Kinds of work and how geographers measure development
Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
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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.
Noah sees that Japan's GNI per person is under half America's but its HDI is only 0.013 lower. What best fits Card I?
- The HDI counts income least of its three parts, so a gap of more than two times in income hardly matters
- Japan's years of schooling must be higher than America's, which closes the gap that income leaves in the index
- The HDI is from 2023 and GNI is from 2025, so the two columns cannot be compared with each other
- Japan's longer life expectancy (84.0 against 78.9 years) offsets part of the income gap inside the HDI
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 holds exactly, because the three richest countries by income are also the three in the very high HDI group
- The claim nearly holds: the orders differ only at the top, where Germany leads on HDI and America on income
- The claim fails in the middle, where India and Mexico change places between the two orders of the six countries
- The claim fails, because Japan ranks higher on life expectancy than on income, so income cannot predict development
Luz tests "more income per person always means a longer life" on Card I. Which statement is accurate?
- It fails for Japan alone, because Japan is the one country that has a longer life than richer countries do
- It fails among the top three: Germany out-earns Japan and America out-earns Germany, yet each has shorter life expectancy
- It holds, because the table shows the richest countries are in the very high HDI group on the right of Card I
- It fails everywhere on the table, because life expectancy and income do not line up in any pair of the six countries
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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.
Tala wonders whether typical households in Vell and Ryn do equally well, since both average $20,000 per person. What does Card J suggest?
- 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, because its other nine tenths share 75% of income and Vell's share only 55%
- They do equally well, because the same average income per person means the same for typical households in both
- Ryn's do better, but its richest tenth receives 25%, so each person in that tenth has just about $5,000
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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.
Pia compares Zarrin's 2025 life expectancy (68 years) with India's on Card I. What fits both cards?
- Income has no effect on life expectancy, because Zarrin's income is higher than India's but its life expectancy is lower
- Zarrin is less developed than India, because its life expectancy is the lower of the two even with the higher income
- Zarrin earns about four times India's income per person yet lives shorter, so income alone does not set life expectancy
- Zarrin's figures must be wrong, because Mexico's income is higher still and its life expectancy is 75.3 years
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.
Milo compares what extra income goes with on Card I: Niger to India, then India to Mexico. Which reading is supported?
- 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
- Money matters most at low incomes, because each extra dollar there raises life expectancy by more than a dollar higher up
- 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)
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.
Zee wants to test whether oil sales, not a shift in jobs, drove Zarrin's income rise on Card K. Which evidence helps most?
- Another country's income after it began selling oil, to see whether oil sales raise income wherever they begin
- Zarrin's life expectancy each year from 2008 to 2016, to see whether it moved at the same time that income did
- Zarrin's income each year from 2008 to 2016, to see whether it jumped when oil sales began in 2012
- Zarrin's job shares in 2005 and 2025 once more, to see that jobs hardly moved while income rose a great deal
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 that exports even more oil than Zarrin does, to compare how much oil sales add to its income
- 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
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.
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?
- 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
- Mexico's years of schooling must match Germany's, which is why the two HDI values are so close together on the card
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.
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?
- Zarrin's farmers must earn near $11,000 each, because income per person tells what a typical Zarrin worker earns
- The note is right for the 2% of workers in oil, so it must be right for the 38% of workers who still farm
- Farmers got richer, because their share fell from 40% to 38%, so the note is right for some farmers
- Per-person income is a country-wide average, and Card K does not say who received the oil income