1

Development the basics

making sense of the world
John Hopkin Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils.
- UN Development Report, 2006

Introduction
We use data to measure the world and to make sense of it, but measuring development is a complex business. Statistics help us to summarise and present information, which can then be used to describe, compare, analyse and explain development patterns and processes. A wealth of statistics is available to help frame our understanding of global issues in development and underdevelopment: some of the main sources are listed at the end of this chapter. However, statistics need to be treated with some caution. Like other sorts of information they can be subject to inaccuracy, incompleteness and bias, for example between men and women, urban and rural people, rich and poor. Almost as notable as what statistics can tell us is what they cannot tell - about the unmeasured or immeasurable. Moreover, the statistics we collect and the way they are selected, presented and interpreted say something about our view of development and our view of the world. This chapter introduces a range of data - the facts and figures of development and underdevelopment - and uses them to frame some of the key development issues that will be addressed in depth in subsequent chapters. It introduces a world of progress and development, but also of growing inequality between and within nations, and sets out the meaning, strengths and weaknesses of key measures of development.

An unequal world
The world is like a table. Twenty percent live on the table and eighty percent survive underneath it. Our work cannot be to move a few from under the table onto the table, or vice versa. Our task is to move the table, to change its position if necessary, and all to sit together around the table.
- Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti

Today, approximately 80% of the worlds people live in the Third World; for that reason it is sometimes referred to as the Majority World. In most parts of the world population growth rates are slowing, but rates are still significantly higher in many Third World countries, so that proportion is increasing: from 70% in 1950, 75% in 1980 to a projected 84% in 2025. However, this huge majority population has access to an unequal share of the worlds resources and human welfare.

80:20 development in an unequal world | 13

The Third World has:

8 of the 10 largest cities in the world population 73,586,000

14 | 80:20 development in an unequal world

The distribution of world GNP

(The area of each country is proportionate to its share of the wealth, 2003)

Iceland United Kingdom Ireland Denmark Belgium France Germany Switzerland Austria Romania Former Czech. Hungary Former Bulgaria Yugoslavia Albania Greece Turkey Malta Cyprus Africa Middle East Pakistan Sri Lanka Indonesia Afghanistan Hong Bangladesh Kong Nepal Burma Thailand Vietnam India Philipines Singapore Malaysia Brunei Papua New Guinea New Zealand Australia Fiji Taiwan China Japan Portugal Spain Italy Lux Neth. Confederation Poland of Independent States
(Former USSR)

Canada Finland North Korea

Norway Sweden

United States

South Korea

Caribbean

Central America

80:20 development in an unequal world | 15

South America

Wealth, poverty and inequality

Ours is a world of extremes. The poorest 40 percent of the world population account for five percent of global income, while the richest ten percent account for 54 percent. Never before has the goal of abolishing global poverty been within our reach: there are no longer any insurmountable technical, resource or logistical obstacles to achieving it. Yet, more than 800 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition, 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and, every hour, 1,200 children die from preventable diseases.
- UN Development Report, 2006

Five largest corporations 2006

(by market value)

Company

Country/Market Value
$billion)

ExxonMobil (Oil & Gas)

USA / 362.45

General Electric (Conglomerates) USA / 348.45 Citigroup (Banking) BP (Oil & Gas) Royal Dutch /Shell Group (Oil & Gas) USA / 230.93 UK / 225.93 Netherlands / 203.52
- Source: http://www.forbes.com

One of the defining characteristics of the world of the early twenty-first century is inequality between nations. In spite of widespread progress in development, and growing wealth in the world economy, inequality has grown rather than diminished in the last fifty years. Overall, the income of people in the wealthiest third of countries has increased much more rapidly than in the middle or lower thirds.

In 1960, the richest 20% of people shared 70% of the entire wealth of the planet between them, but by the year 2000, this figure had increased to over 88%.

One of the engines of the worlds economic growth in the early twenty-first century is globalisation, a process linked with increasing wealth as well as growing inequality, and a growth in the power of large corporations. For supporters of globalisation, this is a sign of successful wealth creation within free markets; for critics, as corporate power has grown, states own power to determine their own development policies has declined. Some corporations are wealthier than small and medium-sized states.

Although the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined rapidly, 1 billion, (or 16% of the worlds population) still have access to an income of less than $1 a day, the World Banks definition of absolute poverty. 2.6 billion people (40% of the worlds population) live on less than $2 a day. By contrast, in 2005 the worlds richest 100 individuals had a combined wealth of $1042 billion, equivalent to the combined GNP of 45 of the worlds poorest countries , which together make up some 2,000 million people or 30% of the worlds population. In 2006 the three wealthiest people in the world were: Bill Gates (USA), wealth $50 billion Warren Buffet (USA), wealth $42 billion Carlos Slim Helu (Mexico), wealth $30 billion Their combined wealth of $122 billion compares with the GDP of Argentina ($130 billion), population 38 million. Carlos Helus fortune, $30 billion, would be enough to provide basic education and healthcare, adequate food, safe water and sanitation for all the worlds people.

16 | 80:20 development in an unequal world

What about inequality within countries?

