Development – The progress of a country in terms of economic growth, the use of technology and human welfare

To remember the meaning of the term Development, use the following mnemonic:

To develop a country is meant (development) to improve life expectancy and literacy, and increase wages.

Social, economic and political indicators are used to measure development in countries throughout the world.

Measuring a country's development is far from straightforward. For instance, a country might score high in one measure but low in another, or one group or area might have better literacy than others.

Also, a country may be economically successful overall, but the wealth may not be shared out equally.

The United Nations uses a composite indicator called HDI (Human Development Index) which includes several important measures, such as

• GNP (gross national product) per capita (per person)
• number of years' schooling
• life expectancy

The measures range from 0 to 1. An HDI between 0.8 and 1 is high and between 0.6 and 0.4 is low.

Generally, countries that are more economically developed are in the northern hemisphere, and most of the less economically developed countries are in the southern hemisphere. However, there are exceptions such as Australia and New Zealand.

The Brandt Line is an imaginary division that divides all of the countries in the world into the rich north and poor south.