab).

Case studies

The included case studies are examples you could use in your exam. However, you may have studied different case studies in your school lessons. It is not possible to cover all the case studies used by different schools within the revision note.

Options

There is no optional content in this unit. All students are required to study all the themes.

AQA Specification	Key Idea	Specification Content
3.2.2	There are global variations in economic development and quality of life.	Different ways of classifying parts of the world according to their level of economic development and quality of life. Different economic and social measures of development: gross national income (GNI) per head, birth and death rates, infant mortality, life expectancy, people per doctor, literacy rates, access to safe water, Human Development Index (HDI). Limitations of economic and social measures. Link between stages of the Demographic Transition Model and the level of development. Causes of uneven development: physical, economic and historical. Consequences of uneven development: disparities in wealth and health, international migration.
	Various strategies exist for reducing the global development gap.	An overview of the strategies used to reduce the development gap: investment, industrial development and tourism, aid, using intermediate technology, fairtrade, debt relief, microfinance loans. An example of how the growth of tourism in an LIC or NEE helps to reduce the development gap.
	Some LICs and NEEs are experiencing rapid economic development which leads to significant social, environmental and cultural change.	A case study of one LIC or NEE to illustrate: the location and importance of the country, regionally and globally the wider political, social, cultural and environmental context within which the country is placed the changing industrial structure. The balance between different sectors of the economy. How manufacturing industry can stimulate economic development the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in relation to industrial development. Advantages and disadvantages of TNC(s) to the host country the changing political and trading relationships with the wider world international aid: types of aid, impacts of aid on the receiving country the environmental impacts of economic development the effects of economic development on quality of life for the population.
	Major changes in the economy of the UK have affected, and will continue to affect, employment patterns and regional growth.	Economic futures in the UK: causes of economic change: deindustrialisation and decline of traditional industrial base, globalisation and government policies moving towards a post-industrial economy: development of information technology, service industries, finance, research, science and business parks impacts of industry on the physical environment. An example of how modern industrial development can be more environmentally sustainable social and economic changes in the rural landscape in one area of population growth and one area of population decline improvements and new developments in road and rail infrastructure, port and airport capacity the north–south divide. Strategies used in an attempt to resolve regional differences the place of the UK in the wider world. Links through trade, culture, transport, and electronic communication. Economic and political links: the European Union (EU) and Commonwealth.

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