Mapping development - Different ways of classifying different
parts of the world.
One of the most
useful things we can do to understand development and how it changes
over space from place to place is map it! There are many different
things that we could map to show how
development
varies from place to place,
and we could map them at different scales. The most common way to map
data or information is to use a choropleth map, which is basically a
coloured in map where the colours represent certain values. We could map
the number of people per doctor, the
literacy
level of a place, the number of calories consumed, the number of mobile
phones in a population, the average wage, the number of AIDS sufferers
etc. to see how these features of a population vary over space.
For a long time Geographers have been
trying to CLASSIFY or put into groups countries around the globe with
similar characteristics.
This has been particularly relevant to
development, and these characteristics have changed over time.
First, second, and third worlds One of the earliest classifications was
a 3 fold division used by the United Nations for the first time in 1945.
1.
The First World included mainly capitalist free-market countries
found in Western Europe and their old colonies such as the USA and
Australia.
2.
The second world comprised centrally planned, socialist or
communist countries.
These countries had different structure to those
of the first world and had much more government control of business and
public services.
The second and first worlds were at odds for
decades during the cold war.
3.
The third world comprised the least developed countries and
developing countries.
This
division had a bias towards the democratic first world and hid huge
differences between countries in the third world.
The North-South Divide
The
North-South Divide is a division that exists between the wealthy
developed countries, known collectively as "the North", and the poorer
developing countries (least developed countries), or "the South." The
divide was part of a report by Brandt on the state of world development
in 1971 and classified countries broadly as economically wealthy
manufacturing countries (the North) or agricultural (the South).
The “North”;
1.
Is home to four of the five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council
2.
Has all members of the
G8,
the group of the 8 most powerful nations/economies on Planet Earth
3.
Has enough food and water for 95% of its population
4.
Has 95% of people with access to a functioning education system.
5.
Controls four fifths of the world income.
6.
Owns 90% of the manufacturing industries
This distinction has fallen out of favour because;
·
It is too simple – large variations in wealth are hidden in both
the rich North and poor south
·
It is geographically incorrect – Australia and New Zealand are
geographically south but included in the North, whilst more poor
countries that make up the South are above the Equator than below it!
·
Development changes over time –the BRIC economies of Brazil,
India and China (but not Russia as it was already north of the line)
have grown massively since the map was made
·
Economies have become more varied that manufacturing and
agriculture. |
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Countries at different stages of development
This is a more recent classification that groups countries into;
l
MEDC – More
Economically Developed Country (UK, USA, Japan, and France).
These
are richer countries that have lots of industry and service jobs such as
the UK and Japan.
l
LEDC
means Less Economically Developed Countries.
These are poorer countries that have mainly
primary jobs such as farming and mining.
Countries include Bangladesh and Mali.
l
NIC – Newly
Industrialised Country (Taiwan, Singapore, India).
These countries are those that have developed
fastest over the latter part of the 20th
Century, profiting from globalisation and technology transfer.
The five - fold division based on wealth
1. Rich industrialising
countries e.g. UK, USA, Japan, Australia, etc.
2. Oil Exporting countries e.g.
UAE.
3. New Industrializing
countries e.g. India, China.
4. Former centrally planned
economies (previous communist systems) e.g. Russia.
5. Heavily indebted poor
countries e.g. Chad, Congo.
This is a more recent method designed to try and classify
countries and their level of development. It makes a better distinction
between countries of lower levels of development and accounts for
different reasons for wealth.
It also takes into account the variable success
of the formally centrally planned economies such as Russia.
The
UN
also has a program for LDCs, the Least Developed Countries. |
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Think about it |
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Coolgeography.co.uk by Rob Gamesby is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. |