Cambridge International as and a level Economics Ebook

238
Cambridge International A Level Economics

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Emerging economies
In 2014 emerging economies accounted for half of 
global GDP compared to less than a third in 1990. 
The most significant growth was in four of the largest 
emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India and China. 
Jim O’Neill, an analyst working at the investment 
bank Goldman Sachs, labelled these four economies in 
2001 as the BRICs. He identified these four economies 
as the ones with the greatest potential for economic 
growth and the ones providing the best opportunities 
for investment. 
Table 9.7
 compares the growth rates 
and share of global output and exports of goods 
and services of the four BRIC economies and four 
developed economies.
Th
e governments of the four countries now meet 
on a regular basis and they were joined in 2010 by the 
government of South Africa.
Influences on the size and 
composition of the labour force
Th
e labour force in an economy is defi ned as the 
total number of workers who are available for work. 
It therefore refers to all males and females who can 
countries. While fertility rates* have fallen in most 
parts of Africa, they are still high at more than five in 
a number of countries including Nigeria, Uganda and 
the Democratic Republic of Congo. The increase in 
population is increasing urbanisation. For example, the 
population of Lagos in Nigeria is forecast to grow from 
11 million in 2014 to more than 40 million in 2050. The 
number of children in Africa will also rise dramatically. In 
2010 there were 411 million African children aged 14 or 
below. By 2050 it is predicted there will be 839 million.
1
What may cause a reversal from net immigration to 
net emigration?