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B. Global Inequalities: Economic Development and Quality of Life · Global Inequalities: Economic Development and Quality of Life

Where Is the Wealth? Mapping the Distribution of Wealth

B3.9 B2.3About 50 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe the global pattern of wealth and quality of life.
  • I can describe how wealth is distributed within countries, such as between cities and rural areas or between regions.
  • I can read and construct a choropleth map with a clear legend.
  • I can explain what a Gini coefficient tells us.

Words to know

spatial distribution
How something is spread out across space: where it is concentrated and where it is scarce.
income
Money a person or household receives over a period of time, such as wages from a job.
wealth
The total value of what a person or household owns (savings, property, businesses), minus what they owe.
choropleth map
A map that shades areas (countries, provinces, regions) differently to show values of a variable. Darker usually means more.
Gini coefficient
A number from 0 to 1 that measures inequality of income inside a country. 0 = everyone has the same income; closer to 1 = very unequal.
core and periphery
A core is a wealthy, central region with many businesses and services; a periphery is a region with fewer services, often farther away.
GIS
Geographic information system: computer software that stores, layers and analyses map data.

Hook: the world at night

Photographs of Earth at night from satellites show bright clusters of light in some regions and large dark areas in others. Light at night is partly a clue to electricity, cities and wealth, though dark areas also include oceans, deserts, forests and the Arctic where few people live. Geographers ask: Where is wealth concentrated, and why?

A large city glowing with lights at night, seen from an airplane window.
Bright lights at night are a clue to electricity, cities and wealth. Satellite photos of the whole Earth show where these bright clusters are, and where they aren't. AI-generated image

The global pattern

When you shade a world map by GDP per capita or HDI, a pattern appears:

  • Highest values: North America (Canada and the United States), most of Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, and some oil-exporting countries in the Middle East.
  • Lowest values: many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and some in South Asia and elsewhere affected by conflict.
  • Many countries in Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, and North Africa are in the middle, and some, such as China, have risen quickly in recent decades.

In 1980 the Brandt Report drew a line on the map separating the richer "North" from the poorer "South". Today the pattern is less simple: many countries have moved up, and Australia and New Zealand were always "North" in this sense even though they are in the Southern Hemisphere. That is why some geographers prefer to rank countries along a scale instead of splitting the world into two groups.

A respectful reminder

Patterns on a map describe conditions, not the value of people or cultures. Every region with lower incomes also has thriving cities, businesses, artists, scientists and long histories, and every rich country has people living in poverty.

Inequality within countries

Averages for a whole country hide big differences inside it:

  • City and rural areas: cities usually have more jobs, hospitals and universities.
  • Regions: in many countries a core region (often around the capital or along a coast) is richer than the periphery. For example, China's eastern coastal provinces are generally wealthier than its western interior, and in Italy the north has long been wealthier than the south.
  • Groups of people: income and wealth can differ by gender, by ethnic or Indigenous identity, or by whether people are newcomers.

The Gini coefficient summarizes how unequally income is shared. Canada's is about 0.3 (after taxes and government transfers, Statistics Canada). South Africa's is above 0.6, among the highest in the world (World Bank), partly a legacy of apartheid, the system of racial segregation that ended in the early 1990s.

Equal: Gini = 044444Unequal: higher Gini112412Same 20 coins and same average (4 each) in both groups
Both groups share 20 coins, so the average is 4 coins each. On the left everyone gets the same amount (Gini 0). On the right one person has more than half, so the Gini coefficient is higher, even though the average has not changed.

Choropleth maps and GIS

A choropleth map shades areas by value. To make one:

  1. Choose one variable that is a rate or per-person value (for example GDP per capita, not total GDP).
  2. Sort the values into 3 to 5 classes (groups), such as low, medium, high.
  3. Use one colour from light (low) to dark (high), so readers can see order.
  4. Add a title, legend, source, year and a north arrow or scale if needed.

A GIS lets you stack layers: for example, an HDI layer, a layer of rivers and a layer of cities, to look for connections.

