Changing Economic World

Key Words

Gross National Income (GNI) - value of goods and services produced by a country including income from overseas in a year.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - value of goods and services produced by a country in a year (does not included income from overseas).

Birth rate - number of live babies born per thousand.

Death rate - number of deaths per thousand.

Infant mortality rate - number of babies that die under 1 year per thousand.

Life expectancy - average age a person can expect to live to.

Literacy rate - percentage of adults who can read and write.

Education level - average number of years of schooling.

Human Development Index (HDI) - calculated using life expectancy, literacy rate, education level and income per head.

More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs) - generally found in the north eg. USA, European countries, Australia & New Zealand.

Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) - generally found in the south eg. India, China, Mexico, Brazil & all the African countries.

High Income Countries (HICs) - wealthiest countries in the world.

Low Income Countries ( LICs) - poorest countries in the world.

Newly Emerging Economies (NEEs) - rapidly getting richer countries.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM) - shows how changing birth rates and death rates affect population growth.

Natural increase - more people are being born than are dying, population is growing.

Natural decrease - more people are dying than being born, population is decreasing.

Debt relief - some or all of a country's debt is cancelled, or interest rates are lowered.

Foreign-direct investment (FDI) - people or companies in one country buy property or infrastructure in another.

Fair Trade - farmers get a fair price for goods produced in LICs.

Intermediate Technology - tools, machines and systems that improve quality of life that are easy to use and cheap.

Microfinance Loans - small loans for people in LICs.

Also see Urban Issues & Challenges