PAD 6838/ 7865: Development Administration
(Also see Technical Notes in World Development Report and UNDP’s Human
Development Report in reader)
Explanation of Some Terms
GNP/ GDP: GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the total domestic economic value
generated in a year by a country. Gross National Product (GNP), the broadest
measure of national income, measures total value added from domestic and foreign
sources claimed by residents. GNP comprises gross domestic product (GDP) plus
net receipts of primary income from non-resident (i.e. foreign) sources. GNP per
capita for a given year is the total GNP divided by the mid-year total population of
the country. [GNP is now referred to as GNI (Gross National Income).]
GNI per capita is an index often used to determine the economic development of a
country--the more the GNI per capita the more developed it is. The World Bank
classifies countries into four broad categories according to GNP per capita:
High Income: $10,726 or more;
Upper Middle Income: $3,466 to $10,725
Lower Middle Income $876 to $3,465; and
Low-Income. Less than $ 875
Human Development Index (HDI) measures the overall quality of life in a
country. A nation's HDI is composed of life expectancy at birth, literacy (adult
literacy and gross enrollment ratio for primary, secondary, and tertiary schools) and
Gross Domestic Product per capita (in PPP). Life expectancy measures the quality of
healthcare, morbidity and mortality; literacy measures the social development; and
GDP per capita measures the economic development. All three measures are
weighted to calculate the composite index. Countries are ranked according to the
HDI (HIGH HDI, >=0.8, MEDIUM HDI, 0.5-0.799, and LOW HDI, <0.5). Most Third
World countries fall under Medium and Low HDI.
Third World: The Third World is commonly used to denote countries with low
economic development. The term "Third World" is often synonymously used with
"underdeveloped countries," "backward countries," (both of which terms are seldom
used these days due to their negative connotation), "Less Developed Countries
(LDCs)", or "developing countries." World Bank has traditionally used the income
criteria to define the Third World: usually Middle and Low Income countries are
included within the definition. Geographically, the Third World covers most of
Africa; South and South East Asia (excluding Japan); some Middle Eastern
countries; Latin America; and Mexico in North America. Although some Eastern
European countries (e.g. Bulgaria, Romania) belong to Lower Middle Income group,
they are not called "Third World" due to their geographical location.
URBANIZATION OF THIRD WORLD
Urbanization refers to the percentage of people living in urban areas with respect
to the total population. While the world population has nearly reached 6 billion,
nearly 80% of the population is concentrated in developing countries. By 2007,
almost 50 percent of the world population lives in urban areas. Although the world
is getting more urbanized, there has been a slight deceleration in the rate of
urbanization since 1995. Developed countries (West European countries, for
example) are, in general, more urbanized than developing countries; also, higher
income Third World countries are more urbanized than lower income Third World
countries. Urbanization rate refers to percentage growth of a country's population
per year. [A quiz: can you figure out that if the urbanization of a country is higher,
the lower is its urbanization rate.]
Mega cities refers to cities with population over 8 million (according to World Bank
definition). Most Mega cities are located in the Third World. In 1950, there were
only 3 Mega cities world wide (New York, Shanghai, and London). By this year
(2000), there are over 30 Mega-cities, of which about 23 are located in the Third
World. Thus, the number of Mega-cities has grown more in the Third World than in
the First World in the last fifty years. This rapid growth tends to put pressure on
urban services that have not grown as quickly to support the increasing population.
POPULATION GROWTH AND THIRD WORLD
Health transition is a complex process comprising demographic (mortality),
epidemiological, and health care transitions. It is manifested in rising life
expectancy at birth due to changes in the fertility, mortality, and morbidity (i.e.
disease) profile of a population. Demographic (mortality) transition brings down
birth and death rates and changes the age structure; epidemiological transition
reflects changes in the causes of death, from infectious (pandemic) diseases to
non-communicable (degenerative, human-made) diseases.
Demographic transition refers to transitions in population growth, essentially
based on mortality (i.e. death). Three broad stages of demographic transition can
be identified. The first stage is characterized by both a high death rate and high
birth rate, so that there is negligible population growth. Pre-industrial societies with
few public health programs (e.g. vaccination, sterilization) belonged to the first
stage, when famines and epidemics were frequent to cause huge death tolls
(almost no country belongs in this stage now; however, some experts argue that a
few African countries with high incidence of AIDS may belong to this stage). The
second stage is characterized by low death rate and high birth rate. Death rates are
lower in this stage essentially due to sanitation, public health facilities, and better
distribution of food; however, birth rates remain approximately the same as the
first stage. Hence there is an immense population growth. Much of the Third World
could arguably belong to this stage. The third stage is characterized by both low
death rate and low birth rate. Birth rates become lower due to changes in social
attitudes, cheaper contraceptive methods, and pressures for smaller families (e.g.
in urban areas as compared to rural areas). More developed countries belong to this
stage, and Scandinavian countries in particular are beginning to have negative
population growth.
Epidemiological transition implies change in the morbidity profile from acute,
infectious, and parasitic diseases (eg plague, smallpox, and cholera) to noncommunicable, diseases (eg plague, smallpox, and cholera) to non-communicable,
degenerative, and chronic diseases (eg cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes,
and neoplasms). Three fundamental changes in the configuration of a population's
health profile take place during epidemiological transition: (i) mortality decline due
to infectious diseases, injuries, and mental illness; (ii) shift of the burden of death
and diseases from the younger to the older groups; and (iii) change in health profile
from one dominated by death to one dominated by morbidity.
Population momentum refers to the tendency for a rapidly growing population to
keep on growing, even after the implementation of policies designed to halt
population growth. Past high rates of reproduction give momentum to population
growth because they resulted in a large number of women who are now of
reproductive age. Population momentum is an age structure that favors
continuation of high birth rates because of a large number of women in or entering
into their childbearing years, 15 - 44. The Third World has a high level of population
momentum since much of its population (especially women) is younger, and of child
bearing age.