Definitions & Measurement of Development (Edexcel GCSE Geography A): Revision Note

Definitions of Development

• Development can be defined as:

  • A process of change that raises standards of living and quality of life as the country improves

• Development does not happen in a smooth, continuous process

• A range of factors may slow, halt, and even reverse development, including:

  • War/conflict

  • Disease

  • Disasters 

  • Economic recession

• Development can occur through:

  • Investment in agriculture (tractors, fertilisers, etc.) improves food supplies, which in turn, improves the health of people

  • Improvements in supplies of power to rural areas 

  • Improvements in access to education for females and overall literacy rates

Economic sectors

• Economic sectors are indicators of a country's economic development, using either:

  • The amount each sector contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

  • The percentage of the population they employ 

• The proportions of each economic sector's GDP and employment change over time:

  • In the pre-industrial period, the primary sector dominates with steady increases in the secondary and tertiary sectors

    • As countries develop, the reliance on the primary sector for GDP and employment rapidly decreases

  • During the industrial period, the amount of GDP and employment in the secondary sector increases to become dominant and then decreases

    • The primary sector continues to decrease and the tertiary sector increases

    • Developed countries such as the UK, Germany and France began to move out of this stage in the 1960s

    • Newly industrialised (emerging) nations such as China and India began to move into this stage at that time

  • In the post-industrial phase, the tertiary and quaternary sectors increase whilst the secondary and primary sectors decrease

    • The tertiary sector dominates employment and GDP in the post-industrial period

Causes of changes over time

• There are several reasons for the change in percentages employed in each sector:

  • Increasing mechanisation in agriculture led to a decrease in the number of jobs available

  • People moving to urban areas to find jobs in secondary and tertiary sectors

  • Increasing mechanisation and global changes then lead to a decrease in secondary employment in some countries  - this is known as deindustrialisation

  • Technological improvements lead to an increase in tertiary and quaternary employment

Factors Which Contribute to Development

• There are many factors, or strands, that contribute to the development of a country and include:

  • Physical: water supply, housing, power and heat, climate, diet and nutrition, etc

  • Social: family and friends and access to healthcare, education, housing, leisure and recreation

  • Psychological: happiness, security, freedom, etc.

  • Economic: income, job security,  economic growth, types of industry, cost of living and employment rates

  • Cultural: democracy and work-life balance

  • Technological: internet access, mechanisation and electricity

  • Food and water security: physical and economic access to food and water.

• These strands are not independent of each other but linked

• For example, food and health are dependent on income, which in turn may impact happiness

Measures of Development

• A country's level of development is measured using indicators:

  • Economic indicators (for example, Gross Domestic Product (GDP))

  • Social indicators (for example, life expectancy)

  • Political indicators (for example, the Corruption Perception Index)

• Individual indicators are misleading when used alone, as some features develop before others

• Which can indicate that a country is more developed than it really is

• By using multiple indicators as a measure of development, a clearer picture of that country's development is produced

Measures of Development