Global development

Global development is the effort to improve economic and social conditions worldwide, especially by reducing poverty and inequalities within and between countries.

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Sustainable Development Goals: A set of 17 United Nations goals adopted in 2015 to address poverty, inequality, environmental protection, and related challenges by 2030. They set a shared global agenda for development priorities and targets.
Poverty trap: A self-reinforcing condition in which low income and limited resources prevent people or economies from escaping poverty. It explains how poverty can persist despite efforts to raise incomes.
Point Four Program: A 1949 United States foreign-assistance initiative that offered technical aid to countries described as underdeveloped. It helped establish technical assistance as a postwar development strategy.
Gross domestic product: The monetary value of final goods and services produced within a country during a specified period. GDP measures economic production, not the full range of social conditions development seeks to improve.
Land grabbing: Large-scale acquisition or control of land, often criticized for displacing communities or limiting their access to resources. Some investment-led development projects have intensified disputes over land and local rights.
Human Development Index: A composite measure of health, education, and income used to compare human development across countries. It broadens development comparisons beyond economic output.
Structural transformation: The long-term shift of an economy’s output and employment across sectors, commonly from agriculture toward industry and services. It describes a central pathway through which economies have historically raised productivity.
Modernization theory: A family of theories that explains social change as movement toward forms associated with modern industrial societies. It shaped early development thinking about economic and social transformation.
Degrowth: A movement and research program advocating planned reductions in material and energy throughput in wealthy economies. It questions whether continued economic growth can be the universal route to better lives.
Brain drain: The emigration of educated or skilled people from a country or region, reducing its stock of expertise. Unequal opportunities can direct skilled workers away from poorer countries.