Historic factors:
● Colonialism
○ Colonisation = when a country is ruled by a foreign country
○ Colonialism has harmed many countries/created conflict
○ 1700s/1800s → most of “global south” was colonised by European nations
■ eg/ Britain, France and Spain
○ Aim was to build global influences in order to better compete against rival European states
○ Wanted access to raw materials and labour
○ Affected South American, African and Asian cultures
■ eg/ Transatlantic slave trade
○ Ended in 20th century
■ eg/ India/Nigeria gained independence from the UK in 1947/1960
○ Gaining independence caused new problems
■ Colonising powers neglected aspects of the country
■ Took too many resources (raw materials)
■ Controlled the economy
● eg/ DR of Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960
○ Belgium had neglected the DRC’s education system
○ Only 14 university graduates
○ Power struggles took place in newly independent countries (especially if natural resources were at
stake)
○ May lead to famine and malnutrition (eg/ Africa)
● Conflict
○ Major development obstacle for LICs
○ Persistent political problems
○ Ethnic conflict
■ 5 million deaths in Uganda due to ethnic conflict
○ eg/ Syria (ongoing war since 2002)
■ 6 million people have lost their homes
■ Many live in refugee camps
■ 90% no longer receive an education
○ War reduces rate levels of development
■ Healthcare becomes worse
■ Infant mortality increases
○ Money is spent on arms/fighting/aftermath of war instead of development
■ People are killed
■ Damage done to infrastructure/property
Economic factors:
● TNCs (transnational corporations) buy material/food from LICs at low prices that jeopardise economic
development
○ International organisations (eg/ World Trade Organisation ) have been criticized for not doing
enough to establish fair terms of global trade
○ LICs do not make enough money to support their country/ help it develop
○ Corrupt leaders of LICs have profited personally from selling resources cheaply to TNCs
○ Food prices fluctuate wildly depending on competition/quality of crops
● NEEs benefit from global trade
○ eg/ China’s leaders have focused on developing manufacturing industries
■ Result in rapid economic growth in recent decades
Poor trade links
○ Trade = exchange of goods/services between countries
○ Poor trade links → won’t make a lot of money
○ Less money to spend on development
● Loss of debt
○ Poor countries borrow money from other countries /international organisations
■ eg/ to help cope with aftermath of natural disaster
○ Money needs to be paid back = debt
○ Any money the country makes is used to pay back debt, not used for development
● Economy based on primary products
○ Primary products = raw materials like wood, metal and stone
○ Not much profit
○ Prices fluctuate – price can fall below cost of production → no profit
○ Less money = less to spend on development
○ Countries that export manufactured goods tend to be more developed , HICs
■ Decent profit is made
○ LICs do not have the money to set these types of industries up
○ HICs can force down prices from LICs
● Political corruption
○ Development in health, education, roads, power generation and clean water are less
○ Leads to lack of investment in key areas –
■ Roads
■ Rail
■ Telecommunication
○ Could lead to poverty
Physical factors:
● Physical factors can be overcome by human ingenuity and money
○ Poor climate
■ Crops won’t grow due to poor climate
■ Reduces amount of food produced
■ Can lead to malnutrition → low QOL
● eg/ Chad and Ethiopia
■ Tropical countries suffer from diseases
● eg/ malaria
■ People get ill and cannot work → limiting development
○ Poor farming land
■ Steep/ poor soil will hinder the production of food
■ People have fewer crops to sell → less money to spend on goods/services → low QOL
■ Government gets less money from taxes
● Less to spend on developing the country (eg/ healthcare, education)
○ Few raw materials
■ Raw materials = coal, oil and metal ores
■ Countries which lack materials tend to make less money
■ They’ve got fewer products to sell
■ Less money to spend on development
■ Some countries have raw materials, but don’t have money to develop infrastructure to
exploit them
Natural hazards/disasters
■ Natural hazard = natural process which could cause death/injury/disruption to humans or
destroy property/possessions
■ Natural disaster = a natural process that has already happened
■ A lot of money is spent on rebuilding after disaster
■ Reduces QOL for people who were affected
■ Reduce amount of money government has to spend on development projects
● eg/ Port-au-Prince, Haiti (2010 earthquake)
■ HICs also suffer from natural hazards
● eg/ Japan, Italy and Iceland all located on plate boundaries
○ Coastlines
■ Lack of coast = lower levels of development
■ No coastline = no ports
■ Unable to trade goods without ports
● eg/ out of the 15 lowest-ranking HDI countries, 8 have no coastline
● eg/ World’s 45 landlocked countries are NEEs or LICs