Throughout the world, there are countries that are more economically developed than others. There are excellent, thriving economies and struggling, declining economies struggling to maintain their standards of living. An example of a nation with a thriving economy would be the United States. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, US GDP increased dramatically by 2% last quarter. When a nation's GDP increases, economies get a boost and progress. This increase in GDP demonstrates the value added to the economy. As a result, living standards are rising, which means citizens' incomes are rising, which allows for greater consumer spending on goods and services. An important factor of a booming economy is that there is a mutual balance between unemployment and inflation. Other factors to consider when determining whether an economy is stable or unstable include climate change, demographics, resource limitations, and more. A country with a shortage of resources due to poorly managed agriculture, pollution, poor quality of life, low GDP, etc., has a deteriorating and failing economy. Of course, these economic activities depend on geography or location, which is a logical explanation for why the Global North is more economically developed than the Global South. However, it also appears that people are a major factor in determining how their living standards and their economy are what they are. Depending on where a person resides, fortunately or unfortunately, determines his economy and standard of living. To analyze the gap between the North and the South of the world, this essay discusses the economic development of the countries of the North and the South. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The world is divided into two hemispheres known as the Global North and the Global South. The Global North includes the most economically developed countries, known as the First World countries. The Global South, however, represents the “economically backward” underdeveloped countries. The Global North consists of regions such as North America, India, Europe, Israel, South Africa and others. The Global South consists of most of Africa, Mexico, China, India and other third world developing countries. Geography plays an important role in explaining why the Global North is more developed and successful than the Global South, but it is not the main role. In the 1980s, the Brandt Line, an invisible line, was developed. The line was developed as a “way to show how the world was geographically divided into relatively richer and poorer nations” (Royal). According to Brandt, he found that northern countries above the divide successfully interact with others and have high levels of trade, “improving the quality of life of their population” (Tait). However, over time, global changes have occurred that have affected these divided regions differently. Geography determines the socioeconomic status of a country, however, the people of the country can often be the reason why their economy is shaped the way it is. According to a case study by Elizabeth Wegman, Rwanda, a rural country in East Central Africa, is classified as a “low-income economy.” An important part of Rwanda's population lives below the poverty line. In countries in the Global South, such as Rwanda, there have been stories of violence and crime by local civilians, which has worsened their economy. In the 1990s, Rwanda was associated with onecivil war between the "Hutu and Tutsi African ethnic groups", which resulted in genocide (Wegman). This civil war occurred following the death of the president of Rwanda when his plane was shot down by Tutsis. The Hutus, known as the people of Rwanda, fought the Tutsis when they found out. The genocide resulted in the deaths of over 800,000 innocent people. This genocide had a negative impact on Rwanda's economy, which explains their current poverty. According to Lopez, about a quarter of Rwanda's population remains in poverty today due to the consequences of the genocide. Poverty was at risk for Rwandans because the genocide caused the destruction of livestock, property, resources (such as livestock), and infrastructure. These types of violent conflicts are long-lasting, as they can create long-term damage to a country's economy. Remediation of these conflicts could take several years. For this reason, some Rwandans voluntarily help "rebuild the country" by engaging "in activities such as cleaning the streets, repairing buildings, offering services to those who do not have access to them". Even though Rwanda is making progress and steadily recovering, making necessary repairs, Rwanda is still struggling to survive. Although Rwandans are heavily involved in agriculture, the problem of overpopulation has made it difficult to find fertile land. This potentially means there is a shortage of food and workers are not producing goods that consumers can buy. Rwanda's “population growth and density remain high, threatening to strain and potentially harm economic growth” (Rwanda case study). If not for the genocide, Rwanda's poverty rate would have fallen by about 20 percentage points. Rwanda's GDP would have been much higher than today by 30 percentage points. Rwanda's history of war and violence has also helped shape Rwanda's government. It took a major war for