DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AND DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
Developed
countries
Ø Slow
population growth due to low birth rate and low death rate.
Ø Availability
of good education and medical facilities.
Ø A
large percentage of labour force employed in the secondary and tertiary
sectors.
Ø Highly
educated and largely trained labour force resulting in high output and income.
Ø Advanced
technology resulting in high output and productivity.
Ø Low
unemployment level
Ø Faster
economic growth and higher standard of living.
Developing
countries
Developing
countries are countries which has the characteristics of high birth rates and
death rates, fast population growth rate, low GNP per head, large agricultural
sectors and over dependence on the export of agricultural commodities.
In a
developing country, the birth rate and death rate will be very high. The reason
why the birth rate is very high is because people are not educated regarding
various birth control techniques such as use of contraceptives and less
education given on family planning. Most of the families do not have a proper
family planning. As a result, the average fertility rate of these countries
will tend to be higher causing a very high birth rate. Similarly, the death
rate of these countries will be high as well due to poor medical facilities
available. The average number of child death in these countries will be high.
Also, the life expectancy of the people in developing countries will tend to be
lower causing the death rate to be high.
Since
the birth rate and death rate is high, the population growth rate of developing
countries will be very high as well. The growth is mainly contributed by the
more than proportionate increase in the birth rate as compare to death rate of
such countries.
Most
of the developing countries will produce agricultural commodities or primary
commodities. They will have a very small secondary sector and tertiary sector.
Most of the households will engage in the production of the agricultural
commodities. And in the market, the agricultural commodities will have a very
low value. As a result of this, the export earning the developing countries
receive will be very low as well.
The
small secondary and tertiary sector along with getting a low level of income
makes the total Gross National Product (GNP) of developing countries to be
small. And as when the GNP per capita is calculated, it is very low due to
large population against the low level of GNP. This makes the country poorer as
per head GNP is poor.
Developing
countries have a very low health and education standards. The number of hospitals
and health centers available for the population is limited and there are very
few doctors and other professionals to give the services. Education is poor and
not every child is given the education as well. The teachers available are as
well untrained and a very few trained teachers.
Due
to the low income developing countries receive, their development projects are
as well very few. Investment by government on building infrastructure and other
development activities are low as well.
The
following table shows the characteristics of a developing country.
|
GDP Per Head
|
Infant
Mortality
|
Birth Rate
|
Death Rate
|
Literacy Rate
|
Fertility Rate
|
|
Low
|
High
|
High
|
High
|
Low
|
High
|
If
these characteristics are seen, then the standard of living of these countries
will be low as well.
Developed
and developing nations and the standard of living
Standard of living refers to the
quantity and quality of goods and services consumed by households during a
given period of time. The more availability of goods and services per person,
the greater will be his standard of living and vice versa.
Ø A
developed country is one in which the real income per person and the average
standard of living is very high compare to living standard of the developing
countries.
Ø A
developing country can be defined as one in which the real income per person
and the average standard of living of the people is very low compare to living
standards in developed countries like UK, USA, Japan etc.
Features
common to most developing and developed countries
Developing
countries
Ø High
rate of population growth due to very high birth rate and death rate.
Ø Lack
of good education and medical facilities.
Ø Large
percentage of labour force employed in the primary sector.
Ø Poorly
educated largely untrained labour force resulting in low output and income.
Ø Technologically
backward resulting low output and productivity.
Ø Large
scale of unemployment due to lack of skills and immobility of labour.
Ø Slow
economic growth and low standard of living.
Ø Narrow
secondary and tertiary sectors.
Reasons for high rate of population
growth between developed and developing country
§
In
developing country the natural increase in
population will be higher due to more birth rate compared to death rate whereas
in a developed country the natural increase in population will be lower due to
of low birth rate and relatively high death rate as compare to the birth rate.
§
In
developing country birth rate will be higher because of lack of education,
early marriage and very less knowledge of using contraceptives. Large family
size is also treated as tradition in developing countries, and in developed
country death rate will be higher because of high aged population.
Occupational Distribution of population
Occupational
distribution of population refers to the percentage of population employed in particular
sector of production. The three sectors of production are primary, secondary
and tertiary.
In a
developing country more people will be in primary sector and in developed
countries most people are working in secondary and tertiary sector.
Why do developing countries spend more
on health education?
Health
educations in developing countries are under taken to reduce the level of
health hazards and consequences that arises in those countries. Majority of
these health education programmes will focus on the following
-
Family
planning: they educate people on the importance of family planning in a attempt
to reduce the number of births in the country.
-
They
provide information regarding HIV/AIDS. Most of developing countries have the
problems of HIV/AIDS. As people are less educated on this issue the number of
HIV/AIDS cases is increasing. Therefore to prevent this, the government of
these countries has taken various health education programmes to cover it. In
some developing countries information regarding the spread of HIV/AIDS is a
part of national curriculum.
Reasons
for underdevelopment of an economy
§
High population growth: Developing countries
have a large growing population which means goods and services have to be
shared among more people, hence the standard of living becomes low.
§
Dependence on agricultural products: In
developing countries people mostly rely on agricultural products. If they
export this agricultural product they get very less and if they want to import
they have to pay more for secondary or tertiary sectors products.
§
Poor Infrastructure: Developing countries have
very poor communication and transportation networks.
§ Lack
of capital: Income of people in developing countries is finished in buying
basic necessary products as a result economy cannot buy all the technology and
capital required for further production
hence they remain poor.
Problems faced by
a developing country
The following are the problems a developing country
faces
1. The problems
of high birth rate and death rate
2. Over
dependence on agricultural sector
3. Large
population migrating to industrial areas (overcrowding of cities)
4. wide
distributed poverty
5. wide spread HIV/AIDS cases
Consequences to
developing countries due to these problems
1. The increased
birth rate causes a large dependent population in the country. As a result of
this, the working population suffers in terms of supporting this population.
Less income is saved causing future development of these countries even
difficult. The government as well has to spend on building schools and other
facilities needed for this large dependent population below 16 years old.
2. Over
dependence on agricultural sector makes the development process slower. The
developing countries receive a very small amount of income by exporting these
commodities. And often the price fluctuation in world agricultural market makes
their income often very uncertain. This hindrances the future development of
the country as government cannot spend much of their income on development
related activities.
Problems faced
to developed country
1. Increase in
ageing population
2. The problem
of deindustrialization