In the broadest sense, what does 'development' mean in geography?

Development is the process by which a country or region improves the quality of life and well-being of its people. It includes rising material living standards (income, goods, services), but also better health, education, housing, security, rights, political freedom and environmental quality. Because it is judged against what people value, it is much broader than simply becoming richer.

Why do people say that the idea of development carries a value judgement?

Calling a country 'developing' implies a direction of travel and an end point, and that end point is usually taken to be the MEDC model: industrial, urban, high-consumption and market-based. That assumes every society should want this, that subsistence and traditional ways of life are backward, and that more consumption is always better. Critics point out that the model is environmentally unsustainable if extended to everyone, and that societies may value things it ignores, such as community, security or spiritual life. An alternative view, which underlies the Human Development Index, is that development means widening the range of choices genuinely open to people, letting them decide themselves what to develop towards.

What does 'sustainable development' add to the definition, and why does it complicate it?

Sustainable development is usually defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It adds a time dimension and an environmental limit: growth achieved by exhausting soils, forests, fisheries or the atmosphere is not development because it borrows from the future. It complicates the definition because it can conflict with raising incomes now, and because it raises the awkward question of whether MEDCs are developed at all if their consumption levels could not be sustained globally.

CCEA AS-Level Geography 3910

Processes That Shape Fluvial Environments

Topic overview The drainage basin as an open system Storm hydrographs Factors influencing storm hydrographs Annual hydrographs and river regimes River erosion and transportation Deposition and the Hjulstrom curve Erosional and mixed river landforms Depositional river landforms

Human Interaction in Fluvial Environments

Topic overview Why rivers are channelised, and the methods used Environmentally sensitive and sustainable river management The causes of river flooding The effects of flooding on people, property and land

Global Biomes

Topic overview The global distribution of biomes The tundra biome: climate and soils The temperate grassland biome: climate and soils Climate change and tundra ecosystems

Small-Scale Ecosystems

Topic overview Biotic and abiotic components Ecosystems as open systems Trophic structure and ecological pyramids Nutrient cycling and the nutrient cycling model Plant succession and seral stages Climatic climax and plagioclimax vegetation

The Processes That Shape Our Weather and Climate

Topic overview The global energy balance Vertical and horizontal heat transfer in the atmosphere Ocean currents and the transfer of heat Pressure belts, the Coriolis effect and the pressure gradient The tri-cellular model, the global winds, and where it breaks down Jet streams and the upper westerly winds Global patterns of temperature, pressure, wind and precipitation Factors influencing air temperature

Weather in the British Isles

Topic overview How precipitation forms Air masses affecting the British Isles The polar front and the birth of a depression The life cycle of a depression, and its fronts The sequence of weather as a depression passes Anticyclones in summer and winter Isobars, wind, and the front symbols on a synoptic chart Station circles, recognising systems, and satellite images

Global Weather Issues

Topic overview The Pacific in a normal year: the Walker circulation El Niño events and their global consequences La Niña events and their global consequences How tropical cyclones form The structure of a tropical cyclone The impacts of a tropical cyclone on people and property Managing tropical cyclones: prediction, preparation and response

Population Data

Topic overview Census taking, vital registration, and how the data is collected The reliability of the data, and the use made of it

Population Change

Topic overview Fertility and mortality measures, and why crude rates are crude The demographic transition model The epidemiological transition

Population and Resources

Topic overview Overpopulation, underpopulation and optimum population Malthus and Boserup, and how they hold up Fertility policies, and evaluating one

Settlement Change and the Rural-Urban Fringe

Topic overview Defining rural and urban settlement The rural-urban continuum Issues affecting the rural-urban fringe Greenfield and brownfield development Suburbanisation Counterurbanisation

Planning in Rural Environments

Topic overview Why the countryside needs planning protection ASSIs and SSSIs Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty National parks A national park for Northern Ireland: the case for, the case against, and the verdict

Urban Challenges in MEDC and LEDC Cities

Topic overview Economic and social deprivation in the MEDC inner city Re-urbanisation in the MEDC city Gentrification and its consequences Urban growth and informal settlements in the LEDC city Service provision in the LEDC city Economic activity and the informal economy in the LEDC city

Measuring Development

Topic overview Why 'development' resists definition Two economic measures: GDP and GNI per capita Two social measures: infant mortality and adult literacy Two composite measures: the HDI and the Gender Inequality Index Using the measures together to describe global contrasts

Reducing the Development Gap

Topic overview The Millennium Development Goals: aims and framework Evaluating two Millennium Development Goals The 2030 Agenda and the Global Goals How the Global Goals build on the Millennium Development Goals Globalisation as a route to development in LEDCs Aid and development in LEDCs, and judging development in one

Emerging Markets

Topic overview What an emerging market is BRICS and MINT: what the labels group, and why they are contested Why emerging markets have grown, and one economy studied

Data Collection

Topic overview Collecting primary data in the field Sampling methods: random, systematic, stratified and pragmatic Point, line and quadrat sampling Ordnance Survey maps and map reading Photographs and satellite images as evidence Synoptic charts and remotely sensed data

Data Processing

Topic overview Geographical information systems, and mapping techniques Annotated sketch maps, and the graph types Triangular graphs Mean, median, mode and range Spearman's rank correlation Nearest neighbour analysis Chi-squared (A2 only)Location quotient (A2 only)Developing investigative skills, and the conventions of mapping and graphical work

Fieldwork Skills and Techniques

Topic overview Framing a geographical question and designing the enquiry Fieldwork safety, hazards and contingency planning Choosing and justifying sampling techniques for an investigation Collecting quantitative and qualitative evidence Describing and evaluating data collection methods Presenting evidence in cartographic, diagrammatic and graphical form Choosing and applying statistical techniques Analysing evidence and drawing conclusions Evaluating methods, evidence and the limitations of conclusions

Planning and Recording an Investigation

Topic overview Choosing an issue, hypothesis or question Identifying appropriate sources and methods Describing the study area, stating aims, and recording data

Measuring Development

5 subtopics
15 things to know
Unit AS 2

What Measuring Development covers

Measuring development is examined in Unit AS 2, Human Geography. It covers why 'development' resists definition, two economic measures: GDP and GNI per capita, two social measures: infant mortality and adult literacy, two composite measures: the HDI and the Gender Inequality Index and using the measures together to describe global contrasts.

