Development

The following extract comes from AQA A2 Geography by John Smith and Roger Knill

=Describing and classifying levels of development= Development can be defined as a process of social and economic advancement in terms of the quality of human life.

Most geographers would agree that **development involves people becoming better off in material terms**, but that it also involves change in:
 * the demographic structure of a country or regions population (see AS Geography unit on population)
 * the nature of society, with a move towards more equal distribution of wealth, education, health care and opportunities for advancement.
 * the political stucture with increased participation and democracy
 * the culture of the society, with more education, greater levels of literacy,, more equal rights for women and so on.

However, some people would argue that this view of development implies a dominant Western worldview, involving such elements as a belief in progress, the inevitability of material growth, the solution of problems by the application of science and technology, and the assumption of human dominance over nature . Alternative philosophies are suggested by the use of terms such as **'sustainable development'** or 'participatory development'

There are many ways of describing and classifying development levels in countries around the world. Two of the most useful are G**ross Domestic Product (GDP**) and the **Human Resource Index (HDI)**

[[image:GDP.png width="715" height="595" align="left" caption="GDP 2005"]]Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The value of all the goods and services produced in a country during a year in US$.

This is often given as GDP per capita, that is an average for each person in the country. The total GDP is divided by the number of people in the country.

The figures are further adjusted to take account of the purchasing power of money in each country (PPP) Rather than simply using exchange rates (nominal)





A comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living. It is a standardised way to compare well being, especially child welfare, in different countries. It can be used to measure the impact of economic policies on the quality of life of people in the country.

For further information about development indicators see: Scool A Level Geography site

=Sustainable Development= Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from //Our Common Future//, also known as the Brundtland Report: [|[1]] "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present  without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" Thus, sustainable development is defined as balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment. The field of sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts: environmental protection, economic sustainability, and social justice.

See: Sustainability explained through animation