2002-2003 Form three Geography Project

Topic: “Rich and Poor”Class: S.3AGroup leader: Li Sing Hei (34)Group members: Chung Kai Man (28) Lam Wing Hung (32) Lau Pui Hoi (33) Ma Tze Ho (37) Tam Sze Long (39) Tang Kwok Hei (40)

Rich and Poor

ContentWhich countries we have chosen and why we chose that two countries.Introduction of the projectLocations of the two countries from world map --- Switzerland and IndiaLocations and geographic information of the two countriesMajor Characteristics of the two countriesMajor Characteristics of the two countries---ConclusionThe interrelationship between more developed and less developed countriesThe interrelationship between more developed and less developed countries --- ConclusionFeelings about the gap between the rich and the poor

Which countries we have chosen and why we chose that two countries?

We have chosen Switzerland and India for case study.Why do we choose Switzerland and India for case studies?Firstly, Switzerland is one of the most wealthy countries in the world, however it is not a big countries, We want to find that why Switzerland can be so wealthy.Secondly, India has the second-largest population in the world. We want to find how great pressure of population growth affect the development of a country.Also, in spite of the less-developed of India, it has still become the world’s fastest growth on economy, they encourage us to study this country.

Introduction of the projectIn this project, we are going to show the locations and geographic information of the two countries that we have selected for case studymajor characteristics of Switzerland and India and we will analysis them how it affect the development of the countries.Also, we will discuss the interrelationship between the more and less developed countries. We will base on the countries that we have selectedLastly, we will write down our feelings about the gap between the rich and the poor.

Locations of the two countries from world map--- Switzerland and India

Locations and geographic information of the two countries

Switzerland located in Central Europe, to the east of France and north of Italy. Its capital is Bern.Its geographic coordinates are 47 00N, 8 00E. Its area is 41,290 sq km.The length of its boundaries is 1,852km., however, it doesn't have any coastline.It is in the temperate zone, but its climate varies with altitude.

The map of Switzerland

The national flag of Switzerland

Locations and geographic information of the two countries

India is in the Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. Its capital is New Delhi.Its geographic coordinates are 20 00N, 77 00E.Its area of it is 3,287,590 sq km.The length of Its boundaries is 14,103 km and the coastline is 7,000 km.Its climate varies from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north.

The map of India

The National flag of India

New Delhi

Major Characteristics of the two countries

Here is a comparison between the high income countries in the world and Switzerland, we have chosen several indicators for this research.

The number of the indicators of Switzerland are higher than the high income countries. So, we regard Switzerland as wealthy income country.

Indicators High income countries

Switzerland

Gross National Income per capita (US$)

26,510 (2001) 38,330 (2001)

Population growth (annual%) 0.7 (2002) 0.24 (2002)Life Expectancy (years) 78.1 (2001) 79.8 (2001)Value added in agriculture (% of GDP)

2.1 (2000) 1.7 (2000)

Energy use per capita (kg of oil equivalent)

5,430.4 (2000) 3,704.3 (2000)

Literacy rate (%) 95.2 (2002) 99.0 (2002)

Here is the data between the low income countries in the world and India, several indicators are chosen.

From the above table, we can see that India’s data are similar to those of low income countries, so, India is a low income countries.

Major Characteristics of the two countries

Indicators Low income countries

India

Gross National Income per capita (US$)

430 (2001) 460 (2001)

Population growth (annual%) 1.8 (2001) 1.5 (2001)Life Expectancy (years) 58.9 (2001) 63 (2001)Value added in agriculture (% of GDP)

23.8 (2001) 25.1 (2001)

Energy use per capita (kg of oil equivalent)

568.6 (2000) 494 (2000)

Literacy rate (%) 63 (2001) 58 (2001)

Since Switzerland and India are high income and low income countries respectively, we therefore try to proof country is more-developed and which is less-developed.We also have to use some indicators to identify the development level.The following tables showing the indicators and the data of the 2 countries.

