QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
WRITTEN
REPORT IN
CONTEMPORARY
WORLD
THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE (GLOBAL INEQUALITY)
AND ASIAN REGIONALISM
SUBMITTED BY:
LEAH MAE C. ASUPRA
SBENT-1A
FILE SUBMITTED:
JULY 2, 2021
REPORT:
JULY 2, 2021 – FRIDAY
SUBMITTED TO:
PROFESSOR FRANKIE GAMELO
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QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE (GLOBAL INEQUALITY) AND ASIAN
REGIONALISM
What is Global Inequality?
The world is an unequal place. It means that not everybody has the same
access to the same rights, opportunities, or quality of life. A good way to
understand this is to look at life expectancy.
Life expectancy refers to the average years that a group of people are
expected to live, based on the year they are born. Let’s look at the life
expectancy of a few countries for babies born in 2017:
Japan - 85 years
Canada - 81 years
United Kingdom - 80 years
United States - 80 years
Pakistan - 68 years
Nigeria - 59 years
Afghanistan - 52 Years
This means that if a baby was born in Japan in 2017, we can expect them
to live to about 85 years old (on average). That same baby, if it was born in
Afghanistan, could expect to live to about 52 years old (on average).
That’s more than 30 years difference! That doesn’t seem very fair or
equal. There are many reasons for this difference, and there are many
complicated factors involved. Here are just a handful of reasons and causes for
global inequality:
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QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
1 - Access to healthcare. Without access to doctors, nurses, medicine,
vaccines, and other healthcare needs, people are more likely to die from
preventable causes. For example, what could be a simple hospital visit might
take days because the hospital is far away.
2 - Economy. Some countries are poorer/richer than others. This means
that they might not have roads or hospitals, or schools. Some people are also
poorer/richer. It means people might not have jobs or clothing or food. Without a
good economy and good jobs, people can’t afford basic needs.
3 - Political stability. Not all places have a stable government. Think of
all the ways that your government is involved in your life (jobs, schooling, roads,
food production, almost everything!). Without a stable government, it is hard to
live in a place that is safe and healthy.
4 - Basic human rights and equality. Not all places have the same basic
rights. Some places do not allow women to work or vote. Some places
persecute people who are LGBTQ. There might be less rights related to job
safety. There might be less rights related to disability. There might be less rights
related to being a child, or a senior citizen. These places have a shorter life
expectancy, especially for people who are directly affected.
5 - Geography. Some places are more dangerous naturally. If you live in
an active earthquake zone, or somewhere extremely cold/hot, or live in a place
surrounded by dangerous animals, it can shorten the average life expectancy of
that area.
6 - Education and access to information. Education helps people make
their own lives better, through jobs and opportunities. It also helps a country
become better, with better solutions to their problems.
7 - Access to water, food, and sanitation facilities. Not everyone in the
world has access to safe drinking water that isn’t full of bad germs or chemicals.
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QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
Not everyone has access to nutritious food. Not everyone has access to proper
toilets and sewers. All of these things are important to stay healthy.
Let’s Start with the south…
⊹ Economy was based on cotton production which depended on slave labor.
⊹ Southern economy was weak and vulnerable because it depended entirely
on cotton but was still very profitable.
⊹ The period of cotton growing was called King Cotton.
And the now north…
⊹ Economy was based on industries and major businesses, commerce and
finance.
⊹ North had many manufacturing factories that leather, and wooden goods.
⊹ The biggest business of the north was in railroad construction.
Transportation was easier because of railroads.
NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE
NORTH
⊹ North America, Western Europe, Australia, Japan
⊹ Known as first world
⊹ Home to four of the five permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council
⊹ Richer and developed region
⊹ 95% has enough food and shelter and
functioning education system as well
SOUTH
⊹ Africa, Latin America and Asia
⊹ Poor and Less developed region
⊹ 5% of the population has enough food and shelter
⊹ It serves as a source for raw materials for the north
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QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
NORTH SOUTH GAP
Term used to describe the economic gap between the rich and northern
countries of the world and the south poorer countries of the world
DEFINITION:
⊹ During cold war – primary global division was between east and west,
predicted upon security and power balance
⊹ After cold war – many see primary global
division as being between north and south, and predicated upon economic
inequality
Comparison between north and south
Major difference in north and south:
NORTH
➢ Less population
➢ High Wealth
➢ High Standard of Living
➢ High Industrial Development
SOUTH
➢ Large population
➢ Low wealth
➢ Low standard of Living
➢ Low Industrial development
➢ Agriculture
Characteristic of the North and South
Characteristics of the North
Characteristics of the South
1/4 of the world's people
3/4 of the world's people
4/5 of world's income
1/5 of world's income
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QUEZON CITY UNIVERSITY
Average life expectancy more than 70
Average life expectancy of 50 years
years
Most people have enough to eat
1/5 or more suffer from hunger and
malnutrition
Most people are educated
1/2 of the people have little chance
of any education
Over 90% of the world's
less than 10% of the world's
manufacturing industry
manufacturing industry
About 96% of the world's spending on
4% of the world's research and
research and development
development
Why is the gap between the economic north and south widening?
•
The richest 1% of the world’s population now receives as much income as
the poorest 57%.
•
Lack of trade.
•
Lack of aid.
•
Abundance of debt.
•
Failure of international organizations (e.g. IMF, World Bank, WTO).
•
Neo-colonialism.
•
Adverse climatic conditions.
•
The difficulty of transforming the established.
Closing the Gap:
The United Nations has developed a program dedicated to narrowing the
divide through its Millennium Development Goals. This includes improving
education and health care, promoting gender equality, and ensuring
environmental sustainability.
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Classifying Countries:
❑ Most Developed Countries (MDCs): the richest of the industrialized and
democratic nations of the world.
❑ Less Developed Countries (LDCs): countries with little industrial
development, little wealth, and high population growth.
❑ Least Developed Countries (LLDCs): very low per capital income, low
literacy rates, and very little in the way of manufacturing industries.
REFERENCE:
https://www.slideshare.net/Yaqoob63/the-northsouth-gap-m-yaqoob
https://intranet.kes.hants.sch.uk/resource.aspx?id=145038
https://kidsboostimmunity.com/what-global-inequality
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