Eduqas GCSE (9-1) Geography A (C111) · Spec 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4
Theme 6: development, water and regional inequality
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- GDP is an economic average. It hides inequality and says nothing about health or education, so one figure never gives the full picture of development.
- Development is a continuum: countries lie along a range, with NICs between LICs and HICs. The gap between countries can narrow, as it has for China and India.
- A trade bloc is a group of countries that trade freely with each other. Emergency aid responds quickly to a disaster; long-term aid builds schools, wells and clinics. WaterAid is an NGO.
- Farming uses about 70 percent of the freshwater taken from rivers, lakes and aquifers worldwide. Demand has grown mainly because of more irrigation for a growing population.
- Water schemes work at different scales: international (a dam on a shared river), national (water piped to a city) and local (sand dams).
- A positive multiplier is a chain: investment creates jobs, workers spend money, other businesses grow and more investment follows.
Key terms
- GDP
- The value of goods and services a country produces in a year.
- Development continuum
- The idea that countries lie on a scale from low to high development, not in two groups.
- Trade bloc
- A group of countries that trade freely with each other.
- Multinational company
- A company that operates in many countries.
- NGO
- A non-governmental organisation, such as WaterAid or Oxfam.
- Water security
- Reliable access to enough safe water.
- Positive multiplier
- A chain of growth that starts with investment and creates more jobs and spending.
Common mistakes
- Saying a high GDP means a country has high levels of every kind of development.
- Explaining rising water use in farming by climate change. The main cause is more irrigation and thirstier crops for a growing population.
- Saying a multinational sets up abroad mainly for brand awareness. Stronger answers link location to profit: lower wages and costs, markets and avoiding tariffs.
- Mixing up political and economic causes of the UK north-south divide. Political causes are government decisions; economic causes are about jobs and industries.
Exam tip
Economic and social consequences are marked strictly against the label you are asked for. Economic is jobs, income and investment. Social is health, education, housing and quality of life. For a LIC or NIC you have studied, the country must really be a LIC or NIC and you must name it, or you lose a mark of the 3.
Free practice questions
8 questions, 16 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which statement about GDP as a measure of development is correct?
- Question 2 · Sort into groups[4 marks]
Use the World Bank thresholds for 2025 GNI per head: low 1,175 or less; lower-middle 1,176 to 4,635; upper-middle 4,636 to 14,375; high more than 14,375 (US$). GNI per head 2025: Nigeria 1,360; Jamaica 7,790; Kenya 2,200; United Kingdom 54,550. Sort each country into its income group.
Jamaica
Nigeria
Kenya
United Kingdom
- Question 3 · Fill the gaps[3 marks]
Complete the paragraph using the word box. Use each word once. One word is not needed. ___ aid is given quickly after a disaster. ___ aid builds schools, wells and clinics. WaterAid is an example of a non-governmental organisation (___).
Word bank: Tariff · Long-term · NGO · Emergency
- Question 4 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which statement about the development continuum is correct?
- Question 5 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which is the main reason farming now uses much more water than it did 40 years ago?
- Question 6 · Matching[3 marks]
Match each water scheme to the scale at which it operates.
- Question 7 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which one is a social consequence of regional inequality in the UK? Healthy life expectancy 2022-24 was 63.0 years for males in the South East and 57.0 years for males in the North East.
- Question 8 · Put in order[2 marks]
Put these steps of a positive multiplier effect in the correct order, starting with the first.
Use the arrows to put these in the right order, first at the top.
- 1New jobs are created and workers earn wages
- 2Other businesses grow and more investment is attracted
- 3Workers spend money in local shops and services
- 4A large company invests and opens a factory