Major Characteristics of the two countries

Development Indicators (economy) Switzerland India

Gross National Income per capita (US$) 38,330 (2001) 460 (2001)Gross National Product per capita (US$) 39,980 (1998) 440 (1998)Gross Domestic Products (GDP) per capita (US$)

31,700 (2002) 2,540 (2002)

GDP growth rate (%) 2.0 (2002) 4.3 (2002)

• This table shows that India has a more rapid growth of population.

• However, its life expectancy is much more lower than Switzerland.

• Swiss’s energy use and literacy is also higher than India.

Development Indicators (Human) Switzerland India

Population growth (annual %) 0.24 (2002) 1.51 (2002)Life Expectancy (years) 79.9 (2002) 63.2 (2002)Value added in agriculture (% of GDP)

1.6 (2001) 25.1 (2001)

Energy use per capita (kg of oil equivalent)

3704.3 (2000) 494 (2000)

Literacy rate (%) 99.0 (2002) 52.0 (2002)

Major Characteristics of the two countries

Major Characteristics of the two countries

This table shows the technology level of the 2 countries.We consider that Swiss have more personal computers and more telephones than Indian. Switzerland also has more internet users.

Development Indicators (Technology)

Switzerland India

Internet Users (per 1,000 people) 527.25 (2002) 6.69 (2002)Personal computers (per 1,000 people))

540.2 (2001) 5.8 (2001)

Telephones – main line in use (per 1,000 people)

657.35 (2002) 25.82 (2002)

Major Characteristics of the two countries---Conclusion

According to the development indicators, we can concluded that Switzerland is a more developed countries and India is a less developed countries, here are the reasons:First, the economy in Switzerland is better than that of India. Switzerland is one of the most wealthy country in the world. However, India’s economy is growing faster than India, but India is still facing poverty. Secondly, India is under great population growth, the Indian government are not able to feed all of the people. Also, the technology level is low and backward, people produced fewer agriculture products.

Great population growth

More developed

Thirdly, the Indian government has not enough money for education and medical service, so the the life expectancy and literacy rate still low. However, India’s life expectancy has increased since it is higher than other low income countries of the world. Swiss government has been introducing the birth control education for many years. So the Switzerland does not facing population pressure. The high life expectancy and literacy are given by advanced level of technology and good education system.Also, from the telephone, computer and internet user, we can get that Switzerland has a more advanced technology than India, more than 55% of Swiss has their own computers. This is also given by the high income of the countries, people can earn more to buy the high-tech equipment.

Delhi - a crowd city

The interrelationship between more developed and less developed countries --- 1. Switzerland

In the 18th and 19th centuries, China adopted “close door policy”. It made China to become a weak and less developed country. It also proved that a country cannot shut itself in the modern world.Based on the two countries we have analysis, Switzerland is highly dependent on foreign trade, both for imports and exports. Switzerland imports agriculture goods, fuel and mineral form less developed countries and export manufactured goods to them. Since Switzerland is hilly, it imports lots of agriculture goods from less developed countries, e.g. China. However, Switzerland is famous for its chesses and chocolate.

Chocolate making in Switzerland

Alps in Switzerland

Switzerland generally earn less from exports than it spends on imports. Despite this deficit on foreign trade, Switzerland maintains a positive balance of international payments because of the large income it receives from the payments from services, including international banking, insurance and tourism.Like Japan, although raw materials are scarce in Switzerland, the country has a well-developed manufacturing sector. However, Switzerland’s skilled workers convert imported raw materials into high-value exports.Today, heavy engineering and machine building, especially the manufacture of top-quality custom-built equipment, accounts for a significant portion of Swiss exports.Switzerland is the largest producer of textile machinery in the world, also, it is famous for its watching making industries.

Clocking-making industry

A modern factory in Zurich

Multinational corporations such as SWATCH has set up branches in less developed countries, to lower the land, labour and raw material cost., Also, less developed countries provide a large market for the goods.Switzerland is a major international financial center.International depositors and financiers have long favored Swiss banks because of Switzerland’s political and monetary stability, experience in financial matters, and banking secrecy laws. As Switzerland is a developed countries, money are often borrowed by the less developed countries, they gain interest from the loans that less developed countries paid.Also through the multinational corporations, Switzerland transfer advanced technology to help the less- developed countries.

