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When measuring social development, there are many possible indicators to consider. Often, the use of life expectancy (health) and adult literacy rate (education) are two reliable indicators which paint a picture of how socially developed countries are. From these figures we are able to reach many conclusions, as well as measure progress over time.

For example, in South Africa the percentage of the population who had no formal schooling in 1996 was 19.1 per cent, but had dropped massively to 8.7 per cent in 2011. This suggests that more South African children are being educated.

When assessing social development we must also consider gender where there are often massive differences.

Using data to measure development

Within geography, a range of contemporary and historical data may be presented in a number of ways. Commonly maps, graphs and tables of information are presented for analysis.

Using maps

Choropleth maps are colour-coded maps which show a range of values, and are very valuable tools in geography. The map of India shows the average life expectancy in 2016 across the Indian regions. The darker regions are those with the highest life expectancy, the lighter colours are those regions with the lowest life expectancy.

Tables of information

A table of information also allows us to reach conclusions about how developed a country is. The tables show another measure of health which can be useful – Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). Every country has managed to reduce the number of children dying before their first birthday. However, the tables also indicate that the figures for sub-Saharan African countries are much higher than South Asian countries, which suggests that sub-Saharan Africa is still less developed than South Asia.

Using graphs

Graphs can be both simple and complex, but unlike a table they are able to provide a simple visual relationship between different development indicators. The scatter graph below shows the relationship between life expectancy (health), and income per person (wealth), of every country in the world. This graph shows a trend or pattern. Generally, the higher the income the higher the life expectancy. There are also anomalies in the data, eg South Africa’s life expectancy is much lower than expected and does not fit the trend.