Table of Contents

3.0 Section One        

3.1 Development Indicators        

3.2 Statistical Analysis        


List of Figures and Tables

Table 1: Comparison of Development Figures between Malawi and United Kingdom        


1.0 Introduction

The majority of the world’s population is concentrated into periphery countries throughout Africa, Asia and South America. These countries suffer from poverty, lack of health and education and social issues. The Republic of Malawi is a small periphery country of southeastern Africa, surrounded by Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Malawi is landlocked but lies directly on Lake Malawi, which plays a crucial role in the lives of Malawians by providing a source of food and water. Malawi became a complete independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1964, formerly controlled by the United Kingdom. In recent years, Malawi has been devastated by famine, particularly in 2005 when one quarter of the population were without food to survive for the year. As a densely populated country, it has experienced many development problems including high population growth, low education and health levels and serious famine. Much global and local effort is required to help Malawi break out of the cycle of poverty.

In Section One of this report, six development indicators will be used to compare Malawi’s development characteristics as a periphery country to a core country, its former imperial power, the United Kingdom. In Section Two, one crucial aspect of development, health, will be chosen and current health strategies employed by the government will be examined. The effectiveness of these strategies will be evaluated with appropriate recommendations made to enhance future development.


Figure 1: Map of the World highlighting Malawi and the United Kingdom


Figure 2: Map of Malawi


2.0 Methodology

The following methods of data collection were used for the compilation of the report:

  • Internet resources – A wide selection of Internet sites were accessed to attain information about specific details and statistics of Malawi and the United Kingdom. Internet sites were also accessed to research strategies that are in place or planned by the government to help Malawi’s health situation. It was noted that some websites are unreliable since a contributor with limited knowledge or expertise may compile the information. For example, anyone may contribute information to the Wikipedia site. Data for Section One had to be obtained from reliable sites, as figured varied from site to site. The Central Intelligence Agency is an officially recognised site, so statistics obtained from their website took precedence over statistics from other websites. However, authenticity of the collection of statistics can be questioned, as it would be extremely difficult to calculate the true literacy rate of Malawi. This is why most statistics are estimates. The Government may be modifying statistics and achievements to show Malawi’s development in a better light.

  • Mapping – Maps were drawn to show the location of Malawi and the United Kingdom in relation to the world, and for a general overview of Malawi. The atlas and Internet sites provided reliable maps.


3.0 Section One


3.1 Development Indicators

This section of the report will determine Malawi’s level of development by comparing Malawi to the United Kingdom using six development indicators. These indicators are defined and compared in the following table highlighting their relevance to proving levels of development between the periphery country, Malawi, and core country, the United Kingdom.

        

Table 1: Comparison of Development Figures between Malawi and United Kingdom

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Source: https://www.cia.gov/

From Table 1, it can clearly be seen that Malawi compares poorly to the United Kingdom on all indicators. This shows that Malawi is a developing country that is struggling to develop. The serious issues for Malawi’s development will be made clearer when statistics from four of the six indicators are graphed and analysed.


Graphs of Selected Development Indicators

Figure 3: Graph of Gross Domestic Product per capita for Malawi and the United Kingdom

Source: https://www.cia.gov/        

Figure 4: Graph of Infant Mortality for Malawi and the United Kingdom

Source: https://www.cia.gov/        

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