A watch made by SATCH

Financial Center in Geneva

Because of Swiss history of neutrality, Switzerland became the favoured site of international conferences and the headquarters many organizations. In the 19th century, the main office of Red Cross was established in Geneva, a city in Switzerland. The Red Cross provide emergency aid for the less developed countries.In 1920, the headquarters of the League of Nations was set up in Geneva to keep a peaceful world.After the WWII, the League was replaced by the United Nations and nowadays, European headquarter and several of its agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO) was set in Switzerland.In 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) set up its headquarters in Geneva.

Headquarter ofWHO in Geneva

Headquarter of Red Cross

The interrelationship between more developed and less developed countries --- 2. India

Since the 19th centuries. India had been a British colony. Under the British ruled, India’s cottage industries and thriving trade were virtually destroyed and made a way for European manufactured goods, paid for by exports of agricultural products such as cotton, opium, and tea. The interrelationship with developed countries began.At independence in 1947 India was desperately poor. However, the Indian government promoted self-sufficiency and reduce the dependence on foreign trade.In the late 1970s, the government began to reduce the control of the economy, economic growth improved during this period, as a result of development projects funded by foreign loans by the developed countries.

Former capital - Delhi loans

A financial crisis in 1991 stimulated India to carry out economic reforms. The price of oil rise sharply, India faced a serious imbalanced of payments problem. India began to obtain emergency loans from the more-developed countries.Also Indian government carried out economic reforms to remove many regulations on investment, including foreign investment, and eliminated a quota system.With the reforms, India changed from an economy relatively closed to the global economy to one that is relatively open. As a result, economic growth improved in a fast speed, from $165 million in 1991 to $600 million in 1997.The GDP grow rapidly since this few years, in 2000, India have 7.2% of GDP growth, major came from the agriculture and allied activities.However, the population growth are very high also, in 2001, the population of India is 1.027 billion, so it cannot have a high GDP per capita..

After the economic reforms in 1991, India foreign trade improved. In 2000, India had $50.5 billion in imports and $42.3 billion in exports.The major imports are petroleum, machinery, iron and steel, cooking oil, coal, medicinal and fertilizers. The major exports are jewelry, engineering goods, textiles, chemical goods , minerals, leather marine products and agriculture goods.India is still rely on its agriculture activities apart from manufacturing industries. The foreign debts of India are $100.1 billion in 2001, they need more time to payback, but the first thing need to do is to control the population growth.

A stock market in India

Great foreign debts

The interrelationship between more developed and less developed countries --- Conclusion

Both Switzerland and India are dependent on foreign trade, they need trade to solve the economic problems.More developed countries mainly import agriculture goods and natural resources from less developed countries and export manufactured goods to less developed countries.More developed countries need more natural resources for the manufacturing industries and to replace the lost from primary industries. However, the goods that more developed countries buy from less developed countries are always inexpensive. Also, the prices of those goods are unstable, the less developed countries will have an unstable income..

Imbalanced trading

On the other other hand, less developed countries have low level of technology, they cannot produce the manufactured goods that they need, so they use to buy them from the developed countries in high prices. Also, as the the products become more high-tech, the prices of the products may rise rapidly.As a result, the trade between the developed countries and less developed countries become imbalanced.It is unfair to the less developed countries, they has been under poverty, through the trading, they become poorer and poorer.

Poorer and poorer Richer and richer

Feelings about the gap between the rich and the poorFrom Lau Pui Hoi

Donating money is not the ultimate remedy---providing them with skills and education for sustainable development can serve the purpose and to alter the vicious cycle. Moreover, a better efficiency use and allocation of resources. Within the developing countries may alleviate the poor living conditions. For instance the WHO help training up medical personnel to improve the health condition. The FAO of the UN can help enhancing its agriculture via advance technology imported from the developed countries such as the countries from the west. The UNICEF instill the method and the knowledge on birth control so that its population pressure can be lowered. Specializations and trading on goods with comparative advantages for both the rich and poor countries can surely increase the world’s total production.

