Personal code – jgc937

Correlation between GDP, Literacy Rate and Standard of Living

IBDP Mathematics

Application and Interpretation SL – Exploration

Personal Code: jgc937

Examination Session: May 2023

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Research Question:

What is the relation between GDP, literacy rate and standard of living?

Introduction and Rationale:

I have seen the lives of rich and poor society and it always amaze me how these societies are

linear in their approach to maintain the status in their respective society. The movement of

one society to another that is from richness to poverty or from poverty to richness is technical

as far as I have observed. After a lot of thinking I observed that somehow education play a

vital role in upliftment of poor to reach a higher standard of life.

At the same time, it is also very clear to me that human development index (HDI) produced

by the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) is different for different countries.

While countries having higher HDI has more educated people and countries having lower

HDI have less educated population.

Since our country is performing well in its economy and recently for being the 6th richest

country position.1 And our country is moving forward in its socio-economic development.

So, I want to inspect whether our country’s economic development is co-relating with the

literacy rate of our population.

1
“List of Richest Countries in the World 2022: Net Worth of the US, China, India, UK, Canada, Japan and More.” Unacademy, 7 Feb. 2023,
unacademy.com/content/general-awareness/list-of-richest-countries-in-the-world-2022-check-the-net-worth-of-the-us-china-india-uk-canada-japan-
and-more/. Accessed 10th Feb. 2023.

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This is quite fascinating how poverty level in India also far behind than countries having less

per capita income and net gross GDP. Also, India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in 2022 in

the Global Hunger Index2.

Aim and Approach:

For this analysis we will use the stats of different countries’ standard of living and its literacy

rate also we will compare stats of different states in India as well.

We will also compare India’s stats in different periods of time.

Data Collection and Results:

The collection of data in this project is taken to compare their economic development and

social development. First the top 10 developed economies and their HDI is taken.

Then 10 developing nations economy is taken. These countries are taken on random basis as

per my interest. But interestingly they are taken to compare India’s socio-economic status. As

most of these countries have gotten their freedom during the same period.

Finally, India’s economic development and HDI performance since 1990 is taken. This is

taken as to compare India’s economic growth to its socio-economic development.

2
“India.” Global Hunger Index (GHI) - Peer-Reviewed Annual Publication Designed to
Comprehensively Measure and Track Hunger at the Global, Regional, and Country
Levels, www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html. Accessed on 11th Jan 2023

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This period is taken due to its adoption of new economic policy and significance in
A; relevant table
contemporary economic development. seen

Table 1: HDI of Most developed economies3

Name of Countries HDI

USA 0.926

China 0.761

Japan 0.919

Germany 0.947

India 0.645

UK 0.932

France 0.901

Canada 0.929

Russia 0.824

Italy 0.892
Graph 1: GDP of most Developed Countries (self-made in draw.io)4

A; relevant graphs
seen
3
Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “List of Countries by Human Development Index - Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., 17 Sept. 2005, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index.
4
Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “List of Countries by GDP (Nominal) - Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc., 27 Nov. 2003, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal).

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Table 2: HDI of 10 developing nations5

Name of Countries HDI

India 0.645

Brazil 0.765

Mexico 0.779

Indonesia 0.718

Malaysia 0.563

South Africa 0.709

Egypt 0.707

Bangladesh 0.632

Pakistan 0.557

Sri Lanka 0.782

Graph2: GDP of developing nations (Self-made on draw.io)6

5 “Human Development Index (HDI) by Country 2023.” 2023 World Population by Country (Live), https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-
rankings/hdi-by-country. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.
6 The Investopedia Team. “Top 25 Developed and Developing Countries.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 28 Sept. 2016,

https://www.investopedia.com/updates/top-developing-countries/.

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Table 3: India’s HDI since 19907 (For full table refer appendix)

Years HDI

1990 0.429

1991 0.433

1992 0.440

1993 0.446

1994 0.453

1995 0.461

1996 0.468

1997 0.474

1998 0.481

1999 0.489

2000 0.495

2001 0.499

2002 0.506

2003 0.518

2004 0.527

----- -----

2016 0.630

2017 0.640

2018 0.642

2019 0.645

2020 0.645

2021 0.633

7“India - Human Development Index - HDI 2021 | Countryeconomy.Com.” Countryeconomy.Com, Countryeconomy,

https://countryeconomy.com/hdi/india. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.

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Graph 3: India’s HDI since 1990 (self-made on draw.io)8

Modelling and Mathematical Manipulation of results:

At first it was very difficult for me to express standard of living in mathematical terms but

after a lot of research. I get to the conclusion that it is related to mathematics like real GDP or

Per Capita Income (Average income), distribution of wealth changes in the quality of life all

these terms can be concluded from above mentioned data.

Calculating mean, mode and median of HDI of India since 1990 till 2021.

