The Development Gap

THE DEVELOPMENT GAP – IS IT NARROWING OR WIDENING?

WHAT IS THE DEVELOPMENT GAP?

The development gap 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.

The North-South divide has more recently been named the development continuum gap. This places greater emphasis on closing the evident gap between rich (more economically developed) and poor (less economically developed) countries. A good measure of on which side of the gap a country is located is the Human Development Index (HDI). The nearer this is to 1.0, the greater is the country's level of development and the further the country is on its development pathway (closer towards being well developed), exemplified well byWalter Rostow's model of development and the Clark Fisher model.

World map indicating the countries' Human Development Index in 2010

(Source: 2010 Human Development Report).

> 0.784 (Very High) 0.677–0.784 (High) 0.488–0.676 (Medium)

< 0.488 (Low) no data

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 1^st and 2^nd using the Human Development Index (HDI – another ways of measuring development). The LEDC (Less economically developed countries) 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 (More economically developed countries), 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.

WHAT TYPES OF COUNTRIES AND ECONOMIES BRIDGE THE GAP?

In terms of countries, and economies, the news about the development gap is not all bad. Some countries are in the process of successfully ‘bridging the gap’

Some countries, like Singapore, have developed so far that they should now be classes as fully-fledged MEDCs. Other NICs have seen staggering economic growth in the last few decades which has seen millions move from poverty to relative prosperity, The UN describes the progress made in Asia since the 1970s as ‘One of the largest decreases in mass poverty in human history”. Much of this can be attributed to rapid economic growth.

The powerful G8 countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy, USA, Can, Japan and Russia) continue to see their wealth grow, whilst NICs (Newly Industrialized Country) (Korea) have seen the most rapid growth as they benefit from outsourcing and globalisation. Other economies (RICs Russia, India,China and some LEDCs) are growing more slowly; others such as the mostly African Least Developed Countries, are hardly growing at all and income growth in many FCCs has been negative for the last decade.

HOW CAN WE NARROW THE GAP?

Recognising that economic growth alone won’t allow many LDC to bridge the development is crucial. In some countries development and wealth will probably never ‘trickle down’ to the poorest.

The United Nations has also established its role in diminishing the divide between North and South through its Millennium Development Goals . These goals seek to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development all by the year 2015.

è Conclusion:

I believe that, Development can reduce the gap, and raise people out of poverty, but it often comes with social and environmental costs, and it has not occurred in all locations. The challenge is to begin to reduce the development gap in countries and regions which have so far failed to benefit from the processes of globalization. There are numerous ways this might be achieved, but there is no universal agreement of which way might be best.

References:

www.developmentgap.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-South_divide