From Li Sing HeiAfter finishing the Geog. Project, I have obtained much knowledge. As I compare Switzerland(more-developed)and India(less developed), I think this world is very unfair. Why there are so many poor people in the world? If every country in the world has the same GDP,will the poor people disappear? I don’t know,but I hope. I think the main reason which makes India so poor is because there are so many people in India,so the government of India cannot have enough resource to provide education to the people.They have not enough knowledge and skill to earn money, How to improve this bad condition?The riches can donate some money to the poor people. Also,it is better to help people to learn the skills of making a better living. Lastly,the rich people can send advisors in fields such as health,education,engineering ,housing and farming to help training the local people.I hope there is no poor people in the whole world forever!

From Tang Kwok Hei

I think the gap between the rich and the poor is very wide.How can we shortened the gap between them?First, we must donate money to the poor countries.Secondly the rich countries should some advisors to introduce some measures to improve the government efficiency. Also the president of the poor country should have confidence to destroy corruption. Otherwise, it is difficult to develop the country.Thirdly, transfer some technology to the citizens of the poor country. If we just donate money to them, this is not a long term plan.Also, we need educate the citizens of poor countries. Teach them to control the population growth. Therefore, the government can plan the budget on another aspects, such as, investing money on new technology.Fifthly, through diplomatic negotiation,communication, it will lower the chance of having a war. Since wars can bring about destructions, lower the development rate .At last, if there is natural hazards, the United Nations should take part in the aid. I hope the poor can become rich within 30 years.

In this PowerPoint ,we can know that Switzerland is a very high income country. The GDP of India is very low, about 25.1% of its GDP comes from the agriculture sector. Many people suffer from a hard life. The technology growth is very low. Low income, high birth rate, short life expectancy and low education level is the problem of India.

There are more poor people in the world, I suggest the rich countries to help the poor countries through donation . And also they can invest in the poor countries. Poor countries can introduce some policies to improve people’s living standard.And control the population growth. Give more money for education and to develop the technology to improve the people’s life. This is all my ideas.

From Tam Sze Long

From Lam Wing Hung

• From our powerpoint, we can see that the great differences between the 2 countries. Switzerland is very rich and India is very poor. And because of this, the development speed between them are also very different . This situation is very similar to the other rich and poor countries. The rich countries have enough money for development, so they grow very fast. On the contrary, poor countries don’t have enough money for development, so they develop slowly. This is the reason why the gap between them is very big.

• I think that if we want the gap becomes closer, the developed countries can not only donate money to the developing countries. Besides, they should also transfer their technology, provide education to the people and invest money in the developing countries. So that they can have a long term development .

From Ma Tse Ho

Through this project, I know that the rich and poor problems are very serious. Switzerland is not only rich, and its people are well-educated as well. They enjoy a high living standard. However, India is very poor with a high population and poor living condition. How the solve the gap between the rich and poor? I think the rich countries should donate money to help the poor ones. Besides, they can transfer technology to improve their living quality. Also, they can promote more new education plans, so that their students can know more about the world as well as helping the government. This is all my opinion.

From Chung Kai ManAfter doing the project, I discovery that more developed countries and less developed countries have a great distance.So, we have to help less developed countries, but we are only students, what can we do? I think the most useful way for us is donate some money and necessities to them. Then what can more developed countries do? They can do some investments in less developed countries and teach them new technology. Also, they can help less developed countries to improve their educational level.But, if all less developed countries become more developed countries, is this good? I think not, because if all are more developed countries, the demand of raw materials will become very high, there are not enough raw materials. And this will intensify the competition between all countries, so it is not so good.Finally, I hope all the people in the world will not suffer a hard life anymore.

This is the end of our project.Wish poverty can be destroyed by all of us.