Measuring Development
Browne 94-98
What is meant by development
- The idea of ‘good change’
Economic growth - producing more good or goods of a higher value
Economic development - required the economy to shift from subsistence based agricultural
work to mass production and mass consumption/ services in banking
Social development - education, health, democracy, human rights, gender equality,
happiness and well being and sustainability
How do we know when a country is developing
Economic wellbeing is measured by GNI (gross national income) - measures the total value
of goods and services produced by an economy in a year
(usually measured per capita - per person)
Sociologists use GNI with caution due to:
1. Economic growth does not cover all aspects of social development - it does not mean
education and health are improving
2. Conceles inequalities - high GNI could mean there are significant areas of poverty
and significant areas of wealth
3. Only counts the official economy - there are some outside markets that aren’t
included
4. Unlikely to include sustainable development - a rise of GNi can be accompanied by
problems such as rising crime rates
5. Difficult to measure accurately (e.g Ghana economy was estimated to be 60% higher
after recalculation)
Social development
Some commonly used measures include
1. Education - school aged children attending school and literacy
2. Health - child and infant mortality rates, death rates, maternal mortality rates
3. Democracy - free and fair elections
4. Gender equality - differences between males and females
Human development index
- Material standard of living (measured by GNI per capita)
- Education (mean years of schooling that those ages 25 had and expected years of
schooling)
- Health (measured life expectancy)
(scores between 0 and 1)
Switzerland — 0.962
UK — 0.929
Guinea — 0.465
, Countries e.g Guinea, saudi arabia score higher in the GNI table than HDI - suggesting
money is not being used for social development
The Human development Report includes three other indices of development
- The multidimensional poverty index - sees poverty as multidimensional looping at
measures of health education and living standards
- The gender inequality index - disadvantages faced by girls and women in
reproductive health, empowerment
- Inequality-adjusted human development index - if country's people are all equal its
IHDI is the same as HDI if not the IDHI goes down
Gross national happiness, Happy Planet index (smaller ecological footprint the better),
Good country index
Browne 94-98
What is meant by development
- The idea of ‘good change’
Economic growth - producing more good or goods of a higher value
Economic development - required the economy to shift from subsistence based agricultural
work to mass production and mass consumption/ services in banking
Social development - education, health, democracy, human rights, gender equality,
happiness and well being and sustainability
How do we know when a country is developing
Economic wellbeing is measured by GNI (gross national income) - measures the total value
of goods and services produced by an economy in a year
(usually measured per capita - per person)
Sociologists use GNI with caution due to:
1. Economic growth does not cover all aspects of social development - it does not mean
education and health are improving
2. Conceles inequalities - high GNI could mean there are significant areas of poverty
and significant areas of wealth
3. Only counts the official economy - there are some outside markets that aren’t
included
4. Unlikely to include sustainable development - a rise of GNi can be accompanied by
problems such as rising crime rates
5. Difficult to measure accurately (e.g Ghana economy was estimated to be 60% higher
after recalculation)
Social development
Some commonly used measures include
1. Education - school aged children attending school and literacy
2. Health - child and infant mortality rates, death rates, maternal mortality rates
3. Democracy - free and fair elections
4. Gender equality - differences between males and females
Human development index
- Material standard of living (measured by GNI per capita)
- Education (mean years of schooling that those ages 25 had and expected years of
schooling)
- Health (measured life expectancy)
(scores between 0 and 1)
Switzerland — 0.962
UK — 0.929
Guinea — 0.465
, Countries e.g Guinea, saudi arabia score higher in the GNI table than HDI - suggesting
money is not being used for social development
The Human development Report includes three other indices of development
- The multidimensional poverty index - sees poverty as multidimensional looping at
measures of health education and living standards
- The gender inequality index - disadvantages faced by girls and women in
reproductive health, empowerment
- Inequality-adjusted human development index - if country's people are all equal its
IHDI is the same as HDI if not the IDHI goes down
Gross national happiness, Happy Planet index (smaller ecological footprint the better),
Good country index
