THE DEVELOPMENT GAP – IS IT NARROWING OR WIDENING
THE DEVELOPMENT GAP/CONTINUUM –
IS IT NARROWING OR WIDENING?
WHAT IS THE DEVELOPMENT GAP/ CONTINUUM?
The development gap/continuum is the divide between rich and poor, or ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ .
This exists at several levels. The ‘haves’, at a global scale represent the richest 20% of people, who consume around 80% of all resources. The global ‘have nots’ are the poorest 20% of people who earn only 1.3% of global income.
Maps of global income distribution show some countries to be very rich, whilst others are very poor. In the map below, darker grey countries have a per capita GNI (Gross National Income) of over $9200 whereas lighter grey areas have a pcGNI of under $750
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This map shows what we refer to as the North-South divide, although this simple pattern hides many areas of growing wealth (China and NICs) and increasing poverty, parts of Africa and many former Communist states.
Wealthy countries do not wholly consist of ‘haves’ , and even the poorest countries have their fair share of wealthy people.
The graph below shows 5 countries. Australia and Norway are ranked 1st. and 2nd. using the Human Development Index (HDI – another ways of measuring development), Thailand is an NIC ranked 76th. whilst Sierra Leone and Niger are ranked 176th. and 177th. The LEDC countries have the worst income distribution, with 10% of their country’s people surviving on 1-2% of income, whilst a wealthy elite 10% get around 40% of national income. The picture is more balanced in the MEDCs, but still unequal.
In many countries the development gap is an urban –v- rural gap. This is especially true in LEDCs where urban areas tend to have better services and more opportunities.
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The development shouldn’t just be thought of in financial terms, although this is a crucial part of it. If we take the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ countries in terms of the Human Development Index and compare them directly, some other contrasts are evident:
| |NORWAY |SIERRA LEONE HDI = 0.17 |
| |HDI = 0.94 | |
|Income per capita | | |
|Democracy |Yes |No |
|Conflict / War |No |Yes |
|% GDP agriculture |3 |42 |
|% literacy M/F |100/100 |45/18 |
|% people < 1$ a day | ................
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