Math
Part A: South Korea vs. Current World Average
Graph 1: Death Rate
Commentary 1: Death Rate
The death rate in a country is a way of expressing the mortality of the people in that country. It is usually expressed in a scale of average number of deaths per 1000 individuals every year. It is a conveyance of the overall health of the country, in a way. Many factors contribute to this number, including the average age of the country’s population (and South Korea’s is currently aging), nutrition and housing standards, access to clean water, hygiene and health levels, crime rates, conflicts and wars, and the number of doctors available. This indicator tells us how well the country is doing in terms of these factors. The graph above shows how well South Korea has been doing with them compared with the current world average. South Korea seems to be doing very well with these issues, because they have consistently been below the world average death rate. It also appears that it has been declining slightly, as it was almost down to 5 by 2004. In fact, it is almost down to half of the world average, which is very good. Some reasons for these low statistics are the fact that South Korea has been doing very well with health standards and housing standards. It has a low crime rate, is not at war, and has enough medical professionals. However, it has a rapidly aging population because the birth rate has recently fallen below the replacement rate, and therefore has a population that will soon drop very quickly.
Graph 2: Birth Rate
Commentary 2: Birth Rate
Crude birth rate is the number of childbirths per 1,000 people per year. Many factors affect the overall birth rate, some of which include government policies concerning childbirth, abortion rates, current age of the population, female literacy, religious beliefs, economy, poverty rates, infant mortality rates, urbanization, age of marriage, and conflicts or war. This indicator tells how a country is doing concerning those factors, however it does not take into account the age of the population, which can affect it greatly. The graph above shows the birth rate of South Korea compared to that of the current world average. It also shows the basic pattern of these numbers so that it is possible to predict what will happen in the next few years. Compared with the world average, South Korea’s birth rate is very low. In fact, it is less than half of the world average, and decreasing. One of the major reasons for this is probably the rapidly aging population. When people don’t have enough children, the parents of the country grow older, and leave the country with a much smaller population that can still go through childbirth. Because of the huge impact of this factor, perhaps it would be better to use a different indicator that takes that into account, such as fertility rate, which measures the average number of children one woman will have in her lifetime.
Graph 3: Population
Commentary 3: Population
The population of a country is the measure of the number of people in that given place. Other indicators such as birth and death rate affect the population, because the population will go up or down depending on which indicator has a higher rate. Population tells things about the country such as industrialization, immigration rates, land area, birth and death rates, and the overall power of the country. As you can see, the current world average population was not included because one of the biggest factors affecting population is land area, and as not all countries are equal in size, it isn’t necessarily relevant to know the average number of people in each country, because the average size of a country may be bigger or smaller than that of South Korea, or any other country, for that matter. Also, countries such as China and India have huge populations that would put the world average up by quite a bit. Therefore, the population of a country is not really something that needs to be compared to the rest of the world. If you were to do that, it would be much more relevant to use something like population density to compare to a world average, because with population density, it doesn’t matter how big the country is, because that fact has been taken into account already. Therefore, the statistics of population in South Korea do not need to be compared with that of the world, because it would not show very much information. The reasons for the number of people comprising the population are the way they are because of many of the factors mentioned before.
Part B: South Korea vs. Philippines
Graph 1: GDP
Commentary 1: GDP
Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, is one of the measures used to find the economy of a country. It is the measure of the total value of all goods produced within a given country. It shows many things about a country, such as the overall development of the nation’s economy, and the status of the different factors that contribute to the country’s GDP. A country’s GPD is made up of personal spending (such as food, rent, and medical expenses), investments (excluding stocks and bonds), government spending (such as salaries of government workers, weapons purchases, and any investment spending by a government), and the difference between exports and imports. The graph above shows the current GDP of South Korea compared to the current GDP of the Philippines. This is good information to know, because it can give you a general idea of how well the country is doing compared with the country that we live in, the Philippines. Compared to the Philippines, South Korea’s GDP is very high, at least 5 times higher. Reasons for this might be the amount of industrialization that has been happening in the last couple of decades in South Korea, and the fact that South Korea’s economy is doing very well. It is currently one of the three largest in Asia. It is also 12th largest in the world. It is predicted that it will reach second largest by 2050. Therefore, it makes complete sense that it is more advanced than the Philippines in this aspect.
