Notes Class 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography Chapter 3
Notes Class 12 Fundamentals of Human Geography Chapter 3
Development
Growth and development refers to changes over a period of time but the difference
between growth and development is that growth is quantitative but development is
qualitative. Therefore, development is always positive.
Development cannot take place unless there is an increment or addition to the
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existing conditions, but growth can be positive, negative or neutral, positive growth
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does not always led to development.
Development occurs when there is a positive change in qualities. Earlier economic
growth and development of country was seen as one but now they are studied
separately.
Human Development
The idea of human development is supported by the concepts of the following four pillars
of development:
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There are four ways of looking at or approach the problems of human development. Some
of the important approaches are:
Income Approach This approach links the development to incomes as it believes that
income determines the level of freedom that one enjoys.
Welfare Approach Under this approach, government is responsible for providing basic
facilities like health, education and amenities to people.
Basic Needs Approach In this approach, emphasis is on providing six basic needs i.e.
health, education, food, water supply, ” sanitation and housing.
Capability Approach This approach is associated with Prof. Amartya Sen and aims to
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build human capabilities in health, education and-access to resources in order to increase
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human development.
Measuring Human Development
This index measures the shortfall in human development. The index is based on the
probability of not surviving till 40, adult literacy rate, people not having access to clean
drinking water and number of underweight children.
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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990, publishes the Human
Development Report by measuring the Human Development Index and Human Poverty
Index.
This is Gross National Happiness (GNH) which is another measure of accessing human
development and Bhutan is the only country in the world to measure the country’s
progress through GNH. The GNH encourages the qualitative aspect of development.
International Comparisons
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On comparing the human development of different countries, it is revealed that the
size of the territory and per capita income are not directly related to human
development.
For comparisons, the countries are classified into four groups on the basis of human
development scores earned by them.
The countries scoring above 0.802 are categorised under it. There are 49 countries
in this group.
Top ten countries with very high value index are Norway, Australia, Netherlands,
United States, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Germany and Sweden.
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The countries in this group provide education and healthcare which is an important
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government priority as well as invest a lot in the social sector.
Countries scoring between 0.702 and 0.801 are grouped under it. They are 56 in
number.
Good governance and lot of investment in social sector has led to high level of
human development in these countries.
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Medium Level of Human Development
Countries scoring between 0.555 and 0.701 are grouped under it and there are 39
countries in this group. ‘
Many of these countries were former colonies and are facing political instability as
well as high social diversity.
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Low Level of Human Development
Countries scoring below 0.554 are grouped under it and there are 44 countries in it.
These countries are going through political turmoil, social instability, civil war,
famine or high incidence of diseases.
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Internal comparisons reveal that the culture, religion or community are non-
determinants of human development. Rather, pattern of government expenditure
on the social sector, political environment, amount of freedom people have and the
distribution of resources play a decisive role in the level of human development.
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