Kinds of work and how geographers measure development

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card I. Three measures of development. Country | HDI (2023) | Life expectancy (2024) | GNI per person (2025): Germany | 0.959 | 80.8 years | $60,200; United States | 0.938 | 78.9 years | $88,810; Japan | 0.925 | 84.0 years | $38,340; Mexico | 0.789 | 75.3 years | $13,730; India | 0.685 | 72.2 years | $2,760; Niger | 0.419 | 61.4 years | $750. Note: the UNDP's Human Development Index (Human Development Report 2025) combines life expectancy, years of schooling and income into one number between 0 and 1. It is an average for a whole country. UNDP groups: above 0.800 very high; 0.700 to 0.799 high; 0.550 to 0.699 medium; below 0.550 low. Life expectancy and GNI are World Bank figures.

2. 1.

   Ari tests the claim that GNI per person alone gives about the same order of countries as the HDI. What does Card I show?

   • The claim fails in the middle, where India and Mexico change places between the two orders of the six countries
   • The claim nearly holds: the orders differ only at the top, where Germany leads on HDI and America on income
   • The claim fails, because Japan ranks higher on life expectancy than on income, so income cannot predict development
   • The claim holds exactly, because the three richest countries by income are also the three in the very high HDI group
3. 2.

   Luz tests "more income per person always means a longer life" on Card I. Which statement is accurate?

   • It fails among the top three: Germany out-earns Japan and America out-earns Germany, yet each has shorter life expectancy
   • It fails everywhere on the table, because life expectancy and income do not line up in any pair of the six countries
   • It fails for Japan alone, because Japan is the one country that has a longer life than richer countries do
   • It holds, because the table shows the richest countries are in the very high HDI group on the right of Card I

4. Use this

   Card J (made up for practice). Two countries with the same GNI per person in 2025, $20,000, and the same population. Vell: the richest tenth of people receive 45% of all income. Ryn: the richest tenth receive 25% of all income. Note: GNI per person is the total divided by the number of people.

5. 3.

   Tala wonders whether typical households in Vell and Ryn do equally well, since both average $20,000 per person. What does Card J suggest?

   • Ryn's do better, because its other nine tenths share 75% of income and Vell's share only 55%
   • Vell's do better, because its richest tenth receives 45% of income and that wealth creates jobs for the rest of the people
   • Ryn's do better, but its richest tenth receives 25%, so each person in that tenth has just about $5,000
   • They do equally well, because the same average income per person means the same for typical households in both

6. Use this

   Card K (made up for practice). Zarrin, in current US dollars. 2005: GNI per person $2,000; workers: farming 40%, industry 20%, services 40%; life expectancy 66 years. 2025: GNI per person $11,000; farming 38%, industry 21%, services 41%; life expectancy 68 years. Note: sales of oil, which began in 2012, brought in most of the new income; the oil industry employs about 2% of Zarrin's workers.

7. 4.

   Jun reads Card K: Zarrin's income per person rose from $2,000 to $11,000. What does the rest of the card show about its economy?

   • Income rose a lot but the job mix barely moved, because oil sales brought the new income and employ about 2% of workers
   • Services rose from 40% to 41%, so the card shows a real shift toward services alongside the oil income
   • Zarrin's workers moved from farming into services, which is the main reason why income grew so much over the twenty years
   • Higher income does not help life expectancy, since it rose just 2 years while income grew 5.5 times over twenty years

8. Use this

   Card K (made up for practice). Zarrin, in current US dollars. 2005: GNI per person $2,000; workers: farming 40%, industry 20%, services 40%; life expectancy 66 years. 2025: GNI per person $11,000; farming 38%, industry 21%, services 41%; life expectancy 68 years. Note: sales of oil, which began in 2012, brought in most of the new income; the oil industry employs about 2% of Zarrin's workers. Card I. Three measures of development. Country | HDI (2023) | Life expectancy (2024) | GNI per person (2025): Germany | 0.959 | 80.8 years | $60,200; United States | 0.938 | 78.9 years | $88,810; Japan | 0.925 | 84.0 years | $38,340; Mexico | 0.789 | 75.3 years | $13,730; India | 0.685 | 72.2 years | $2,760; Niger | 0.419 | 61.4 years | $750. Note: the UNDP's Human Development Index (Human Development Report 2025) combines life expectancy, years of schooling and income into one number between 0 and 1. It is an average for a whole country. UNDP groups: above 0.800 very high; 0.700 to 0.799 high; 0.550 to 0.699 medium; below 0.550 low. Life expectancy and GNI are World Bank figures.

9. 5.

   Pia compares Zarrin's 2025 life expectancy (68 years) with India's on Card I. What fits both cards?

   • Zarrin earns about four times India's income per person yet lives shorter, so income alone does not set life expectancy
   • Zarrin is less developed than India, because its life expectancy is the lower of the two even with the higher income
   • Income has no effect on life expectancy, because Zarrin's income is higher than India's but its life expectancy is lower
   • Zarrin's figures must be wrong, because Mexico's income is higher still and its life expectancy is 75.3 years
10. 6.

