This KS3 Geography quiz is about comparing rich and poor. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product and is used to compare the wealth of different countries. The richer countries can afford better facilities like schools, hospitals and proper roads. In the world's poorest countries, most of the roads are just dirt tracks and few people outside of the big cities have any access to education or regular health care. In order to be able to directly compare the GDP of different countries, it is given in United States Dollars instead of the country's own currency.
Poor countries are often described as LEDCs. This stands for Less Economically Developed Countries. The majority of LEDCs are in tropical areas, which includes sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). GDP isn't the only way of comparing the rich countries to the poor countries. The Human Development Index (HDI) is also used. As well as taking into account the number of people per doctor and access to education, it looks also at literacy rates and life expectancy. LEDCs usually have an economy based on agriculture, with many of the poorest people being subsistence farmers whose families have to survive on a low calorie diet.
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The formula for working it out is very complicated but, put simply, you can think of it as being the total value of goods produced, divided by population
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Currency exchange rates change from minute to minute - if every country's GDP is worked out in the same currency, it means that they can be compared directly
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Richer countries tend to be in temperate areas with milder temperatures
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People in the richest countries can afford to buy more food, so their calorie intake is higher than for people in poorer countries
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Less Economically Developed Country
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It is difficult to develop an industrial economy in large areas of Africa
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Gross National Product - it is GDP plus any money earned from abroad
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The 'First World' countries are the world's richest nations
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The rate of exchange between ALL currencies is constantly changing
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Life in this part of the world is extremely tough
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