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
- 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
- Japan's years of schooling must be higher than America's, which closes the gap that income leaves in the index
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 nearly holds: the orders differ only at the top, where Germany leads on HDI and America on income
- The claim holds exactly, because the three richest countries by income are also the three in the very high HDI group
- 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 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 holds, because the table shows the richest countries are in the very high HDI group on the right of Card I
- It fails for Japan alone, because Japan is the one country that has a longer life than richer countries do
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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, but its richest tenth receives 25%, so each person in that tenth has just about $5,000
- 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
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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?
- Zarrin's figures must be wrong, because Mexico's income is higher still and its life expectancy is 75.3 years
- Income has no effect on life expectancy, because Zarrin's income is higher than India's but its life expectancy is lower
- 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
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
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 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)
- 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
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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.
Zee wants to test whether oil sales, not a shift in jobs, drove Zarrin's income rise on Card K. Which evidence helps most?
- 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
- Another country's income after it began selling oil, to see whether oil sales raise income wherever they begin
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?
- 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
- More years of Zarrin's own data, to see whether its services share ever moves further than 41%
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 is from 2023 and GNI from 2025, so the two columns cannot be set against each other
- The HDI should follow life expectancy alone, so Mexico's should be 93% of Germany's, which is 75.3 divided by 80.8
- 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 combines life expectancy with income, and Mexico's life expectancy (75.3 years) is close to Germany's (80.8)