    Bo compares Zarrin's 2005 income ($2,000) with Niger's on Card I ($750, 2025). Which statement is fair?

    • Zarrin's 2005 income was already about 2.7 times Niger's today, so the gap between them has since narrowed
    • No comparison with Niger is possible, because Zarrin's extra income comes from selling oil rather than from jobs
    • Zarrin's 2025 income of $11,000 is about 15 times Niger's, a same-year comparison; its 2005 figure is from another year
    • Zarrin's income is about 5.5 times Niger's, because it rose from $2,000 to $11,000 over the twenty years

11. Use this

    Card I. Three measures of development. Country | HDI (2023) | Life expectancy (2024) | GNI per person (2025): Germany | 0.959 | 80.8 years | $60,200; United States | 0.938 | 78.9 years | $88,810; Japan | 0.925 | 84.0 years | $38,340; Mexico | 0.789 | 75.3 years | $13,730; India | 0.685 | 72.2 years | $2,760; Niger | 0.419 | 61.4 years | $750. Note: the UNDP's Human Development Index (Human Development Report 2025) combines life expectancy, years of schooling and income into one number between 0 and 1. It is an average for a whole country. UNDP groups: above 0.800 very high; 0.700 to 0.799 high; 0.550 to 0.699 medium; below 0.550 low. Life expectancy and GNI are World Bank figures.

12. 7.

    Milo compares what extra income goes with on Card I: Niger to India, then India to Mexico. Which reading is supported?

    • The India-to-Mexico step adds more years, because its income gain of $10,970 is bigger than the $2,010 of the first step
    • Each extra dollar goes with far more years at the low end (10.8 years for $2,010) than higher up (3.1 for $10,970)
    • Money matters most at low incomes, because each extra dollar there raises life expectancy by more than a dollar higher up
    • Each step multiplies income by about the same amount and adds about the same years: 10.8 years for $2,010, then 3.1 for $10,970

13. Use this

    Card K (made up for practice). Zarrin, in current US dollars. 2005: GNI per person $2,000; workers: farming 40%, industry 20%, services 40%; life expectancy 66 years. 2025: GNI per person $11,000; farming 38%, industry 21%, services 41%; life expectancy 68 years. Note: sales of oil, which began in 2012, brought in most of the new income; the oil industry employs about 2% of Zarrin's workers.

14. 8.

    Kira wants to test whether a shift toward services raises income per person, and warns that Card K shows oil can hide the effect. Which evidence tests it best?

    • More years of Zarrin's own data, to see whether its services share ever moves further than 41%
    • A country whose services share rose sharply with no new oil or mine, with its income recorded before and after
    • The country with the highest services share, to see whether its income is also the highest of the countries
    • A country that exports even more oil than Zarrin does, to compare how much oil sales add to its income

15. Use this

    Card I. Three measures of development. Country | HDI (2023) | Life expectancy (2024) | GNI per person (2025): Germany | 0.959 | 80.8 years | $60,200; United States | 0.938 | 78.9 years | $88,810; Japan | 0.925 | 84.0 years | $38,340; Mexico | 0.789 | 75.3 years | $13,730; India | 0.685 | 72.2 years | $2,760; Niger | 0.419 | 61.4 years | $750. Note: the UNDP's Human Development Index (Human Development Report 2025) combines life expectancy, years of schooling and income into one number between 0 and 1. It is an average for a whole country. UNDP groups: above 0.800 very high; 0.700 to 0.799 high; 0.550 to 0.699 medium; below 0.550 low. Life expectancy and GNI are World Bank figures.

16. 9.

    Ren writes: "Mexico's income is 23% of Germany's, so Mexico's HDI should be 23% of Germany's." What is the best correction using Card I?

    • Mexico's years of schooling must match Germany's, which is why the two HDI values are so close together on the card
    • The HDI should follow life expectancy alone, so Mexico's should be 93% of Germany's, which is 75.3 divided by 80.8
    • The HDI combines life expectancy with income, and Mexico's life expectancy (75.3 years) is close to Germany's (80.8)
    • The HDI is from 2023 and GNI from 2025, so the two columns cannot be set against each other

17. Use this

    Card K (made up for practice). Zarrin, in current US dollars. 2005: GNI per person $2,000; workers: farming 40%, industry 20%, services 40%; life expectancy 66 years. 2025: GNI per person $11,000; farming 38%, industry 21%, services 41%; life expectancy 68 years. Note: sales of oil, which began in 2012, brought in most of the new income; the oil industry employs about 2% of Zarrin's workers.

18. 10.

    Esme writes: "Zarrin's income per person rose from $2,000 to $11,000, so Zarrin's farmers got richer." What is the best correction using Card K?

    • The note is right for the 2% of workers in oil, so it must be right for the 38% of workers who still farm
    • Per-person income is a country-wide average, and Card K does not say who received the oil income
    • Zarrin's farmers must earn near $11,000 each, because income per person tells what a typical Zarrin worker earns
    • Farmers got richer, because their share fell from 40% to 38%, so the note is right for some farmers