GCSE Geography | Physical Causes of the Development Gap (Development Gap 6)

Countries around the globe experience different rates of development - with some able to develop much more easily than others, which leads to a development gap.

There are many physical reasons for the gap in development...

Landlocked

If a country is landlocked it means it has no coastline, and therefore no ports. Countries struggle to trade without access to ports, and often have to make expensive agreements with neighbouring countries to move goods through them. Uganda is an example of a landlocked country, many of its exports are shipped across Lake Victoria to Kenya and then taken by train to the ocean port at Mombasa, which is far more expensive than if they had their own ports to export goods from. There is also the risk that the neighbouring country can remove this trade access whenever they like, making the landlocked country vulnerable to political decisions it has no control over.

Climate

If a place has too little rainfall or unreliable rainfall people may not have safe water to drink or enough water for farming and industry, which affects food security and the ability to make money. In extreme cases droughts can cause crop failure, leading to famine and starvation.

Drought affects the ability to trade crops, but it also affects health as people are weaker, and therefore less productive. The Sahel region of Africa often suffers from droughts, limiting its development. On the flip side, some countries experience severe flood events, such as those in SE Asia which have a monsoon season, which destroy crops and property, and can deter tourists from visiting for several months, lowering income.

Temperature is also an issue - if it is too hot or too cold this means that there is a lack of food that can be grown which affects trade and food security.

The climate also can lead to pests and diseases - for example, locusts are common in semi-arid regions, which can ravage crops, destroying food supplies and produce that was meant for export (see image below). Whereas in tropical regions pests such as mosquitoes thrive and cause diseases like sleeping sickness and malaria, which can have a devastating impact on the health of people and livestock, meaning that people are less able to work, which affects agricultural and industrial output. In addition, people may be less inclined to visit countries where there is a risk of tropical disease.

And of course there are other outbreaks of disease, not related to climate, that can also affect tourism and investment opportunities, for example the outbreak of Ebola in 2015 had a huge impact in West Africa with borders of some countries actually shutting to contain the outbreak, and more recently Covid 19 stopped travel for a significant period so had a huge impact on tourism reliant LICs.

Natural disasters

Different parts of the world are prone to natural hazards such as droughts, floods, tropical storms or earthquakes. Natural disasters can cause huge amounts of damage to houses, businesses and infrastructure, which affects the economy and takes a long time to recover from.

In 2013 Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, killing 6,300 people and destroying 90% of the city of Tacloban. The typhoon led to flooding and landslides, which blocked roads, and shortages of clean water led to the spread of waterborne diseases, such as cholera and typhoid.

In 2010 Haiti was hit by a devastating magnitude 7.2 earthquake which killed approximately 220,000 people, with much of the city of Port-au-Prince destroyed (see image below). In the days and weeks after people struggled to access food, clean water and emergency medical supplies and thousands died from outbreaks of waterborne diseases. At the time Haiti was (and still is) the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and the Haitian government reported that the earthquake had set development in the country back by 30 years, largely because so much money was needed to fund the recovery and therefore not available for the services vital for a good quality of life.

Relief and drainage

Mountainous areas are hard to develop due to remoteness and inaccessibility, which means it is difficult to develop industry so people are mainly limited to grazing livestock in order to make money. Nepal is a good example of this, although there are many people who make a living through tourism from people trekking the Himalayas.

Drainage networks also affect development - countries with long rivers which are navigable, meaning they can be used by ships, can transport goods and people more easily than countries with shorter rivers or rivers which are difficult to navigate due to rapids or shallow sections. The River Mississippi in the USA drains a third of the country and has been a major factor in the development of farming and industry.

This also links to flood potential - Bangladesh is one of the world's most low-lying countries with 80% of it less than one metre above sea level. It also has three of the world's biggest rivers flowing through and meeting at a huge delta in the Bay of Biscay - the Ganges, the Bramaputra and the Megna, and has snowmelt from the Himalayas. Once the monsoon season is underway Bangladesh experiences widespread severe flooding every year (see image below), leading to outbreaks of disease, crops and livestock being washed away, and disruption to trade.