North America:
Measures of Development

Use Table G-1 in your textbook and the maps below to get an idea of how North America ranks [realmmea.htm] economically among the world's realms.

You may want to review the measures of economic development lecture including the section on the Human Development Index [HDI].

Measures of Economic Development
[nameasur.htm] [realmmea.htm] [nacoumea.htm]

1. GDP per capita [wbgnpmap] [gnppctab.htm]
2. Population Growth [wrpopgr] [napopgr]
3. Occupational Structure of the Labor Force [wraglab] [naaglab]
4. Urbanization [wrurban] [naurban]
5. Consumption per capita [wwenergy] [wwtv]
6. Infrastructure [wwtrans] [natransp] [usrr]
7. Social Conditions
   • literacy rate [wwlitrt]
   • life expectancy [wwlifexp] [nalifexp]
   • health care
   • caloric intake
   • infant mortality [wwinfmrt]
   • other

What is the Human Development Index (HDI)? [HDI] [nahdi]

We have indicated that even though GDP per capita is the most used indicator of development, there are some significant problems with it. Therefore, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) computes a Human Development Index (HDI) for each country each year. The human development index (HDI), composed of three indicators: life expectancy, education (adult literacy and combined secondary and tertiary school enrollment) and real GDP per capita.

To see the Human Development Index for individual countries go to: http://www.undp.org/hdr2001/indicator/indic_24_1_1.html

[TOP]