State which country, A or B, has a more even distribution of total income and give a reason for your choice.

Suggest two reasons why an uneven distribution of income occurs within one named country or region.

Explain two ways in which remittances can help reduce disparities in the migrants’ country of origin.

Country A [1 mark]
Reason: curved line closer to diagonal [1 mark], diagonal represents line of absolute even distribution [1 mark].
Alternatively candidates could accurately refer to the data to support choice, comparing A with B. For example, country A, 20% of population have 40% of income [1 mark], whereas country B, 20% of population have up to 60% of income showing very uneven distribution [1 mark].

Award [1+1 marks] for each valid reason, provided that it is developed by means of explanation and/or detail.

Example:
Named country: China
Foreign direct investment [1 mark] eg China special economic zones [1 mark].
Government investment focused in urban areas [1 mark]; rural areas have much lower average incomes [1 mark].

The focus can be reasons why some people earn more than others; or why some places/regions produce more wealth.

Possibilities could include:
Ethnicity, residence, education, employment, land ownership, resource distribution, gender inequities, diet and water supply, accessibility, government policies.

No valid example: maximum [3 marks].

Award [1+1 marks] for each valid “way”, provided that it is developed by means of explanation and/or exemplification.
Example: Money or goods go directly to citizens [1 mark] reducing the possibility of loss through officialdom/corruption [1 mark].
Other possibilities could include:

• often hard currency/greater value in receiving country
• increases spending/boosts local markets
• often going to extended families/increased standard of living of a large number of individuals
• greater in volume than ODA/more effective development strategy
• flow in one direction/does not result in external debt.

Good candidates recognized this as a Lorenz curve and were able to explain accurately their choice using the data given.

Again candidates must be made aware that two separate reasons must be clearly developed about their one named country or region. Many good answers based on gender, ethnicity and rural, urban differentials.

The majority of candidates had no problem identifying and explaining two ways remittances can help the receiving nation. Worryingly there were some candidates who did not understand what remittances are. Weaker candidates were hard pushed to explain and illustrate two distinct valid ways. Some slipped into writing advantages of migrants leaving the source country, this was not the question.