Correlation Between Different Measures of Development
Tells us how wealth, poverty or economic development should correlate with different indicators.
E.g. country with a low GNP per capita is likely to have most of its people surviving on subsistence agriculture with low levels of income. Money is limited to pay for education and health, so living standards for most are low.
Birth rate is closely correlated with level of development - the more developed a country is, the lower its birth rate. This is shown on the Demographic Transition Model (see Population Change section).
A country at a further stage of development is likely to have a high HDI, low infant mortality rate and widespread access to clean water.
There are likely to be many doctors for the number of people and the literacy rates will be high because the government has sufficient money to spend on health and education.
Poorer governments do not have enough funds to provide high-level services; often even the basics like clean water and a living wage are not possible.
Limitations of Using a Single Development Measure
Birth Rate:
Excellent measure of development.
In rich, industrialising countries, women achieve high levels of education and career prospects.
As it is difficult to pursue a high-flying career and bring up several children, having children is often sacrificed for success in the working world. Some countries such as France have tried to encourage career women to have children, using tax advantages and benefits.
Death Rate:
A poor indicator of development.
Almost all countries have low death rates today - after a point, the more economically developed the country, the higher the death rate!
When birth rates fall, there are fewer young people.
Improved healthcare allows most people to live longer.
Death rate increases because there are so many elderly people.
GNP/capita and GNI/capita:
A limited measure of development - only economic, nothing about quality of life
Doesn't tell us what people earn, how much that buys, how educated people are or the cultural quality of their lives.
Doesn't show the distribution of wealth - 10% could hold the majority of wealth - common in oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia.
Standard of Living verses Quality of Life
Standard of living refers to the economic level of a person's daily life. Are they comfortably off or not? Do they fall below an income of $1 per day (global measure of absolute poverty)?
Quality of life is more about happiness, health and education - the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) only uses social measures of wellbeing. For example people may be quite poor yet are educated, live to a good age and their children are healthy. Standard of living may be low, but they would have a high PQLI.
Ideally, the two factors should be used together to create a complete picture.
HDI: Human Development Index - An Index based upon three variables: life expectancy at birth; level of education, including both literacy rate and years spent at school; income adjusted for purchasing power (how much it will buy). Maximum HDI is 1. Wealthy countries like Japan have an HDI of over 0.9, whereas poor countries are around half that figure or less. It was created to show that people and their capabilities should be more important economic wealth. Two countries with the same GNI can have different HDIs, heading debates about government policy priorities.
PQLI: Physical Quality of Life Index - The average of three socail factors: literacy rate, life expectancy and infant mortality. Infant Mortality - The number of babies (0-12 months) dying per 1000live births. There is an inverse relationship between the welath of a country and infant mortality. GNI: Gross National Income - A measure of a country's wealth. GNP: Gross National Product - Also a measure of wealth, but not taking into account some business taxes.