0.429, 0.433, 0.440,0.446,0.453,0.461,0.468,0.474,0.481,0.489,0.495,0.499,0.506, 0.518,

0.527, 0.536, 0.546, 0.555, 0.563, 0.569, 0.579, 0.588, 0.597, 0.604, 0.616, 0.624,

0.630,0.640,0.642, 0.645,0.645, 0.633

8“India - Human Development Index - HDI 2021 | Countryeconomy.Com.” Countryeconomy.Com, Countryeconomy,

https://countryeconomy.com/hdi/india. Accessed 26 Feb. 2023.

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HDI Frequency (f) xi (Class Mark) fixi Cumulative

frequency (cf)

0.400-0.450 4 0.425 1.700 4

0.450-0.500 8 0.475 3.800 12

0.500-0.550 5 0.525 2.625 17

0.550-0.600 6 0.575 3.450 23

0.600-0.650 9 0.625 5.625 32

0.650-0.700 0 0.675 0

Total = 32 Total = 17.200

∑ fixi 17.2
Mean (x̅) = ∑ fi
= = 0.5375
32

Now we are finding mode :-

Modal class for this data

= 0.600-0.650

l = 0.600

h= 0.050
B; missed
f1= 9 opportunity (key
variables not
f0 = 6 defined)

f2 = 0

f1−f0
Mode = l+( ) × h9
2f1−f0−f2

9−6
=0.600 +(2×9−6−0) × 0.05

= 0.6125

9 “Mode - Formula, Meaning, Example | How to Find Mode?” Cuemath, https://www.cuemath.com/data/mode/. Accessed 11 th Jan . 2023.

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Finding the median of data:-

n 32
= = 16
2 2

Median class = 0.500 – 0.550

l = 0.500, cf = 12, f = 5 and h = 0.05

n
−cf
Median = l + ( 2 f ) × h10

16−12
= 0.5 + ( ) ×0.05
5

= 0.530

Table 4: (self-made)Less than data:-

HDI cf

Less than 0.450 4

Less than 0.500 12

Less than 0.550 17

Less than 0.600 23

Less than 0.650 32

Table 5: (self-made)More than data:-

HDI cf

More than or equal to 0.400 32

More than or equal to 0.450 28

More than or equal to 0.500 20

More than or equal to 0.550 15

More than or equal to 0.600 9

10 “Median - Formula, Meaning, Example | How to Find Median?” Cuemath, https://www.cuemath.com/data/median/. Accessed 11 th Jan. 2023.

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Graph 4: Ogive graph for the data (self-made on draw.io)

Less
than
graph
More
than
graph

Graph 5: Histogram for the data (self- made on histogram maker)

x = 0.71 ( Standard Deviation )

Calculating the mean, mode and median of GDP of India since 1987:-

283.75,299.65,300.19,326.61,274.84,293.26,284.19,333.01,366.6,

399.79,423.19,428.77,466.84,476.64,493.93,523.77,618.37,721.59,

834.22,949.12,1238.7,1224.1,1365.37,1708.46,1823.05,1827.64,1856.7

2039.13,2103.59,2294.12,2651.47,2702.93,2831.55,2667.69,3177.92

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GDP in Billion Frequency (f) xi (Class Mark) fixi Cumulative

frequency (cf)

0-500 15 250 3750 15

500-1000 5 750 3750 20

1000-1500 3 1250 3750 23

1500-2000 4 1750 7000 27

2000-2500 3 2250 6750 30

2500-3000 4 2750 11000 34

3000-3500 1 3250 3250 35

Total=35 Total=39250

∑ fixi 39250
Mean (x̅) = ∑ fi
= =1121.42
35

Now we are finding mode :-

Modal class for this data = 0-500

l=0, f0=0, f1=15, f2=5, h=500

f1−f0
Mode = l+(2f1−f0−f2) × h

0
= 0+ (15 - 30−0−5) × 500 = 300

Now we are finding median :-

n
Median class for this data = 500-1000 , 2 = 17.5

CF= 15

f= 5

h=500

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n
−cf
Median = = l + ( 2 )× h
f

17.5−15
= 500+ ( ) × 500 = 750
5

Less than data(self-made table):-

HDI Cumulative frequency (cf)

Less than 500 15

Less than 1000 20

Less than 1500 23

Less than 2000 27

Less than 2500 30

Less than 3000 34

Less than 3500 35

More than data(self-made table):-

HDI cf

More than or equal to 0 35

More than or equal to 500 20

More than or equal to 1000 15

More than or equal to 1500 12

More than or equal to 2000 8

More than or equal to 2500 5

More than or equal to 3000 1

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Graph 6: Ogive graph on the data (self-made graph on draw.io)

Graph 7: Histogram on the data (self-made histogram on histogram maker)

x = 911.24 ( Standard Deviation )

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Analysis and Conclusion:

This research paper from the beginning is very difficult as we are correlating the poverty

economy with standard of life. Since we know that in real life there is no constant change and

occurs different in every different situation. But surely this work gives us the idea that how

different countries grew with their economic development.

