The causes and consequences of uneven development: the physical, historical, economic and political causes of uneven development, the consequences at the global scale and within an LIC and an NIC, and strategies to reduce the development gap.

What this dot point is asking

This is part of Eduqas GCSE Geography A (C111) Theme 6, Development and Resource Issues, a core theme in Component 2. Eduqas expects you to explain the physical, historical, economic and political causes of uneven development, the consequences at the global scale and within an LIC and an NIC, and the strategies used to reduce the development gap.

The causes of uneven development

Eduqas groups the causes under four headings.

• Physical causes: a harsh climate (drought, extreme heat) makes farming hard; frequent natural hazards (earthquakes, storms, floods) destroy infrastructure; being landlocked raises trade costs; and a lack of resources (or poor soils, tropical disease such as malaria) limits income.
• Historical causes: colonialism saw richer countries take land, minerals and labour from colonies, leaving them poor and dependent, and drew arbitrary borders that fuelled later conflict.
• Economic causes: unfair trade (poor countries export low-value raw materials and import expensive manufactured goods), crippling debt repayments, and reliance on a single export whose price can crash.
• Political causes: corruption, conflict and war, and weak or unstable government that cannot invest in development.

The consequences of uneven development

Uneven development has consequences at every scale.

• Globally: a wide gap between rich and poor countries in income, health, education and opportunity.
• Within an LIC (such as an African country): widespread poverty, poor health and education, low life expectancy, and people leaving rural areas or the country for work.
• Within an NIC (such as India or Brazil): rapid growth creates stark inequality, with wealthy modern cities alongside slums and poor rural regions, and large rural-urban migration.
• Migration: people move from poorer to richer areas and countries in search of work, sending money (remittances) home but draining the poorer area of workers.

Strategies to reduce the development gap

Many strategies aim to narrow the gap.

• Aid: money, goods or expertise given by richer countries or charities (emergency aid in a crisis; long-term aid for schools, clinics and water).
• Fair trade: guarantees producers a fair, stable price, so farmers earn more.
• Trade and investment: encouraging industry and foreign investment (TNCs) to create jobs and growth, the route the NICs took.
• Microfinance: small loans to individuals to start businesses.
• Debt relief: cancelling debt so money can go to development instead of repayments.
• Intermediate (appropriate) technology: simple, affordable, local-scale technology (hand pumps, solar lamps) that suits local needs.

Eduqas rewards judging which work best and recognising that long-term, capacity-building strategies tend to be the most effective.

Try this

Q1. Explain one economic cause of uneven development. [4 marks]

• Cue. Unfair trade means poorer countries export low-value raw materials and import expensive manufactured goods, so they earn little and stay poor.

Q2. Explain how fair trade can help reduce the development gap. [4 marks]

• Cue. Fair trade guarantees producers a fair, stable price for their goods, so farmers in poorer countries earn more and can invest in their communities.