2. Factors influencing development
• The factors influencing a country’s
development are social, historical,
economic and political.
Understanding reasons why a
country may be in poverty is a way
to help with its development.
• Physical factors
• Economic factors
• Social factors
• Historical factor
3.
4. Physical factors
The Sahel region in Africa suffers from a
lack of rainfall. This means that droughts
are common. The result is that crops may
suffer. There are certain diseases which
thrive in tropical climates, such as malaria
and yellow fever, because of the hot and
humid conditions.
Climate
Natural hazards
Floods, droughts and tectonic activity can
limit future growth and destroy buildings
and agricultural areas. This also means a
country may divert income to help recover
from these events
Landlocked countries
16 countries in Africa are landlocked. This
means it is more difficult to trade as goods
have to be driven through other countries
to get to the coast for shipping. It is also
more difficult for new technology to reach a
landlocked country, as the fiber optic
cables are laid under the ocean.
Natural resources
Natural resources such as minerals, gas
and oil can help improve a country's level
of development. However this is closely
tied in with the ability to exploit the
resource for the benefit of the country.
There are also countries, such as Japan,
which are low in natural resources, but
have based their development on human
factors such as education and skills.
5. Historical development
Colonialism hindered a developing country's level of
development. A colony helped supply food and
minerals to countries like Britain and France. There
was investment in colonies, but this was focused on
things that would help the trade between the
countries.
Borders of some colonial countries were set without
attention to tribal and cultural differences, causing
tensions and instability.
Political factors
Poor governance does not help a country
to develop. Money that could be spent on
development may be used to fund military
weapons or an affluent lifestyle of an elite
group of people.
6. Corruption/poor
management - countries need
strong, stable and honest leaders to help
them develop.
War - wars use up resources and make
it difficult to produce goods and trade.
Trade - goods are traded on a global
scale but it is difficult for poor countries to
compete. Some believe the rules of trade
are unfair. Rich countries can raise tariff
barriers to stop cheap imports undercutting
their own goods. In the past some
countries made money by colonising other
countries and using their raw materials to
produce manufactured goods.
7. Social factors
A poorer country finds it more difficult to
invest in education. The problem is made
worse because many countries have a
high dependency ratio. Having money to
invest in a healthcare system is important
for a country to develop. That is because it
is difficult for sick people to work hard.
Clean water is essential for health. One in
six people do not have access to safe
water. If water is not safe, people may be
unable to work or care for their families
because of illness
8. TERMS AND
MEANINGS
dependency ratio;
Calculates the proportion of people who
are unable to work. Usually these are the
youngest and oldest members of a society.
Governance;
The way a country is run by the
government.
Landlocked;
A country which is totally surrounded by
land or whose coastline surrounds a closed
sea.
Tropical;
A very hot, humid country or environment
9. Urban issues and
challenges in LICs and
NEEs
Urban growth is defined as the rate at
which the population of an urban area
increases. This result from urbanization
which is the movement of people from rural
areas to urban areas..
The highest rates of population growth are
occurring in low income countries (LICs),
such as Zimbabwe, Malawi and Niger.
Some countries are experiencing
population decline, for example Japan,
Russia and Ukraine.
10. Causes of urban growth
The population of cities usually changes in
one of two ways:
1. Natural increase (or decrease) - this is
the difference between the number of
births and the number of deaths.
2. Migration - this is the movement of
people into or out of the city.
• More and more people are leaving
rural areas and moving to cities. This
is called rural to urban migration.
People move because of push and
pull factors. Push factors are things
that make people want to leave rural
areas and pull factors are the things
that attract people to the city.
11. • Possible push factors
• unemployment
• lower wages
• crop failure
• poor living conditions
• poor health and education services
• few facilities
• natural disasters
• civil war
• Possible pull factors
• more jobs
• higher wages
• better living conditions
• better education and health services
• better facilities
• less chance of natural disasters
