Difference between growth and development
Growth vs development:
Growth and development are two very common words that are often found in together in most books, journal articles and various other texts. Because of this exact same reason, the words growth and development are sometimes assumed to be synonyms or words that can replace one another in certain contexts. Although the meanings of these two words go hand in hand most of the time, the definitions of growth and development are very different from one another. This article seeks to point out exactly how this difference occurs.
About growth
Growth can be defined as increasing of physical size, maturing mentally, physically or spiritually as well. However, growth is considered as quantitative and therefore can be measured. In biology, the growth of a human being refers to the process of a young person growing in physical size, weight and height whereas growth of an organization can refer to its expansion to other ventures, the growth of its physical structure and etc.
About development
Development can be described as the act or the process of creating a certain thing over a period of time or making a certain thing become larger over time. Development can refer to an organization, a certain country, a business, civilization or the socio-economic status of a person. Development can be both quantitative and qualitative. The development of an individual can be observed not only with regards to the physicality, but also in mental and spiritual aspects. Thus it has a vast scope of definition pertaining from personality to other means such as economic growth and etc.
What is the difference between development and growth?
Development and growth are two words that are often spoken of in similar contexts, but which hold very different meanings to their credit. There are quite a few differences that make the two words easily definable. For instance, growth is a quantitative factor whereas development can be both quantitative and qualitative. For example, growth may refer to the physical growth of an individual pertaining to physical characteristics such as height, weight and the like whereas the development of a person can refer to physical factors and also to other more qualitative factors such as mentality, spirituality and emotional spheres such as developments of intelligence and the development of interpersonal skills and such. Thus growth can be measured most of the time whereas development may or may not be capable of being measured.
Growth takes place within a limited scope of time whereas the scope of development is quite vast. This becomes especially true when it comes to the growth and development of an individual. The growth of an individual typically seizes at his or her twenties when they have reached adulthood whereas the mental, emotional, spiritual development of an individual can take place throughout their whole lives. However, differences become more apparent when it comes to the economic arena. Development in the economy typically tackles the socio-economic status, savings, investment and income whereas growth deals with factors such as the output. While development is further concentrated upon the economic progress of a country, the focus of growth is in the optimization of resources in developed countries.
However, the word “development” can be seen as a stage of growth and growth can be seen as a part of the development process and hence, growth can be seen as a subset of the word development. Observe the following sentence as an example.
The tumor developed in to a cancer as a result of its rapid growth.
Thus, growth can indeed be seen as a subset of development. However, when it comes to individuals, growth speaks about only one aspect of a person’s life whereas development pertains to a number of aspects and covers a rather larger scope than that of growth.
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