Indicators of wellbeing

Learning Objectives

To define and describe quantitative and qualitative indicators.
To explain how and why we as geographers use indicators to study human wellbeing and development.
To assess the pro's and con's of using indicators to study human development and wellbeing.

Measuring human wellbeing

Wellbeing is an overall measure of the ability of human beings to access the things they need in order to live happy and healthy lives. There are differences in wellbeing on many different scales – from one suburb of a city to the next (local scale), from one part of a country to another (national scale), or between different countries around the world (international scale).

Development

Geographers use social, economic and political indicators to measure development in countries throughout the world. Developed countries have better standards of living than less developed countries.

Quantitative Indicator - easily measured and and can be stated numerically (using numbers - in a spreadsheet for example), such as annual income, or how many (number of) doctors there are in one country.

Qualitative Indicator - used to measure things that are not easily measured! For example - personal freedom, safety, happiness. Usually gained through observation - can't necessarily 'quantify' or turn it into numbers.

1. In your books - define qualitative and quantitative.

2. Imagine you are studying the wellbeing/development of people within a particular country. Classify the following into a table as to whether you think it is a qualitative or quantitative indicator of wellbeing within that country.

number of motor vehicles
proportion of seats held by women in parliament
unemployment
electric power consumption
green areas - forest/park/bush
obesity
quality of teaching within a school
freedom of speech
how safe people feel walking at home at night
trust between neighbours
access to public transport

Read through the following information and then complete the activities.

Development indicators

One of the key questions to ask about development is the standard of living of the people who live in a country. There are many different ways to measure the quality of life or level of development of a place. These are called development indicators.

1. What is GDP? Define and explain.

2. For each of the 'social indicators' listed above in the table, research the data of Australia and put into a table, like the one above. Research by typing into Google 'Australia Life Expectancy' etc.

3. Watch the 'draw me the economy' video on the left. Choose from the following indicators to create your own, using the video software on your device OR by drawing a 2D cartoon, and upload it to the Google Classroom.

Literacy Rate.
Unemployment Rate.
Birth Rate.
Infant Mortality Rate.
Freedom of Speech.
Equality between men and women.
Fair distribution of Wealth.
Percentage in Primary Education.

Do indicators tell us everything we need to know?

What might be some of the problems with using indicators to tell us about the wellbeing and development of a particular country?

List them in your books.

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