How does uneven development affect the health of people?
Uneven development leads to differences in health. People tend to be healthier and live much longer in HICs than LICs. You can see evidence of this using the interactive life expectancy map on the WHO website using the following link: gamapserver.who.int/gho/interactive_charts/mbd/life_expectancy/atlas.html
Stretch and Challenge - Can you find the countries with the highest and lowest life expectancy?
In LICs 4 in every 10 deaths are among children under 15 years. Whereas, in HICs only 1 in every 100 deaths is among children under 15 years. Infant mortality is higher in LICs as they have worse healthcare, less doctors per person, less access to vaccinations, worse medical equipment and a poorer diet.
In HICs the main causes of death are chronic heart diseases, cancer, dementia or diabetes; and lung infections are the only main infectious cause of death. In contrast, in LICs infectious diseases are the main cause of death, lung infections, HIV/Aids, diarrhoea and malaria account for a third of all deaths. Deaths from infectious diseases are much higher in LICs because people have less access to vaccinations and worse healthcare. Whereas, HICs vaccinate people against infectious diseases.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites transmitted to people by infected mosquitoes.
80% of deaths from Malaria occur in Africa, where one child dies every minute from the disease.
Uneven development causes disparities (great differences) in health with the wealthier and more developed African countries having fewer cases of Malaria due to vaccination programmes. In contrast, poorer African countries struggle to afford vaccinations.
How does uneven development affect the wealth of people?
There is a strong link between a country's development and the wealth of its population. HICs, the most developed countries, have the greatest wealth. Whereas, LICs, the least developed countries, have the least wealth. The wealth of a country can be measured using Gross National Income (GNI).
In 2014, Africa had 12% of the world's population but only 1% of global wealth. In contrast, North America had 5% of the world's population but a huge 35% of global wealth.
How does uneven development lead to international migration?
Uneven development can lead to people migrating in search of a better standard of living and quality of life.
Economic migration to the UK
The BBC has reported that between 2004 and 2009, an estimated 1.5 million people from eastern Europe came to the UK. It is thought 700,000 of them stayed, with half a million from Poland (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13251614).
The main push factor away from Poland was the high unemployment rate of 10% in Poland. The main pull factor to the UK was higher wages.
The benefits of economic migration to the UK are that most migrants pay tax, which is good for the UK economy (Eastern European migrants have added an estimated £5 billion to Britain's GDP since 2004); and migrants are often hard working. The disadvantage of economic migration to the UK is that migrants put pressure on services such as healthcare and education.
Syrian refugees
Civil war started in Syria in 2011, killing or injuring 470,000 people (11.5% of Syria's population) and leaving the country in economic ruin.
Infrastructure and services have been badly damaged. The charity World Vision has reported that "within Syria, 95 percent of people lack adequate healthcare and 70 percent lack regular access to clean water. Half the children are out of school. The economy is shattered, and 80 percent of the population lives in poverty" (www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts#why-flee).
It is no surprise that 4 million people have fled the country as refugees (people forced to move). Thousands have travelled across the Mediterranean to Europe in search of a better life.
Germany has offered asylum to many of these migrants. Other destinations have included Sweden, France and the UK. The UK government has agreed to accept 20,000 refugees by 2020 and is considering accepting more (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43157002).