Measuring Development Gaps · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

What development numbers hide

Geography · Places & Regions · ages 15-16
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Why do economists adjust incomes for what money buys locally?

    • To compare what incomes can actually buy
    • To make exchange rates move less each day
    • To punish countries with high prices

  2. What does income per person measure?

    • The pay of a typical worker
    • The average output for each person
    • The total size of the economy

  3. Life expectancy and schooling sit next to income because money alone misses health and opportunity.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. A report calls a country's average income middling, yet visitors see luxury towers beside poor villages. What best explains the puzzle?

    • The average blends a rich capital with poor regions
    • The poverty line was drawn far too low
    • Catch-up growth has already finished there

  5. Two countries make the same total output, but country A has twice the people of country B. What follows?

    • Both rank the same on living standards
    • A must be poorer in every possible way
    • A has about half the income per person of B

  6. A charity counts households that cannot afford enough food and shelter. Which cutoff is it using?

    • An exchange rate
    • An absolute poverty line
    • A relative poverty line

  7. Two poor countries open to trade. One calms conflict and builds schools; the other stays at war. What do you expect?

    • Both catch up at exactly the same speed
    • Trade alone guarantees both will catch up
    • The peaceful one is likelier to narrow the gap

  8. A student says GDP growth must mean cleaner rivers and more free time. What is the mistake?

    • GDP already counts unpaid care work
    • GDP falls whenever leisure time rises
    • GDP counts market output, not clean air or leisure
LightMySky · lightmysky.comW1-mt_bboR-ofYrR-s1

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

What development numbers hide W1-mt_bboR-ofYrR-s1

  1. To compare what incomes can actually buy · Prices differ across places, so the same income buys more in one country than another.
  2. The average output for each person · You divide total output by headcount, so the result is output per person on average.
  3. True · Health and schooling catch things income cannot see, so broader measures sit alongside it.
  4. The average blends a rich capital with poor regions · One national figure can blend extremes into something middling and hide the gap.
  5. A has about half the income per person of B · Same output split across twice the people gives roughly half each.
  6. An absolute poverty line · Absolute lines track survival needs, while relative lines compare people with neighbours.
  7. The peaceful one is likelier to narrow the gap · Catch-up needs adopting ideas plus working schools and calm, so war stalls it.
  8. GDP counts market output, not clean air or leisure · GDP tracks market output, so rivers can get dirtier and stress can rise while it grows.
Worksheet · LightMySky