Where it is assessed

Unit AS 2

Human Geography, written examination, 16% of A level.

Check the CCEA specification ↗

The 5 subtopics

Each one has its own page. CCEA AS Geography students sit this topic in the first year.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Why is economic growth not the same thing as development?

Key term

How can a national average hide the real development picture?

Key term

Distinguish between standard of living and quality of life.

Key term

What does gross domestic product measure, and how is it expressed per head?

Key term

How does GNI differ from GDP, and why can the difference matter in an LEDC?

Key term

Why are GNI figures usually converted into US dollars?

Key term

What is the infant mortality rate and how is it calculated?

Key term

Why is infant mortality regarded as one of the most sensitive single indicators of development?

Key term

What is the difference between infant mortality and child mortality, and why does it matter?

Key term

What is a composite measure of development, and why were composite measures developed?

Numbers

What is the Human Development Index and who publishes it?

Key term

Which three dimensions does the HDI combine, and which indicators represent each?

Key term

Why should you never judge a country's development on a single indicator?

Key term

What would a scatter graph of GNI per capita against life expectancy look like, and what does its shape tell you?

Key term

What is an anomaly on a development graph, and why do anomalies occur?

Take Measuring Development further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

GDP per capita vs GNI per capita
GDP per capita: the value of output produced inside a country, divided by its population. GNI per capita: that figure plus net income from abroad, divided by the same population.
Human Development Index vs Gender Inequality Index
Human Development Index: a composite of income, education and life expectancy. Gender Inequality Index: a composite of reproductive health, empowerment and labour market participation.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
In the broadest sense, what does 'development' mean in geography?
Model answer
Development is the process by which a country or region improves the quality of life and well-being of its people. It includes rising material living standards (income, goods, services), but also better health, education, housing, security, rights, political freedom and environmental quality. Because it is judged against what people value, it is much broader than simply becoming richer.
2
Why is economic growth not the same thing as development?
Model answer
Economic growth is an increase in the value of output, measured by GDP or GNI. Development is an improvement in people's welfare. Growth can happen without development if the extra income goes to a small elite, to foreign TNCs which send profits home, or to a single enclave sector such as oil, leaving health, housing and schooling unchanged. Growth can even damage development through pollution, displacement or unsafe working conditions. Equally, welfare can improve with little growth, through immunisation or free primary schooling. Growth is best understood as a means to development, not development itself.
3
How can a national average hide the real development picture?
Model answer
Averages such as GNI per capita divide total income by total population as though it were shared out evenly. They conceal inequality between rich and poor, contrasts between a wealthy urban core and a remote rural periphery, and gaps between social groups such as men and women or different ethnic groups. Two countries with an identical average can therefore be very different places. Only data showing distribution, such as the share of income held by the poorest fifth or a Gini coefficient, or data broken down by region and gender, reveals this.
4
Why do people say that the idea of development carries a value judgement?
Model answer
Calling a country 'developing' implies a direction of travel and an end point, and that end point is usually taken to be the MEDC model: industrial, urban, high-consumption and market-based. That assumes every society should want this, that subsistence and traditional ways of life are backward, and that more consumption is always better. Critics point out that the model is environmentally unsustainable if extended to everyone, and that societies may value things it ignores, such as community, security or spiritual life. An alternative view, which underlies the Human Development Index, is that development means widening the range of choices genuinely open to people, letting them decide themselves what to develop towards.
5
Distinguish between standard of living and quality of life.
Model answer
Standard of living refers to the material goods and services a person can command: income, food, housing, possessions, access to services. It is largely measurable in money. Quality of life is broader and partly subjective, covering health, safety, environmental quality, working conditions, family and community life, freedom and contentment. A person can have a high standard of living and a poor quality of life, for example on a high salary in a polluted, insecure, long-hours city, and the reverse is also possible.
6
What does 'sustainable development' add to the definition, and why does it complicate it?
Model answer
Sustainable development is usually defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It adds a time dimension and an environmental limit: growth achieved by exhausting soils, forests, fisheries or the atmosphere is not development because it borrows from the future. It complicates the definition because it can conflict with raising incomes now, and because it raises the awkward question of whether MEDCs are developed at all if their consumption levels could not be sustained globally.

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Processes That Shape Fluvial Environments

Human Interaction in Fluvial Environments

Global Biomes

Small-Scale Ecosystems

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Measuring Development revision questions

Is Measuring Development examined at AS in CCEA Geography?: Yes. It sits in Unit AS 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.
What does Measuring Development cover in CCEA AS-Level Geography?: 5 subtopics: why 'development' resists definition, two economic measures: gdp and gni per capita, two social measures: infant mortality and adult literacy, two composite measures: the hdi and the gender inequality index and using the measures together to describe global contrasts. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is Measuring Development organised?: By the CCEA 3910 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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