Graph 2: GDP per capita
Commentary 2: GDP per capita
GDP per capita is a very similar measure to GDP, because it is also a measure of a nation’s economy, but it is formally a measure of the standard of living in a particular country. However, it is debated whether or not the GDP is entirely relevant to the standard of living, because it is a measure of the economy, not how well its citizens are doing. It is just the GDP divided by the population to get an average. However, not all of the money is always used for the people of the country. This indicator tells things about a country such as its economic status compared with its population. The graph above shows South Korea’s GDP per capita compared to the Philippines’ GDP per capita. It is very similar looking to the graph of GDP because GDP and GDP per capita are very similar measures, and therefore the difference between the two comparisons will be minimal. The only thing that really affects the difference between the two graphs is population, and the population of the Philippines is nearly twice as much as that of South Korea. This affects the difference greatly, making the GDP per capita of South Korea around 9 times as much as that of the Philippines. Some reasons for the statistics of South Korea being so much larger than the statistics of the Philippines would be once again, their economy, as well as the population. As I said before, South Korea has one of the largest economies in the world, and a much smaller population than the Philippines, making its GDP per capita very high.
Graph 3: Total Fertility
Commentary 3: Total Fertility
Total Fertility Rate is the measure of the average number of children a woman will have in her life. It is not based on the average number of children a group of women has, because that would require a study over many years to come up with a statistic every year. Instead, it is based on the average fertility rates of women between 15 and 49. Total Fertility Rate shows things about a country such as its urbanization, female literacy rates, education, and age of marriage. The graph above compares the fertility rate of South Korea to the fertility rate of the Philippines. As you can see, South Korea’s bar is much lower than that of the Philippines. This is because it is very urbanized, has high female literacy rates, a good education for its citizens, and a higher age of marriage. All of these factors influence the overall fertility rate.
Graph 4: Land Area
Commentary 4: Land Area
Land area is the measure of the total space a given country takes up. It shows things about a country such as how long it has been in existence, the size of its population, and the size of its military. The graph above compares the land area of two countries: my EXPO country of South Korea, and our home country of the Philippines. It can be clearly seen that the land area of South Korea is easily larger than the Philippines’. There are not many ways this can be changed, however, unless they combine with another country to create an entirely new, larger one. This however, is not likely to happen in the near future. Land Area, however, is not an important fact to consider when judging the power of a given country, because smaller countries are also much easier to control. If it is a very old country, it may be larger because of it conquering other countries or lands in the past. If it is a very new country, like South Korea, it is most likely very small, yet South Korea is also very prosperous.
Graph 5: Forested Area
Commentary 5: Forested Area
Forested Area is the percentage of land that is forested, or has trees covering it. It is expressed as a percentage so that it doesn’t matter how large the country is, it is just a measure of how much of it has trees covering it. Things that affect this indicator include the amount of pollution in a country, the amount of logging in a country, the overall environment, the amount of arable land, and population. The graph compares the percent of forested area in South Korea to the percent of forested area in the Philippines. As you can see, the percentage in South Korea is much higher than that of the Philippines. This may be because South Korea is very newly developed, and therefore still has a lot of forest left. It is also very mountainous, which helps keep trees in their place, because they prevent landslides and the like. Therefore, people are not as eager to cut down the trees. South Korea also has a much smaller population in a larger land area, which means that resources are much more plentiful, and are not needed as often.
Graph 6: Water Consumption per capita
Commentary 6: Water Consumption per capita
Water consumption per capita is the measure of the amount of water available for consumption per person in a given country. Many factors affect the final results of this indicator, including population, physical geography, and climate. The above graph compares the statistics of this indicator in South Korea to that of the Philippines. As you can see, the Philippines has a much larger water consumption. This may have something to do with the fact that they are an island country, while South Korea is a peninsula whose water is largely imported. 65% of the water consumed per capita in South Korea is imported from another country. It is number 5 in the world in this aspect, after Japan, Italy, England and Germany. This means that they have very little fresh water available, which may be an effect of being such a mountainous country, and being very cold on top of that. They also have a small population, although that would not affect the indicator as much, because the less the population, the more water there is to go around.
