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Example 4A: According to a report by the World Health Organization, in 2012 over 700 million
people did not have access to improved drinking water sources and 2.5 billion did not have
access to adequate sanitation. Almost all of these people were in less developed countries.
Unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation contribute to health problems and to the
spread of disease.
Example 4B: An outbreak of cholera in Haiti beginning in the fall of 2010 sickened about 700,000
people and resulted in the deaths of about 8,500 in the three years after the outbreak. Cholera is
a diarrheal disease which can spread quickly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and
drinking water.
4. Inadequate medical services. Training medical doctors is extremely expensive. As a result,
LDCs tend to have far fewer doctors relative to population than developed countries.
Example 5: The ratio of doctors to population in the U.S. is about 1 doctor for every 400 persons.
In Somalia, a less developed country, the ratio is about 1 doctor for every 25,000 persons.
In LDCs, many people have limited or no access to medical services. Illnesses and injuries
that would be minor in developed countries may prove to be fatal or permanently disabling in
LDCs because of the lack of medical treatment.
Example 6: According to the World Health Organization, 6.6 million children under the age of 5
died in 2012. More than half of these deaths were due to conditions that could be prevented or
treated with access to simple, affordable interventions. The leading causes of death were
pneumonia, preterm birth complications, birth asphyxia, diarrhea, and malaria. About 45% of all
child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
Economic Growth and the Rule of 70
In order to escape the hardships just discussed, less developed countries need to achieve rapid
economic growth. The Rule of 70 can be used to calculate how many years it will take a country
to double its per capita GDP.
The Rule of 70 is a rule of thumb for calculating the approximate time required for any variable to
double at a given growth rate. Using the Rule of 70, the time required for a variable to double is
calculated by dividing 70 by the percentage annual growth rate.
Rule of 70: Time to double = 70 ÷ Annual Growth Rate
Example 7A: Country A achieves an annual growth in per capita GDP of 1%. How many years
will it take Country A to double its per capita GDP? 70 years (70 ÷ 1)
Example 7B: Country B achieves an annual growth in per capita GDP of 2%. How many years
will it take Country B to double its per capita GDP? 35 years (70 ÷ 2)
Example 7C: Country C achieves an annual growth in per capita GDP of 5%. How many years
will it take Country C to double its per capita GDP? 14 years (70 ÷ 5)
Example 7D: Country D achieves an annual growth in per capita GDP of 7%. How many years
will it take Country D to double its per capita GDP? 10 years (70 ÷ 7)
FOR REVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
The Importance of Economic Growth Rates
Economic growth rates are very important. The importance of economic growth rates can be seen
in Examples 8 and 9 on the next page.
Less Developed Countries 15 - 2