Which of the following terms refer to the broadest measure of economic development of a country?

INTRODUCTION TO THIRD WORLD
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 per capita is an index often used to determine the economic development of a country--the more the GNP per capita the more developed it is. The World Bank classifies countries into four broad categories according to GNP per capita (see Lecture 1a on my Internet Web page for examples of countries):

High Income: $9,266 or more;

Upper Middle Income: $2996 to $9,265

Lower Middle Income $756 to $2,995; and

Low-Income. Less than $756

Human Development Index (HDI) measures the overall quality of life in a country.  A nation's HDI is composed of life expectancy, adult literacy and Gross Domestic Product per capita.  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, MEDIUM HDI. LOW HDI).    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 Lower Middle and Lower Income countries (i.e. countries with less than $3,000 GNP per capita) 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 will live 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.]

Rank size rule: Economists and sociologists have long sought to establish a relationship between the population size of a city and its rank with respect to other cities in a region/ country; the rank-size rule is one such relationship. According to the rank-size rule, if cities of a country are ranked by size of population, the size of the city of rank R will be "one-Rth" of the size of the largest city of the country. Thus:

Rank (R) of city X = (Population of largest city) / (Population of City X)

Thus, the second largest city of a country will have half the population of the largest city; the third largest city will have one-third the population of the largest city; and so on.

Primate cities are cities that are much larger (in terms of population) than other cities in the country. Bangkok (in Thailand) is a prime example of primate city, which is 30 times as large as the second largest city of Chang-mai (Seoul is 34 times larger than the second largest city, Pusan). Primacy is measured by primacy index, which is measured as following:

Primacy Index = (Population of primate city)/ (Sum of population of other cities in country)

Usually primacy is measured with respect to four cities (the primate city and next three large cities), and this is called Four City Primacy Index (FCPI). Thus, if P1 is the population of the primate city, and P2, P3, and P4 are the population of the next three cities, then:

FCPI = P1/ (P1 + P2 + P3 + P4).

Both Rank size rule and Primacy Index are used to judge the optimality of urban hierarchy of a country (i.e. spatial distribution of country's urban population). If cities in a country are indeed distributed according to the Rank size rule, the hierarchy is considered to be optimal. With cities distributed according to Rank size rule (i.e. P1 = 2 * P2; P1 = 3 * P3; P1 = 4 * P4), FCPI will be 0.48. Thus, countries with a FCPI of 4.8 or less will be considered to be have optimal urban hierarchy.

Since population concentration in primate cities tends to create additional problems like overcrowding, pressure on infrastructure, environmental pollution, etc., countries tend to follow policies that can lead to population deconcentration, i.e. to encourage to population growth in other cities. Such policies may include industrial location policies, by which incentives/ subsidies are given to industries to locate in smaller cities so that these cities can grow.

Circulators or daily commuters are those who commute to the city from the nearby rural areas or suburban towns on a daily basis, usually for work. They increase the day-time population of the city.

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 have 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.

Monocentric city refers to a city with one center (or downtown, also called Central Business District in many Third World Cities). Most cities have such a single downtown during their initial phases of growth. Over time, however, one downtown cannot serve the growing population, and other problems arise (traffic congestion, pollution, etc.). Hence, cities become policentric (i.e. cities with many centers, or downtowns). Los Angeles is a typical case of a policentric city, with several downtowns (Los Angeles downtown, Culver City downtown, Westwood downtown, Burbank, Santa Monica, etc.) While many cities in the Third World have been monocentric, they are also following policies that could make them policentric (e.g. Bombay) for a more dispersed development (and consequently to reduce congestion).

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 neglibible 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 non-communicable, 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) are younger, and of child bearing age.
 

What is the broadest measure of economic development of a country?

Which of the following terms refers to the broadest measure of economic?

Which of the following terms is used to refer to the exchange of goods and services?

Is its gross national product divided by its population?