Just for fun

"Choropleth" comes from two Greek words meaning roughly "area" and "multitude". It is also very hard to say three times fast. Try it: choropleth, choropleth, chorople... see?

NorthLakesCapitalHillsValleyCoastLow incomeMedium incomeHigh income
Choropleth map of a fictional country, Lakeland, shaded by average household income in each region. Lighter shading = lower income, darker shading = higher income. The capital and the coast form the wealthy core; the north and the hills are the periphery.
Worked example

Let's read the choropleth map

Use the map of Lakeland. Describe the pattern and suggest reasons for it.

  1. Describe: the highest incomes are in the Capital and Coast regions (east). Medium incomes are in Lakes and Valley (centre). The lowest are in the North and Hills (west).
  2. Pattern: incomes fall as you move west, away from the capital and the coast: a core and periphery pattern.
  3. Possible reasons: the coast has a port for trade; the capital has government jobs, universities and hospitals; the hills and north may be harder to farm and farther from markets.
  4. What to check next: add GIS layers for roads, schools and health clinics.

Income is concentrated in the eastern core (capital and coast) and lowest in the western periphery.

Hands-on activity

Make a choropleth map of Canada

You need: an outline map of Canada's provinces and territories (print one or trace from an atlas), coloured pencils in one colour, and a grown-up to help find data.

  1. On Statistics Canada's website, find one per-person indicator for each province and territory, such as median household income or the percent of people with a university degree. Write the source and year.
  2. Sort the 13 values into 3 classes (low, medium, high).
  3. Shade lightly for low, medium for medium, darkly for high.
  4. Add a title, legend and source.
  5. Write two sentences describing the pattern.

Look for: one shading colour from light to dark, a complete legend, a source and year, and a pattern description that names regions.

Your turn

1

Name two world regions with generally high GDP per capita and HDI.

2

What is the difference between income and wealth?

3

What does a Gini coefficient of 0 mean?

4

Why should a choropleth map show GDP per capita, not total GDP?

5

On a choropleth map, what does darker shading usually mean?

6

Give one example of inequality within a country.

7

Why is the idea of a simple "North/South" line less accurate today?

More practice: warm-up

1

What kind of map shades areas by value?

2

Which has a more unequal income distribution: Gini 0.3 or Gini 0.6?

3

What does GIS stand for?

4

What should every map include?

5

In a core and periphery pattern, which is usually wealthier?

More practice: on your own

1

Explain why light at night on a satellite image is not a perfect measure of wealth.

2

Why might a country's capital region be much richer than its rural areas?

3

A choropleth map uses red for high, green for low and purple for medium. What is the problem?

4

South Africa has a high Gini coefficient. What historical factor helps explain it?

5

Name two GIS layers you might combine to study why some regions have lower life expectancy.

Challenge

1

Two countries have the same GDP per capita. Country A has a Gini of 0.25; Country B has 0.55. In which country are more people likely to be poor? Explain.

2

Some people say there is a "North" inside every "South" country and a "South" inside every "North" country. What do they mean? Give an example.

3

Plan a GIS investigation: "Why do some regions of a country have lower literacy?" Name three layers and what pattern would support each explanation.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which world region has many of the countries with the lowest HDI values?

2.

What does a choropleth map show?

3.

A Gini coefficient near 1 means…

4.

Wealth means…

5.

Which is the best colour scheme for a choropleth map of income?

6.

Why are the capital and coastal regions often richer than remote regions?

For parents and teachers

What this lesson is about: the spatial distribution of wealth globally and within countries (B3.9) and making and reading maps (B2.3).

How to help at home:

  • Look at a world map of HDI or GDP per capita online with your child and talk about the patterns and exceptions.
  • Help find provincial data on Statistics Canada for the mapping activity.

Common difficulties:

  • Mixing up income (a flow) and wealth (what you own).
  • Using total values instead of per-person values on maps.
  • Explaining patterns with stereotypes. Keep the focus on factors such as trade access, history, infrastructure and government.