 | | |  | | Social indicators are used to assess how well a country is developing in key areas such as health, education and diet. It is one way of finding out what is happening within a country. | | | This section features several social indicators. Scroll down and click on the text link for each indicator to get more information on each. There is also an exercise to attempt in this section. Click on the link button to go to the exercise. | | | | Life Expectancy -
Is the average lifespan of someone born in that country. This can be affected by factors such as wars, natural disasters and disease. The higher the life expectancy the more developed the country. People in the UK have a life expectancy of 77 years. In comparison, Ugandans have a life expectancy of only 41 years.7 Click to find out more | | Birth Rate -
Measures the number of babies born per thousand people per year. The higher this is, the less developed a country is supposed to be. The UK has around 13 babies born per year for every 1,000 people. In Ethiopia 46 babies are born per thousand people per year.5 Click to find out more | | Adult Literacy -
Is the percentage of the adult population able to read and write. In the UK around 99% of adults can read and write to a fair level. In Somalia only around 24% (less than a quarter) of all adults can read and write.6 Click to find out more | | Infant Mortality -
Measures the number of children who die before they reach the age of one for every thousand live births per year. The figure of 1000 is used so that countries of vastly different size can be compared. In the UK, for every 1,000 children born, around 6 will die before their first birthday. In Sierra Leone, for every 1,000 children born, around 195 will not live to see their first birthday.4 Click the mouse button to try this exercise. You might want to view the other indicators before attempting this. | | | | | |
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