Data
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Rostow's Model for Development and Human Index Rate
Rostow's Model for Development is a way of judging how developed a country is. There are five stages: The traditional society, the preconditions of takeoff, the takeoff, the drive to maturity and the age of mass consumption. The traditional society is a highly undeveloped country where the majority of people are involved in agriculture and other primary jobs. They also have limited technology and low economic/class mobility. Countries in the preconditions to takeoff stage begin to initiate economic activities. The country then starts to invest in new technologies that eventually increase productivity, leading to a higher stage of development. The third stage, Takeoff, contains countries where rapid growth is generated, yet limited to activities such as textiles or the food industry. These few industries grow and develop while the rest of the economy remains traditional. The drive to maturity is when modern technology diffuses to more industries that then grow rapidl. This leads to more skilled and specialized workers. The last stage, the age of mass consumption, includes countries like the U.S. These countries have a shift in production from industries such as steel and energy to consumer goods such as automobiles. Consumers in these places generally have disposable income for non-basic needs.
The Human Development Index, created by the United Nations, distinguishes a countries level of development based on economic, social and demographic factors. GDP is the economic indicator of development. It tells you the value of the total output of goods and services produced by a country; the higher the GDP, the better. The two social factors are Education and literacy, and health and welfare. In an MDC, there is a high quantity and quality of education and people are generally healthier. The demographic indicator of development is life expectancy. An MDC would have a higher life expectancy rate because better technology and more money for schools, hospitals, wellfare, etc. allow people to live longer, healthier lives.
The Human Development Index, created by the United Nations, distinguishes a countries level of development based on economic, social and demographic factors. GDP is the economic indicator of development. It tells you the value of the total output of goods and services produced by a country; the higher the GDP, the better. The two social factors are Education and literacy, and health and welfare. In an MDC, there is a high quantity and quality of education and people are generally healthier. The demographic indicator of development is life expectancy. An MDC would have a higher life expectancy rate because better technology and more money for schools, hospitals, wellfare, etc. allow people to live longer, healthier lives.
Process
When selecting what criteria I would base my map off of, I wrote down the first two things that came to mind when I thought about MDCs vs. LDCs. Those two things were the literacy rate and the income per person. I decided that literacy rate would be the independent variable since the better education you have, the better job you get, and that means more money. Then I picked the three stages of development I wanted to focus on; traditional society, drive to maturity and the age of mass consumption. I then decided that Sudan was a traditional society with little to no development, Chine was in the drive to maturity stage and Italy had reached the age of mass consumption. After that it was easy, I just checked off those three countries, selected my variables from the drop down menu and created my graph!
Analysis
These three countries, Sudan, China and Italy do follow Rustow's development model. As the literacy rate in each country increased, so did the GDP per capita. This means that each country began working towards development, moving from a tradition society upwards. There were no dips or spikes in any of the countries paths, all three increased at a fairly steady rate which indicates that they are gradually moving through the 5 stages, not skipping or hanging on one in particular.