Explain how HDI is determined.

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(a) Explain how HDI is determined (5)

The HDI is one of many methods of determining human development, first introduced by the United Nations Program. It does not only focus on a country’s economic wealth instead it looks at social, cultural and welfare criteria in a order to determine a country’s quality of life.

HDI is calculated by using three factors chosen by the UN. These can be seen below:

  1. Average life expectancy
  2. Adult literacy rate
  3. Income (GDP per capita)

These three indicators are combined and a rank is calculated from the highest (1.0) to the lowest (0) HDI. For example Canada which has the highest HDI of 0.961 has the highest GDP of US$21,916. The adult literacy rate and average life expectancy would also be high compared to Ethiopia which has an HDI of 0.252, this is because there are better medical facilities and schools as the country can afford to meet the needs of the population. However in Ethiopia the GDP per capita is only US$455 (more that ten times lower than Canada’s). As a result the life expectancy, adult literacy and income rates are very low due to the inadequacy of nutrition, health and medical care.

It can be clearly seen from the table that countries with the lowest HDI below 0.3 are considered to be the economically least developed located in the ‘South’ e.g. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Burundi and Mali. Those with a score of over 0.9 are associated with the ‘developed’ countries of the ‘North’ e.g. Canada, France, Norway and USA. However there maybe some countries within the North which may not be developed and likewise some countries in the South e.g. Australia and New Zealand.

The HDI value of a country shows the distance that it has already traveled to the maximum value of 1.0 and it also shows comparisons with other countries. The difference between the value achieved by a country and the maximum possible value shows how far the country has to reach. For example Ethiopia has to travel further (0.708) to reach up to Canada, compared to France which has a difference of 0.014 HDI.

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(b) Examine the Problems of Defining Development (20)

        Different phrases and words have been used to try and describe differences between countries e.g. developed and developing, first world and third world, and more recently MEDCs and LEDCs. Development is very difficult to define as it has a wide range of meanings and has therefore been used in a variety of ways, by different people or organizations at different times.  For example, geographers will link development with improvements in human welfare e.g. greater wealth, better education and health, whereas others would measure development in terms of HDI (human development ...

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