Causes of Uneven Development

Why Do Some Countries Develop More Than Others?

Development is uneven — both between countries (global scale) and within them (regional scale). Geographers identify four broad categories of cause: physical, historical, economic and political.

Physical Causes

Physical geography creates advantages and disadvantages for development:

Landlocked Countries

Countries without access to the sea face higher trade costs (goods must travel through other countries). 32 of the world's 44 landlocked countries are LICs or LMICs (e.g., Mali, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Nepal). Contrast with island nations/coastal countries that can trade easily by sea.

Climate and Disease

• Hot, humid tropical climates suit disease vectors: malaria (sub-Saharan Africa, tropical Asia), dengue fever, sleeping sickness — reducing labour productivity and health outcomes
• Sub-Saharan Africa loses an estimated 1.3% of GDP annually to malaria
• Temperate climates have lower disease burdens → historical productivity advantage

Natural Hazard Risk

Countries exposed to regular natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical storms, droughts) face frequent economic setbacks:

• Haiti is frequently struck by earthquakes and hurricanes — development is repeatedly set back
• Bangladesh: annual flooding; cyclones — but has managed development well compared to many LICs

Natural Resources

Resource endowment can support development — but only if managed well:

• Oil wealth in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Norway → high GDP
• Resource curse: some resource-rich countries (Nigeria, DRC) have high inequality and corruption because resource revenues benefit elites, not the population as a whole

Historical Causes

Colonialism

European colonisation (16th–20th century) is one of the most significant long-term causes of the development gap:

• Colonies were exploited for raw materials (rubber, cotton, copper) — profits went to the colonial power, not the colony
• Colonial powers drew arbitrary borders (ignoring ethnic/cultural boundaries) → ethnic conflict after independence
• Education, infrastructure and healthcare were developed unevenly — mainly to serve colonial exploitation
• Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America were all shaped by colonialism

Example: The Congo (DRC) — exploited by Belgium for rubber and minerals under brutal colonial rule; political instability and poverty after independence are closely linked to colonial exploitation.

The Slave Trade

The transatlantic slave trade (16th–19th century) forcibly removed millions of people from West Africa, depriving those regions of population and economic development while benefiting the Caribbean plantation economy and European merchant capital.

Cold War Effects

US and Soviet Union both supported authoritarian governments that served their strategic interests — often at the expense of development, good governance and democracy in affected countries.

Economic Causes

Debt

Many LICs borrowed heavily in the 1970s (often at high interest rates) to fund development. When commodity prices fell and interest rates rose in the 1980s, many countries could not repay. Debt repayments consumed government revenue that could have been spent on education and healthcare. The HIPC Initiative (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) and Jubilee Debt Campaign campaigned for debt relief.

Trade Inequality

• Terms of trade: LICs typically export raw materials (coffee, cocoa, copper) at low prices; HICs add value through manufacturing and sell finished goods back at much higher prices
• LICs are price takers, not price makers — commodity prices fluctuate on global markets
• Trade barriers: HICs impose tariffs and subsidies on imports that protect their own farmers — making it hard for LIC agricultural exporters to compete

Dependency Theory

Some economists argue that LICs remain poor because the global economic system is designed to benefit HICs — trade rules, international institutions (IMF, World Bank) and transnational corporations (TNCs) all reinforce the dependency of poorer countries on richer ones.

Political Causes

Corruption and Governance

Poor governance and corruption divert public resources away from development:

• Zimbabwe under Mugabe: land redistribution policy + corruption → economic collapse, hyperinflation
• Somalia: long-term civil war and absence of stable government → near-zero development

War and Conflict

• Conflict destroys infrastructure, displaces population, deters investment, disrupts education and healthcare
• South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan — among the lowest HDI countries in the world, all affected by long-term conflict

Government Policy

Development-oriented governments can achieve rapid progress even from a low base:

• South Korea: transformed from one of the world's poorest countries in 1960 to a wealthy HIC by 2000 — through strategic government investment in education and manufacturing
• Rwanda: despite the 1994 genocide, has achieved consistently high economic growth through strong governance, anti-corruption measures and strategic foreign investment

WJEC Exam Tips

• Use all four categories (physical, historical, economic, political) in extended answers to show breadth
• For evaluation questions: which is the most important cause? — a strong answer argues that historical causes (colonialism) underpin many economic and political weaknesses, but some countries have overcome difficult starts (South Korea, Botswana)
• Don't forget within-country inequality — development is uneven within countries too (e.g., London vs. NE England; north vs. south India)