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Development Indicators - Activity

Economic development can have a number of characteristics:

  • Improved economic performance as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
  • Changes in the standard of living
  • Changes in technology
  • Changes in the levels of personal, political and institutional freedoms

To measure the extent to which these changes are occurring in any country, a number of different 'Development Indicators' are used. Some may be more appropriate than others in telling us to what extent a country has achieved some element of economic development.

The aim of this Activity is to do some research into these indicators and to arrive at an assessment of the accuracy of such measures in establishing the extent and changes in economic development in a range of regions of the world.

The main regions where such indicators are especially relevant are:

  • Africa - specifically sub-Saharan Africa
  • Asia
  • Latin America
  • Eastern Europe
Map of the world showing sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe

The conditions of economic development will be different in each of these regions and will even differ between different countries within the same region. However, for analysis purposes, we are going to look at some of the main development indicators and do some analysis on the relative strengths and weaknesses of each as an indicator of development.

The Activity will then finish with an opportunity to discuss the relative measures to try to arrive at an understanding of which individual or group of measures would give the most appropriate indication of the level of economic development in a region.

The Activity involves you working in groups or carrying out the investigation on an individual basis. There is an accompanying chart which will help you to record the results of your research which you may print out and use.

The photographs below may also be useful in triggering some thoughts!

Homeless people scavenge for food on a rubbish tip near Moscow, Russia.

Image: Homeless people scavenge for food on a rubbish tip near Moscow, Russia.
Title: Homeless people scavenge for food. Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education Image Gallery

Is this what you would expect in a country like Russia?

Afghan farmers working the land, north of Kabul.

Image: Afghan farmers working the land, north of Kabul.
Title: Afghan Farmers North of Kabul. Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education Image Gallery

Is a heavy reliance on agriculture an indicator of the level of development?

A boy in a displaced camp in Liberia.

Image: A boy in a displaced camp in Liberia - thousands of Liberians have been displaced by war and are living hand to mouth.
Title: Tentative Peace Holds In Liberia. Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education Image Gallery

Is this more the sort of image we associate with indicators of development?

The Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA.

Image: The Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA.
Title: Navajos Refuse Casino Riches. Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education Image Gallery

Or is it this?

A woman suffering from the HIV virus lies in her bed in hospital in Malawi.

Image: A woman suffering from the HIV virus lies in her bed in hospital in Malawi.
Title: Malawi Food Crisis. Copyright: Getty Images, available from Education Image Gallery

Or this?

These are the indicators we will be assessing:

  • National Income (GDP/GNP)
  • Distribution of Income
  • Number of doctors per head of the population
  • Number of televisions per head of the population
  • Absolute Poverty
  • Relative Poverty
  • Literacy Rates
  • Disease Indicators - AIDs, per head of the population, malaria, etc.
  • Demographic Indicators - population growth, urban/rural population figures/ mortality rates, life expectancy, etc.
  • Education - Primary school enrolment, secondary school enrolment, proportion of the population attending university, etc.
  • Human Development Index

Task

  1. Complete the development indicators evaluation chart.
  2. Having completed the chart, identify five measures that you feel are the most effective means of assessing the level of development of a country or region.
  3. Take the five indicators you have chosen and select one country from each of the main regions identified above. Find out the actual data for each of those countries (see the links below to help you identify the source of such data).
  4. From the data above, rank the countries you have selected in order of their level of economic development - the most developed country first.
  5. Present the results of your investigations to the rest of the group. Discuss the different approaches taken by each group/individual. Why do you think there are such differences? You should aim to come up with a collective agreement on what five measures are the most appropriate in measuring the degree of economic development.

Extension Work

Evaluate the strength of the Human Development Index as an accurate measure of the standard of living in a country.

Related Web sites for Research

Biz/ed wishes to acknowledge the contribution of Peter Imeson for the original ideas behind this Activity.