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You've learned how to measure economic growth as the rate of change in real GDP. The way to raise a nation’s standard of living (which is the ultimate purpose of economic growth) is for real GDP to increase faster than the size of the population. What conditions are necessary for this to happen?
Obviously, growth is easier to achieve when there is a wealth of production resources. These come in many forms, but economists have traditionally sorted them into three broad categories. The primary types of factors of production, or production inputs, are land, labor and capital.
Land
A nation with a lot of land literally has lots of room to grow—room to house its people, room to grow crops, room to build factories. It's likely to have mineral resources, fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas), precious metals (gold, silver), and/or and metals useful in industrial production (like iron, aluminum, zinc, etc.). There may be locations suitable for the development of renewable energy sources (hydroelectric plants, solar power plants, windmill farms). There may be places of great natural beauty that can support tourism. And if the land contains, or borders on, navigable waterways, that is another plus. A coast with locations suitable for commercial seaports is ideal.
Labor
Labor means workers, sometimes referred to as human capital. A growing population means more workers, which will result in an increase in GDP. However, an increase in GDP per capita requires that the labor force become more productive. One possibility is for a greater share of the population to join the labor force. Developing nations see an increase in official GDP per capita when women enter the labor force in large numbers. Another way to increase labor force productivity is through education. Other things being equal, a highly skilled labor force is more productive than an unskilled one.
Capital
When economists speak of capital per se, they mean physical capital. This category includes not just privately owned production facilities and production equipment but also transportation equipment (trucks, airplanes) and infrastructure such as transportation networks (highways, rail networks, canals) and communication networks (fiber optic cabling, cellular towers).
