2.3 Measuring human development

• Aardrijkskunde
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

2.3 Measuring human development

Learning objectives

After studying this section, you will be able to:

• Describe the different human development indicators you could use to compare the level of development of different countries
  
• Explain why the standard of living is not the same in LEDCs and MEDCs

A photograph says about the wealth
(rijkdom) of people.

Do these children have the financial resources to fulfil their needs?

Basic necessities

Essentials a person needs to survive:

1. Sanitation
2. Education
3. Shelter
4. Healthcare
5. Food
6. Clothing

No access to these things > poor

Poverty trap = negative spiral of effects that keep a person poor.

Imagine you live in a slum. Your family can only afford to buy either a private toilet or a mobile phone. For which option would you go? Why?

Human development indicators

Signals that show how good or bad the life situation is of a human:

1. Infant mortality rate
   (kindersterftecijfer) = the number of children dying under one year of age per 1,000 live births.
2. Literacy rate (alfabetiseringsgraad) = the number of people in a country that can read and write.
3. Physician distribution
   (artsendichtheid) = number of inhabitants per doctor.
4. Life expectancy  (levensverwachting) = the average number of years that a person can expect to live.

Illiterate

People who cannot read and write are called illiterate 

(as opposed to literate). 

Even in the Netherlands we have people who are illiterate. 

In Dutch, we call them ‘analfabeet’.

Can we give other examples?

Human Development Index (HDI)

A statistical tool used to measure a country’s overall level of development, so both economic and human development information.

Absolute and relative poverty

Absolute poverty
= the condition in which a person lacks one or more of the basic necessities. Often measured by living on less than $1.25 dollars a day.

Relative poverty
= the condition in which a person cannot maintain the average standard of living in the society he/she lives in.

The standard of living, and what is considered as ‘normal’, is different per country. It is higher in MEDCs than in LEDCs.

Essence

Besides looking at economic development indicators, you can look at human development indicators to measure the level of development in a country. Having access to basic necessities is very important when it comes to living in poverty or in wealth. People who live in poverty often face a so-called poverty trap. This makes it difficult to escape from poverty. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a useful tool that combines economic and human development information.

Homework

Friday 11 December, 6th hour:

• Read 2.3, do ex. 1 to 3, 5 and 7 to 11 

Challenge task: 

•  Do ex. 4 + 6 

Remedial task: 

• Make a summary or mindmap of 2.3 
• Study the essence + definitions of 2.3 (textbook pages 40 + 50)