How can the development gap be reduced / how can human wellbeing be improved globally?
George Yue
The 'development gap' was introduced in 1981 by a West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt. He explained that there was a clear North-South divide where the North holds 80% of the earth's wealth and the south 20%.The development gap among the 196 countries that exist today, is widely recognized as one of the foremost problems of today's society, and improving human wellbeing should be the first step to equality between nations. Human wellbeing is the state of a person's livelihood, happiness and prosperity. The disparity between Human wellbeing among international countries is not difficult to see. In fact, over one billion humans live on less than one dollar a day, whilst in countries such as Australia, Norway and others live in extreme comfort, despite (in some cases), attributing to the state of these less economically developed countries, in the form of invading them for oil and other recourses.
Developing countries excluding LDCs (Least Develop...
Map of developping countries, without least advanc...
Developed countriesThis human development gap can be demonstrated, for example, by the difference in GDP per capita (Gross domestic product divided by the population) between countries.
Another perspective in looking at the gap between not only countries, but individuals, is the income champagne glass wealth distribution.
For decades, third world countries, in particular Africa, has been plagued by debt incurred by governments of developing countries, a large portion of which exceeds the government's ability to repay. A vicious cycle arises as a by-product of this inability to pay: as one finds himself falling short to satisfy contracts & meet the economic demands of their nation, a larger sum of money is borrowed. In turn, debt accrues at an exponential rate, to the point of which they have no hope of ever repaying.
The development gap and the...