Rwanda to change its government. Because Rwanda relies heavily and depends on imports, the Rwandan government is facing a significant amount of account deficit. The Government of Rwanda intends to take measures to improve the business climate. However, progress towards this economic freedom is hampered by institutional weaknesses. Their own judicial system lacks independence and transparency. The Global South is not as advanced and developed as the Global North because the Global South is not as concentrated in urban areas. They rely on a global agricultural economy, meaning they make a living through trading in resources such as cash crops, livestock and food crops. Urban businesses are turning to new, advanced technologies to produce and develop their resources and supplies. Urban areas have more downplayed the economic and social risks associated with agriculture, such as meeting wage demands or better measurement of dividends and profits. The Global South today has a growing rate of people working in more rural areas than the Global North. “65% of the population of the Global South is based in rural areas, compared to less than 27% in the Global North” (Odeh). As Rwanda demonstrates, 58% of the active workforce in the Global South is engaged in agriculture, while the Global North is engaged in approximately 50% of the agricultural workforce (Odeh). The Global South focuses more on agricultural production than the Global North because the incomes of people in the Global South are drastically lower than those in the North. The Global South has major concerns that they focus on regarding food, shelter, and clothing, which is why they are dependent on the Global North. TheGlobal North and Global South have international relations. The Global South has an economic dependence on the Global North, which means that the South is more vulnerable and the North is more powerful and has strength that the South does not acquire. “…technology, foreign aid and private capital are transferred to the Global South” (Odeh). This shift is due to rising unemployment in the Global South and rising income inequality. Strauss and Thomas argue that the cause of such low productivity may be due to competitive work pressures and a lack of advanced technologies. Therefore, low productivity means lower incomes. The Global South is considered a non-productive member of society, which is why it is heavily supported and relied on by the Global North. The Global North “represents over 90% of all manufacturing industries in the world and controls approximately 80% of the total income earned around” (Ortiz-Ospina, Roser). Most countries in the Global North have abundant basic needs, such as food and shelter, as well as access to higher education systems. The Global South is known to lack goods and services, such as food, clothing, shelter and more for survival. They have limited resources due to lack of income and wealth, therefore they are not able to easily purchase consumer goods compared to the Global North. The Global South faces challenges regarding education systems. The Global North has a strong focus on ensuring that its students acquire the best education possible. They make their students learn multiple useful life skills to better prepare them for the outside world. Low-income classrooms in the Global South face problems how to get their students to learn. Students in these countries have difficulty learning to read, write, and learn the number system. Approximately "250 million young students" are unable to obtain an adequate education or attend school (Education World). Only recently have these countries been introduced to universal access to school. In 2004, birth and death rates were drastically different between the Global South and North (Odeh). In the Global South, the population has grown rapidly due to increasing birth rates, as opposed to lower birth rates in the Global North. “In the North of the world, birth rates are of the order of 15-20 per 1,000 inhabitants, while in the South of the world, birth rates range from 30-40 per 1,000 inhabitants” (Odeh). The increase in birth rates usually occurs because some countries in the Global South cannot afford contraceptives. In addition to the rapid birth rates in the Global South, the mortality rate is also increasingly higher than in the Global North. Some of the main reasons for these deaths in these less developed countries include HIV/AIDS, malaria and heart disease. According to the CDC, “approximately 3.3 million (30%) deaths each year are due to heart disease, 2.3 million (21%) are due to cancer… 9 million (8%) are due to chronic respiratory disease, and 0.8 million (7%) to violence causes.” According to Odeh, children under 15 make up about 40% of the total population in the Global South, in contrast to the Global North, whose children under 15 make up only about 20% of the total population. What does this mean for the Global South? Their workforce is most likely supported by young adolescents and is labeled an “economic dependency,” meaning that some people in these Global South countries sometimes depend on young adolescents for their income. Children in these countries are sometimes seen as a source of cheap labor. To further explain the difficulties and disadvantages of the Global South compared to the.