Global Maps

The North-South Divide (Brandt line)

The map above shows the inequality between more ecnomically developed countries and less economically developed countries. Most of the MEDCs are found in the northen hemisphere, with the exception of Australia, New Zealand and some of the recently developed asian tiger countries. This map was based upon the Brandt line which was created in the 1970s and was a visual depiction of the North-South divide.

Positives of this Map:

Simplifies data so that it's easy to understand.
GDP is used which is an easy to access data source.

Negatives of this Map:

Doesn't include some countries which are more economically developed.
Generalised patterns with some countries above the Brandt line less developed less than some below.

[Map Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-South_divide]

Human Development Index

The HDI or Human Development Index is a measure of the quality of life in a given area. It takes into account life expectancy, adult literacy and GDP. It was developed by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and has been used by the UN since 1990. The index itself is an integer between 0 and 1, one being the highest.

Top 5 Highest HDI in 2007:

Norway (0.971)
Australia (0.970)
Iceland (0.969)
Canada (0.966)
Ireland (0.965)

Positives of Map:

Shows more detail than the Brandt line with more data for each individual country.
Relatively simple to idendify which countries are more developed than others.

Negatives of Map:

Doesn't show the distribution of wealth within countries. And doing so doesn't reflect the true level of developement, for example Brazil with a different standard of living between the Amazon rainforest and the Golden Triangle.

[Map Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index]

Gross Domestic Product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a basic measurement of the ecnomic performance and national income of a country. Gross national product (GNP) is very similar to GDP, the only difference is that GDP defines its results based on geographical location whereas GNP's results are based upon ownership.