Geography Notes 2025 PDF - Wellbeing, Education and Health

Geography notes 2025 Term 1 Defining wellbeing:  Geographers define wellbeing as the ability of people to access the things they need to live happy, healthy and contented lives.  Basic requirements for people are the same no matter where the people live  The primary...

Geography notes 2025 Term 1 Defining wellbeing:  Geographers define wellbeing as the ability of people to access the things they need to live happy, healthy and contented lives.  Basic requirements for people are the same no matter where the people live  The primary requirements include: o Fresh water o A secure food supply o Shelter o Clothing o Safety  Once the primary requirements are met, things such as good health, the ability to make a decent living and access to education become important in determining an individual’s level of wellbeing.  The ability to meet these needs varies a lot within communities, countries and between countries  Many people around the world struggle simply to find enough food to eat or enough water to drink every day while other people lack access to good health care or the ability to send their children to school, which leads to a wide variation in human wellbeing  Geographers are interested in describing these variations, exploring possible reasons for the variations, analysing any strategies introduced to improve wellbeing and o ering possible responses to resulting problems.  Three of the most important variables that influence levels of wellbeing around the world today are wealth, health and education. Wealth  Access to the basic necessities of life (and other wants) are determined largely ny the degree of wealth a person has and their ability to earn a living.  Wealth is generated by producing and selling things, earning wages from work, making investments or owning assets.  If a person has enough wealth, they can use it to access a wide variety of goods and services. However if they don’t, they may struggle to buy things such as food, medicine and tools that they could use to generate more wealth Health  Human health is a ected by a wide range of factors including: o Clean air o Clean water o Secure supply of nutritious food  These factors are all vital but other factors are also important, including: o The ability of a community to treat and control the spread of diseases o Provide health care when individuals are sick or injured o Care for the vulnerable such as babies and the aged o Provide emergence services in times of crisis Geography notes 2025 Term 1  Access to healthcare is very important during natural disaster such as a drought or man – made disasters such as war, which can limit supply of food and water – People living in war-torn countries often struggle to find the basic requirements needed for a healthy life. Education  Access to a formal education is viewed by many people as the key to improving wellbeing  Being able to read and write gives people access to a greater number of services and provides a range of options that can lead to better jobs, higher wages and improved standards of living  Education also increases people’s self esteem and allows them to have more control over their future  In many countries, poverty and conflict are the two major reasons why children do not attend school.  Education can be especially di icult for girls to obtain, because in many cultures educating boys is seen as more worthwhile – they prefer to have their daughters helping out at home.  Despite these obstacles, rates of schooling and literacy (the ability to read and write) are increasing around the world Di erent views of wellbeing  We use factors like our values, beliefs, history, environment, level of education, language and culture to define wellbeing. Common indicators of wellbeing:  Geographers often rely on a range of quantitative data to measure and compare levels of wellbeing around the world  Most common measures are Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and literacy rates.  Referred to as universal indicators because the data they provide is easily obtained and allows geographers to make basic international comparisons  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) provides a measure of the total market value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a given year.  By dividing the GDP of a country by the total number of people living there, the GDP per capita can be calculated  This gives an approximation of the value of goods and services produced per person in the country each year, which is then used to assess the average productivity and wealth of individuals.  Literacy rates give an indication of the number of people in a population who are able to read and write  Data relating to literacy is often used as a measure of educational results in di erent countries  In general, low levels of literacy and education can impede the economic development of a country and a ect wellbeing.  These measures do not provide an objective and complete picture of the situation Geography notes 2025 Term 1  Quantitative measures do not consider the many di erent attitudes and values of people within a population, nor do they give an indication of how satisfied individuals may feel with their place in society  In order to give a more complete picture, a range of additional data – known as qualitative data – needs to be taken into account  Qualitative data about wellbeing is often more di icult and time consuming to collect because it is gathered from surveys and interviews Wellbeing for Indigenous Australians  Many Indigenous Australians have a view of wellbeing based on traditional beliefs or inter- relationships between individuals, their community and the land  Wellbeing is achieved when the relationships between these factors work together in harmony – holistic view of wellbeing  Ill – health will arise and persist when the harmony of these relationships is disrupted – therefore di icult for Indigenous Australians to only use the universal indicators  The Australian Bureau of Statistics has recently attempted to develop a model that takes into account Indigenous values when considering wellbeing levels.  