Middle America:
Measures of Development

Introduction
Measures of Economic Development
Human Development Index

Introduction

One of our chapter objectives [mmhome] is to: "Apply the Measures of Economic Development to the Middle American realm. Compare the measures of Middle America with other geographic realms."

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

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

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Measures of Economic Development
[mmmeasur]

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

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

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_10_1_1.html

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