Measuring Development

Development = 'the process of change operating over time'

- synonymous with economic growth - seen as the process by which countries advance and become richer

- used to be mainly based on economic growth

• easier to measure
• people have different ways of defining qualitative measures

- should take into account social, economic, environmental, political and cultural aspects of society

• cultural and political aspects of society are not easily measured --> often ignored
• dominated by social and economic values

- surveys have been created to measure development, e.g. Human Development Index - HDI

• the multiplicity of stats is helpful, although it can be biased towards the person quoting them

Problems in using the data:

• comparability of economic data, e.g. different countries use different measuring systems
• reliability - data becomes old by the time it is made public
• difficulty in measuring non-official/illegal economic activity
• variations within a country makes averages less reliable - e.g. countries with regional inequality
• assumes dominance of a market economy where goods are for sale - poverty cannot be assessed where much is provided through family labour without money, e.g. farms/allotments

- The 3 Worlds model evolved, where the 1st and 2nd Worlds were advanced or developed nations and the 3rd World countries were undeveloped or developing nations. The emphasis was on the rapid economic growth of poorer nations to enable them to catch up and narrow the 'development gap' with richer nations.

Modern definition of Development = 'the process of change which allows all the basic needs of a region to be met, achieving social justice and quality of life'