As well as using measures of health, literacy and wealth, this new model includes wellbeing measures related to an individual’s connection to their community, ancestry, cultural traditions and identity, land and spirituality Case study: Bhutan and Gross National Happiness (GNH)  Since 1971, Bhutan has rejected GDP as the way to measure the wellbeing of its people and instead adopted a measure known as Gross National Happiness (GNH)  A GNH measure is taken every year as the country’s government attempts to move its citizens towards a happier state  The four guiding principles of GNH are: o Equitable social development o Cultural preservation o Conservation of the environment o Promotion of good governance  Children are taught these principles at school along with better environmental practices and basic agriculture  At schools, bells have been replaced with soothing music and there are daily meditation sessions  In a recent study that measured happiness in 178 countries, the Bhutanese ranked as the eighth happiest people on the planet  Bhuta was the only country in the top 20 with a low GDP Mapping Wellbeing  Geographers often use a range of maps to explore the spatial patterns in wellbeing within and between countries. Geography notes 2025 Term 1  Maps can be used to show variations in wellbeing around the world using specific indicators, such as Human Development Index (HDI) or levels of poverty.  By using a range of di erent mapping techniques, gegraphers can easily identify if countries with a high proportion of people living in poverty are clustered together or spread across the globe – make comparisons and draw conclusions about the level of wellbeing in these places Choropleth maps  Choropleth maps give a quick impression of a spatial pattern by using dark and light shades of the same or similar colours  Darker shades usually show ‘the most’ and lighter shades show ‘the least’.  This measure, developed by the United Nations, combines several indicators into a single measure  The world’s countries are ranked using indicators of health (life expectancy), education (literacy) and income (Gross Domestic Product).  This ranking is then used to place the world’s countries into four categories ranging from very high HDI to low HDI  The United Nations uses the same measure each year in its annual Human Development Report so that a country’s scores, rankings and categories are regularly updated Cartogram  A cartogram is a type of map that displays countries in roughly their correct geographic locations but the size of countries is determined by the variable being mapped  The larger the country is shown on this map, the greater the number of people living in poverty in that country – opposite for smaller  The colours are added to the map to divide the world into geographic regions so that di erent cartograms can be easily compared Geography notes 2025 Term 1 GIS maps  Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps display data as a series of layers of digital information  Each layer of the map focuses on a di erent aspect of the environment, such as poverty, population, roads, settlements or land relief.  When using a GIS program, geographers can switch layers on and o , allowing them to compare di erent aspects of the environment and look for interconnections between them  International organisations such as the World Bank are increasingly using GIS technology to map their activities and projects Geography notes 2025 Term 1 Exploring Links between wellbeing  Aspects of wellbeing such as health, wealth and education are usually closely related  A change in one aspect of a person’s wellbeing usually a ects other aspects of their wellbeing  Links such as these can be seen at the national scale as well as at the local scale  One of the most useful tools when exploring these links is a special type of graph known as a scatter plot Scatter Plots  Scatter plots are similar to line graphs in that they are used to display data plotted against two variables  Scatter plots are used by geographers to show the degree to which one of the variables shown on the graph is related to the other – correlation  Commonly, scatter graphs show data for a number of countries, each of which is represented by a dot on the graph  When the dots come close to forming a straight line, they are closely related and therefore are said to have a high correlation  When the dots do not come close to forming a straight line, they are not closely related and therefore are said to have a low correlation.  When the trend is increasing, the correlation is positive  When the trend is decreasing, the correlation is negative  A trend line is often added to a scatter plot to demonstrate the strength of the relationship between the two variables Global Population Distribution  People on this planet are not spread evenly across space (continents, countries, and rural or urban areas)  Physical factors play a large part in determining global population distribution.  Characteristics of the natural environment that favour human settlement include the availability of freshwater resources, fertile soil, moderate climate and sea ports.  Inhospitable features such as mountains, jungles and deserts tend to deter high population densities Geography notes 2025 Term 1  Urban places around the world are attracting an increasing number and percentage of people due to the availability of employment, particularly in the manufacturing and service sectors.  Population densities is closely interconnected with energy demands  Not all regions of high density are urban places – rural environments may contain large numbers of people per square kilometre  Government policies may also a ect population distribution Life expectancy  One of the major indicators of wellbeing is life expectancy.  Globally, on average, people are expected to live longer than at any previous time in history  Life expectancy around the world started to increase in the mid-1700s due to improvements in farming techniques, working conditions, nutrition, medicine and hygiene  There is a clear interconnection between wealth and life expectancy: wealthier people in all countries can expect to live longer than poorer people.  Woman outlive men  A higher income enables people to have better access to education, food, clean water and health care Child mortality  Life expectancy