Chapt9-Reasons For

Uneven Development
in the World
Uneven Levels of Development
What are the reasons?--------SHEEP--------

Historical Environmental Economic Political

Social & Cultural Factors Factors Factors
Reasons Factors

Natural
Disasters
LDCs do not
Population have resources
Colonialism to deal with Presence of
Social norms and Raw Materials
cultural beliefs Countries under them.
strong colonial Food and Countries with Good
result in large rich natural Governance
population size powers income
developed affected. resources Efficient,
Which hinders develop faster. organised,
development. faster.
free from
Man-made However it Corruption.
Some countries Environment
became more depends on
Education Problems how wealth is
Low literacy dependent on Hinder
colonial powers. redistributed.
Makes it difficult development
to learn new skills by affecting
and technology. food.
Social Factor: Population Size

 A large population will hinder development in

less developed countries (LDCs).
 LDCs often have high birth rates and large
family sizes.
This is because of:
Social norms eg traditional belief in importance
of having males.
Cultural beliefs eg not necessary to educate
females.
Social Factor: Population Size

What happens with a large population?

• Resources are spent on providing health and medical

care, food and education for the young population.
 Also resources are spent to provide care for young
mothers and housing for young families.
 Resources for development is diverted to meet the
basic needs of the people.
 This hinders development as fewer resources are left to
improve quality of life of the general population.
Social factors: Literacy

 The low literacy rate impacts

development as the people with
little or no education are
reluctant to change and are
unable to acquire new skills.
 The result is an abundance of
unskilled workers in less
developed countries with low
productivity and income.
 Historical Factors- Colonialism
It is the domination of a more powerful country over another
country.
 Most less developed countries were once under colonial rule, for
example, Indonesia was under Dutch and India was under British
rule.
Some colonised countries developed faster. Why?
 Colonial governments help develop infrastructure for the mining
and exporting of natural resources such as roads, ports and
trading relationships
 They also helped introduced technology to process these raw
materials
Colonialism: Negative Impact
 Colonies often became dependent on their colonial governments.
 The benefits went to the colonial powers. It was not used to
develop the countries.
Environment Factors
1. Natural Disasters
 Natural hazards, pests and plant, animal and human
diseases can damage a country’s economy.
 Agricultural fields that are a vital source of food and
income are often ruined.
 The economic cost of repairing the damage uses up
resources of the country.
2. Man-made Environmental Problems
 Man-made environmental disasters such as
deforestation, overgrazing etc. intensify problems and
loss of valuable land for cultivation may require the
construction of expensive irrigation systems and heavy
use of chemical fertilisers to restore them.
Economic Factors

 Many less developed countries have abundant

natural resources but are unable to exploit them for
development.
 These resources tend to be controlled by a few
industrialists that grow richer but little wealth is
redistributed to the rest of the population.
 The country remains undeveloped.
 The workforce is typically unskilled and earn low
wages. Savings and investment levels are low and
the people remain trapped in the vicious cycle of
poverty.
Cumulative Causation

 Development can take place via the cumulative

effect of movements of people and resources to
increase wealth and spur greater economic
development in a region.
 Through cumulative causation, resources are
utilised to enable development which further
improves the availability of resources and standard
of living.
Cumulative Causation
Political Factors

 Stable governments are more likely to attract

foreign multinational companies (MNCS) to invest
in the country as they can create a peaceful
environment for business to develop.
 An incorruptible government inspires confidence
amongst local and foreign investors.
 Types of policies implemented by governments are
very important.
 Investments in education can build up skilled
labour while infrastructure and tax relief encourage
investment.