First, we have taken HDI and Gross GDP of 10 economically developed nations and in this

finding, we see that India is fifth largest economy of world while the bar graph clearly shows

that HDI of India is lowest that is on 10th position. Not only this but even countries having far

lesser economies have perform better than India we know that while comparing India with

other countries we must see enormous population of India and its limited resources, so it is

not fared to compare India to other countries unilaterally so, we compared India’s own

economic development throughout these three decades.

Evaluation and Extensions:

When we find the standard deviation of HDI of India and GDP of India, we see a huge

difference of change. Which indicates that while Indian economy grew very fast, but it

doesn’t perform well in social and economic development. This means that unparallel

development has taken place in India. The wealth has concentrated in few hands.

There are various means to calculate dispersion such as range, quartile deviation, mean

deviation etc. But standard deviation is best to show dispersion. The measure of standard

deviation shows how the data is spread in comparison to mean value. High standard deviation

means that data is more spread out while low standard deviation means, it is clustered around

mean.

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The standard deviation of GDP is 911.24 (calculated using GDC calculator) which shows

high dispersion from its mean value. While standard deviation of HDI is 0.71 which has low

diversion from its mean value. The gap of difference must be lower to reduce the income

inequalities among the people of India.

Even though India is performing well in its economy, but it is way behind all developed

nations in HDI. Not only this India is also behind most of developing nations and all of them

have lower economy than India. We know that economic growth can’t take place without

infrastructural development. It means that government has diverted more funds toward

economic growth rather than socio-economic development. This gap has top fill through

more investment in social infrastructure such as schools, colleges, hospitals, housing,

sanitation and more. As social infrastructure indirectly contributes to economic infrastructure.

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Bibliography:

• Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “List of Countries by GDP (Nominal) -

Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 27 Nov.
2003, Accessed 10 Dec. 2022.
• Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “List of Countries by GDP (Nominal) - Wikipedia.”
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 27 Nov. 2003,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal). Accessed 15 Dec.
2022.
• Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “List of Countries by Human Development Index -
Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 17 Sept.
2005, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index.
Accessed 10 Dec. 2022.
• Human Development Index (HDI) by Country 2023.” 2023 World Population by
Country (Live), https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/hdi-by-country.
Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
• “India.” Global Hunger Index (GHI) - Peer-Reviewed Annual Publication Designed to
Comprehensively Measure and Track Hunger at the Global, Regional, and Country
Levels, www.globalhungerindex.org/india.html. Accessed on 11th Jan 2023
• “India - Human Development Index - HDI 2021 |
Countryeconomy.Com.” Countryeconomy.Com, Countryeconomy,
https://countryeconomy.com/hdi/india. Accessed 25 Dec. 2022.
• “India - Human Development Index - HDI 2021 | Countryeconomy.Com.”
Countryeconomy.Com, Countryeconomy, https://countryeconomy.com/hdi/india.
Accessed 1 Jan. 2023.
• “India - Human Development Index - HDI 2021 | Countryeconomy.Com.”
Countryeconomy.Com, Countryeconomy, https://countryeconomy.com/hdi/india.
Accessed 1 Jan. 2023.
• “List of Richest Countries in the World 2022: Net Worth of the US, China, India, UK,
Canada, Japan and More.” Unacademy, 7 Feb. 2023, unacademy.com/content/general-
awareness/list-of-richest-countries-in-the-world-2022-check-the-net-worth-of-the-us-
china-india-uk-canada-japan-and-more/. Accessed 10th Feb. 2023.
• Lovell, Stephanie. “Oxford IB Diploma Programme: IB Mathematics: Applications and
Interpretation, Higher Level, Print and Enhanced Online Course Book Pack: Oxford
University Press.” Oxford University Press - Homepage,
https://global.oup.com/education/product/9780198427049/?region=uk. Accessed 2 Jan.
2023.
• “Median - Formula, Meaning, Example | How to Find Median?” Cuemath,
https://www.cuemath.com/data/median/. Accessed 11th Jan. 2023.
• “Mode - Formula, Meaning, Example | How to Find Mode?” Cuemath,
https://www.cuemath.com/data/mode/. Accessed 11th Jan . 2023.
• O’Neill, Aaron. “GDP of India 1987-2027 | Statista.” Statista,
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263771/gross-domestic-product-gdp-in-india/.
Accessed 2 Jan. 2023.
• The Investopedia Team. “Top 25 Developed and Developing Countries.” Investopedia,
Investopedia, 28 Sept. 2016, https://www.investopedia.com/updates/top-developing-
countries/. Accessed 30 Dec. 2023.

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Appendix
Table 3: India’s HDI since 1990

Years HDI

1990 0.429

1991 0.433

1992 0.440

1993 0.446

1994 0.453

1995 0.461

1996 0.468

1997 0.474

1998 0.481

1999 0.489

2000 0.495

2001 0.499

2002 0.506

2003 0.518

2004 0.527

2005 0.536

2006 0.546

2007 0.555

2008 0.563

2009 0.569

2010 0.579

2011 0.588

2012 0.597

2013 0.604

2014 0.616

2015 0.624

2016 0.630

2017 0.640

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2018 0.642

2019 0.645

2020 0.645

2021 0.633

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