How to Develop a Country… a student guide…
As you have already investigated there are a number of reasons that a country may fail to
develop. However, most countries have progressed in terms of development over the
past 20 years. This may be from the perspective of economic growth, individual wealth,
or social improvements such as raising educational standards or life expectancy.
Use the life expectancy statistics in the chart below (The full set of statistics
can be found at http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/history-of-life-expectancy) to
track the life expectancy changes of 6 countries that appear in the low life expectancy
group in 1960 until the most recent data set in 2009… draw a graph to show and track
the changes of these 6 countries… describe the trend.
Task 1:
Country
Nigeria
India
Bolivia
Indonesia
China
1960
38.7
42.3
42.8
41.5
36.3
1970
42.1
49.3
46.1
47.9
61.7
1980
45.3
55.7
52.4
54.8
65.5
1990
47.2
59.7
58.9
61.7
68.3
2009
46.9
66.1
66.9
70.8
73.5
What do the statistics show about
development trends in terms of life
expectancy?
There is a similar trend
when you look at GDP per capita
figures… however the growth rate is
still slow in most less developed
countries and the gap between the
more and less developed countries
continues to grow.
Task 2:
Describe the trend shown on the
graph (fig.20.3)
Task 3:
So What Options does a country have
in terms of raising its development
status and what have countries’
already done to improve? Make a list of strategies that a country may employ… what
problems may it face trying to implement these strategies?
Share your Ideas with two other people in small groups and discuss their potential.
There are a number of options that have been explored by different countries in search of
improvements in development
Resource exploitation:
Utilize and exploit resources present in the country… export
them for profit and invest the wealth generated into the economy. E.g. UAE, Venezuela,
Saudi Arabia, Chile
Industrialization
Invest in Industrial production and development. The economy is
no longer reliant upon agriculture and can improve jobs, personal and national wealth,
ideally export products and generate wealth. E.g. Mexico, Malaysia, Bangladesh
FDI
Foreign Direct Investment – encourage external sources to invest in the country in
terms of industrial investment or infrastructural development. This can improve the
situation of the country in terms of industrial status, economic or social situation. E.g.
Argentina
Tourism
Use the natural beauty / environment to attract foreign incomes by visiting
tourists. Can develop infrastructures as well and provide many benefits for locals as well.
E.g. Jamaica, Egypt, Kenya
ISI
Import Substitution Industrialization. Cut the country off from the world’s
economy and stop importing products, replace these with locally produced goods to
enable the local industries to flourish without global competition – protectionism. E.g.
Syria, India, China
EOI
Export Oriented Industrialization. Manufacture products for export. Create,
attract and generate products for the international market often through the attraction of
TNCs (Trans National Corporations) to produce in your country. E.g. South Korea,
Taiwan, Brazil
EPZ
Export Processing Zones – create tax free zones within the country that allows the
free imports and exports of products. Often this just means assembly production in
controlled zones. E.g. Haiti, Jordan
Social Development Programmes Invest in social development such as housing,
education, and health. To improve the quality of life of the citizens rather than the GDP.
e.g. Cuba, Venezuela Bhutan
Debt Borrow money to invest in industrial or social development from institutions such
as the IMF (International Monetary Fund or World Bank) in order to invest in
development projects and programs.
Each of the strategies above has advantages and disadvantages. For each
one try to explain how it would create development and make a list of advantages. Now
make a list of potential disadvantages – share these and discuss them with your
neighbors.
Task 4:
Create a rank with the best to the worst development strategy in your
opinion for the Philippines. Justify your decision in detail.
Task 5:
If you think you could do this… you could try your hand at developing your own country
at the sim country game… link below.
http://www.simcountry.com/