Gapminder Screencast and Analysis

Variable Set 1- As life expectancy rises so does GDP per capita

Variable Set 2- As life expectancy rises children per woman declines.

Part 1
a. In set 1 life expectancy in years rises as the gross domestic income per capita in dollars, which is the total value of goods and services produced in a country divided by it's population, rises. In set 2 Life expectancy in years rises as the average number of children per woman declines.

b. Life expectancy provides insight into economic development because, as shown in the Demographic Transition model, when countries go through the industrial revolution and people start to make more money the life expectancy goes up also. GDP per capita directly gives insight into economic development because if the GDP goes up people have to be making more money on average. The Demographic Transition model also displays why children per woman would provide insight to economic development because in the model as the country experiences economic development the average number of children per woman goes down. Also if there are fewer people fighting for jobs and resources more money will be made.

Part 2
a. North America, Western Europe since 1800 have been two of the most developed regions with Asia following close behind. Africa since 1800 for the most part has always been last in development. As far as the most developed country the U.K. initially was the leader until the U.S. passed it, only to be passed by Kuwait and Qatar in the 1940's. In recent years China has made great leaps from being near the African in the early 1900's to now being close to the far more developed South America countries. Every Continent has it's outlier though. Africa has Seychelles which is fairly close to the top and the Middle East has Qatar which has the highest GDP per capita.

b. One of the main reasons for the economic development of a country is whether or not they are resource rich. An example of this is Qatar. The had a relatively low GDP per capita until oil became an important resource. They then rapidly moved from from the bottom of the pack to having the highest GDP per capita where they remain today. As the amount of interconnectedness a place has increases they will generally have more income from trade and learn about new innovations faster causing them to develop more rapidly. One regional disparity is Africa. Some reasons for this are because they have relatively few resources, they were colonized, and are not connected to the rest of the world. There are many theories for why certain countries are more developed which shows that there is no simple explanation for economic development of a country.

Crossing the Line GIS Activity

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Where is it?
My First new country, Korea, is in South Western Asia. It is west of Japan and east of China. It covers the area currently known as North and South Korea. My second new countries, East Congo and West Congo, are in Central Africa. They are north of Angola and west of Tanzania. They are in the current state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. West Congo is south and west of the Congo and Lualaba Rivers. East Congo is north and east of these two rivers.

WHY are they there?
If or when the North Korean regime collapses, it would lead to the probability of the military boundary opening up. The two country's populations already are of the same ethnic group and speak the same language, so they most likely would like to be united. The two countries were once a nation-state, but due to governmental differences they broke up. This means that the two populations are similar and share common ancestry which is a centripetal force. The reason my second countries could possibly be created is mainly because the Democratic Republic of the Congo should never have been created. It currently has distant, outsiders trying to join up with more prosperous countries which is a major centrifugal force. There are also numerous culture groups within the country which is also a centrifugal force. Finally, it's borders were drawn as a geometric boundary by the French, which means that they weren't looking at the population inside. This makes the country unstable.

Why are they THERE?
For Korea I chose to use a cultural boundary. The culture traits I went off of were race and language.
For East and West Congo I used a physical boundary. I used the Congo and Lualaba Rivers, which are both part of the Congo River system, to separate the country into an east and a west.

What difference will it make?
If North Korea and South Korea joined together it would create an economic change, especially in the poorer North Korea. This could cause some conflict, but I believe that having a nation-state and being reunited with family would outweigh it. It would ultimately create a more peaceful environment in what is now North Korea (assuming they take on South Korea's current government). Overall, I think Korea would be better off than it is now. I also think the Democratic of the Congo would be better if it split up. Currently it is comprised of multiple different groups of people with different economic levels. If it splits up there will be less reason for conflict and the country will start to become more developed.

Cultural Geography Photo Collage

Census Data Mapper Map and Analysis - October 2013

Link to Census Map

The map I chose to analyze was the "Percent family households." The counties with high percentages of family homes seem pretty randomly dispersed, but there were a few trends and locations that stood out. Across the Rockies there is a high percentage of family houses. One trend I saw was that there is a high percentage in suburbs surrounding major cities. The region with the highest percentage of families is the South and the region with the lowest is the North East. The Divisions with the highest percentages are East South Central, West South Central, South Atlantic, and East North Central. On the contrary the Middle atlantic and New England divisions have low percentages of households with families. Surrounding Washington D.C. and the western border of Texas have high numbers of houses with families.

There are numerous reasons for potentially why there are high percentages of family houses in these areas. One possible reason why there were high percentages in suburbs near large cities could be that since there are many jobs in the cities and people with families are generally working age so these counties most likely attract families. Younger people and those without children tend to live in the city because of the city life and quick access to work, but once people have kids they normally prefer to live in a larger house with a yard. Also good school districts attract families so the higher percentages of family households probably have better school districts to attract even more families. A reason why there are fewer family houses in the country is probably related to commuting to work and how long it takes kids to get to school. The average age and the percentage of residents over 65 directly correlates to the percentages of households with families. In the warmer areas of the U.S. there are fewer family households because of the many retired citizens who go there for retirement.

 The percentage of family house holds has an impact on an area economically, politically, culturally and  socially. It affects an area economically because where there are more families there tends to be more jobs so an area will probably prosper more than if there were few families. The percentage affects an area politically. An example of this is that generally people with kids will be more likely to vote for the levy than people with no kids so the school districts should be better where there is a higher percentage of families. Areas with large numbers of families generally have larger neighborhoods of homes so if you live in an area with lots of families you will most likely have neighbors close by and it would probably would be harder to find a large and private piece of land. Locations with high numbers of families probably attract other families, but might detract those without kids because they generally would like to meet others who don't already have a family. There are many push and pull factors to living in a family oriented community which is why families generally attract families and non-families attract non-families.