Industrialization in the World
Senior 6 · Geography
Industrialization in the World
Lesson 4 of 4
25 min
In December 1952 a thick, cold fog settled over London and mixed with smoke from coal fires and factories. For five days people could barely see across a street, and thousands died of lung and heart disease. Britain responded with the Clean Air Act of 1956. Industry had made Britain rich, and it had also nearly choked its capital. Every country that industrializes faces the same balance: industry creates jobs and wealth, but it can damage health, land, water and air. This lesson weighs both sides and the remedies.
Definition
Multiplier effect: the way one new investment creates further rounds of jobs and income, as wages are spent and suppliers grow (Figure 1).
Import substitution: making at home goods that used to be imported.
Linkages: connections between industries: backward linkages to suppliers (a dairy buys milk from farmers) and forward linkages to users of the product (a mill sells flour to bakeries).
Effluent: liquid waste discharged from a factory or sewage works.
Environmental impact assessment (EIA): a study, made before a project is approved, of its likely effects on the environment and people, and of ways to reduce them.
Cleaner production: changing processes so that less waste and pollution are produced in the first place, rather than treating them afterwards.
Figure 1: How one factory can set off a chain of further growth.
| Benefit | Explanation and example |
|---|---|
| Employment and income | Factories employ workers directly and support suppliers, transporters and shops (the multiplier effect) |
| Value added and exports | Processing adds value to raw materials and earns foreign exchange: Rwanda's processed tea and coffee sell for more than raw produce |
| Import substitution | Local cement, food and building materials save foreign exchange; the "Made in Rwanda" policy encourages this |
| Market for agriculture and mining | Backward linkages: dairies buy milk, mills buy maize and cassava |
| Infrastructure and urbanization | Roads, power lines and water supplies built for factories also serve towns |
| Government revenue | Taxes on firms and workers pay for schools and hospitals |
| Technology and skills | Workers learn new skills; foreign firms bring new techniques |
| Diversification | A wider economy is less exposed to a bad harvest or a fall in the price of one export |
Rwanda's industry is growing quickly. NISR reported that industry grew by 11% in 2025 and manufacturing by 10%, led by a 35% rise in the production of non-metallic minerals, mainly cement.
Many developing countries, including Rwanda, face obstacles to industrializing:
| Problem | Example |
|---|---|
| Air pollution and acid rain | The London smog of 1952; acid rain on forests and lakes downwind of the Ruhr and the North American Manufacturing Belt |
| Water pollution | Mercury in factory waste poisoned fish and people at Minamata, Japan, from the 1950s |
| Industrial accidents | A gas leak at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, in 1984 killed thousands; the Rana Plaza garment-factory building in Bangladesh collapsed in 2013, killing more than 1 100 workers |
| Climate change | Industry burns large amounts of coal, oil and gas, and steel and cement release CO₂ in their chemistry |
| Loss of farmland and wetlands | Factories and their housing spread over good land and drain wetlands |
| Rural–urban migration and slums | Jobs draw migrants faster than towns can house them |
| Exploitation of workers | Long hours, low pay and unsafe workplaces, sometimes child labour |
| Deindustrialization | When factories close, whole districts lose jobs, as in the Rust Belt |
| Problem | Remedies |
|---|---|
| Pollution of air and water | Emission and effluent standards enforced by inspectors; filters, scrubbers and effluent treatment plants; cleaner production; moving polluting factories out of homes and wetlands into planned industrial zones |
| Climate change | Renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon pricing, new low-carbon steel and cement processes |
| Accidents and exploitation | Building and safety codes, factory inspection, labour laws, trade unions, minimum wages |
| Waste | Recycling and reuse; a circular economy in which one firm's waste is another's raw material; Rwanda's ban on plastic bags |
| Unplanned growth | Land-use planning and zoning; an environmental impact assessment before approval, which large projects in Rwanda must have |
| Concentration in one city | Industrial parks and incentives in other towns to spread jobs and slow migration |
| Obstacles to industrializing | Regional markets, investment in power and transport, technical and vocational training, credit for small firms, protection or support for young industries |
Worked example 1: the multiplier in numbers
Problem. An illustrative new factory employs 400 workers, each paid 150 000 Frw a month. Studies suggest that each direct job supports 1.5 more jobs among suppliers and local services. Calculate (a) the total number of jobs created and (b) the factory's direct wage bill in a year.
Solution.
Much of the 720 million Frw is spent locally on food, rent, transport and school fees, which is how the extra 600 jobs arise.
Worked example 2: how much pollution does treatment remove?
Problem. An illustrative food factory discharges 500 m³ of effluent a day, with a biochemical oxygen demand (BOD, a measure of organic pollution) of 400 mg per litre. (a) Calculate the daily pollution load in kg of BOD. (b) What is the load after a treatment plant removes 90% of it?
Solution. , so the factory discharges 500 000 L a day.
Treatment cuts the load to one tenth, enough to stop a small river from losing its oxygen and its fish.
Warning
Common mistake. Confusing problems facing industrial development (lack of capital, small markets, poor power) with problems caused by it (pollution, slums, accidents). Questions often ask for one or the other; read the wording carefully and keep the two lists apart.
Tip
Exam technique. For "evaluate the impact of industrialization", draw a quick two-column plan: benefits and costs, each with a named example. End with a judgement that depends on management: with planning, regulation and clean energy, the benefits can outweigh the costs.
Crash Course Ecology #11: "Pollution", presented by Hank Green. Watch for the main kinds of pollution described and their ecological effects, and match each one to an industrial source in this lesson.
Practice
Summary
Further reading
Sources and credits
Photo: Duisburg, Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, Hochofen 2 (Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Video: "Pollution: Crash Course Ecology #11", CrashCourse, embedded from YouTube.
Figure 1, the worked examples and exercises: written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