The headline statistics above show some of the greatest global inequalities. However, inequalities within countries may be as significant as inequalities between them, in the industrialised countries as well as the Third World. In an increasingly globalised world, the rich lites of South America or Asia may have more in common with wealthy North Americans and Europeans than the poor in their own countries. Around the year 2000, the four most unequal countries in the world were Botswana, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, and Swaziland; the four most equal were Azerbaijan, Denmark, Japan, and Sweden. There is a striking relationship between high and low levels of inequality and of human development. And growing global inequality has left significant numbers of people in Europe, Australasia and North America living in poverty; with the USA, the wealthiest country in absolute terms, leading the way.

Poverty in the Industrialised Countries

Human Poverty Index rank, % living in relative poverty Gini index (various years 1994-2000)

USA Ireland UK Australia Belgium

17 16 15 14 13

15.4 15.2 14.8 12.8 12.4

40.8 34.3 36.0 35.2 33.0

- Source: UNDP: Human Development Report 2005

The Human Poverty Index is a composite index measuring deprivation in the three basic measures in the HDI: longevity, knowledge and standard of living. Figures are HPI-2 rank for OECD countries. The 25 members states of the Organisation of Economic Development include the countries of Western Europe, North America, Mexico, Korea, Japan and Australasia The Gini index measures the extent to which households income or consumption deviates from a perfectly equal distribution; the higher the value, the more unequal.

Inequality and development in India

India is the worlds largest democracy, with over 1 billion people, 17% of the worlds population. The Indian government has halved the population living in poverty in the last 30 years, down to 29% below the national poverty line in 2000. However, 52% live on under $2 a day and 35% of people live on under $1 a day. The richest 20% of the population have 43% of the national income.

Haryana
Life Expectancy IMR HDI Adult Literacy Fertility GDP/capita 65 70 0.509 69 3.4 $29,963

Bihar
Life Expectancy IMR HDI Adult Literacy Fertility GDP/capita 59 67 0.367 48 4.4 $6,213

India
Life Expectancy IMR HDI Adult Literacy Fertility GDP/capita 63 93 0.472 65 2.9 $20,989

These figures mask significant inequalities within the country, differences that are partly explained by the development paths adopted by the various state governments. Kerala State is often held up as an example of a commitment to development policies focused on equity and poverty reduction a basic needs approach to development. As a result, people in Kerala enjoy levels of development higher even than wealthy states such as Haryana, and in some aspects closer to first world values

Kerala
Life Expectancy IMR HDI Adult Literacy Fertility GDP/capita
73 16 0.638 91 1.8 $24,053

80:20 development in an unequal world | 17

But its also a world of progress and development

We are so accustomed to hearing the bad news about the Third World that we seldom hear or listen to - the good news, news that is important because it tells us what is already being achieved and what more could be achieved. For example, income poverty has fallen faster in the past 50 years than in the previous 50 decades; at the start of the 21st century, the number of people deprived in other aspects of life declined to 1-2 billion from 2-3 billion 30 years ago.

The United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report tries to redress the balance. There are many signs of progress in the last thirty years: a child born today in the developing world can expect to live twelve years longer than one born in 1970 eight in ten people have access to safe water, a five-fold increase average incomes have more than tripled, from $1,300 to $4,300. The Human Development Reports over the past few years have tried to summarise the situation through Balance Sheets of Human Development. Below we have summarised some of the information from a variety of reports; it includes much of the good news, while at the same time highlighting the issues that still need to be tackled.

The developing world has made such progress over the last thirty years that the UN now classifies more of the world as developed than undeveloped

Some Key Indicators of Progress

Life Expectancy (years at birth) 1960 2003 Infant mortality Per 1000 live births 1960 2003 Real GDP per capita PPP$ 1960 2003

All developing countries Least developed countries Sub-Saharan Africa Industrialised Countries

46 39 40 Na

65 52 46 78

149 170 165 na

59 97 104 11

925 592 934 na

4,359 1,328 1,856 25,915

- Source: UNDP Human Development Reports 2001, 2005

The Third Worlds Progress in the Basics

Life Expectancy: years from birth Under-five mortality: deaths per 1000 live births Average number of of children: births per woman Net primary school enrolment: percentage of 6-11 year-olds

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

46 53 58 62 65

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

216 168 138 107 78

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

6 5.7 4.4 3.8 2.9

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

48 58 69 77 89

- Sources: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2006, UNDP Human Development Report 2005

18 | 80:20 development in an unequal world

The Balance Sheet of Human Development a story for the twenty-first century
Global Progress Health Global Deprivation

Life expectancy in developing countries increased by over a third from 46 to 65 years between 1960 and 2003 In 2003, 93 countries enjoyed a life expectancy at birth of more than 70 years, up from 55 countries in 1990; the number of developing countries in this group has doubled, from 22 to 48 Around 80% of people in the developing world now have access to improved water supplies
Education

During 1990-2000 the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS more than doubled, from under 15 million to more than 34 million Around 1.9 billion people are not expected to survive to age 65 Over one billion people still lack access to improved water sources, and 2.9 billion access to basic sanitation

Between 1970 and 2003 the adult literacy rate in developing countries rose from 48% to 77% Between 1990 and 1997 alone, the gross primary and secondary enrolment ratio increased from 74% to 81%

In 2000 more than 850 million adults were illiterate, over 60% of them women. In industrial countries more than 100 million were functionally illiterate More than 130 million children aged 6-11 are out of school, 70% of them girls

Food and Nutrition

Despite rapid population growth, food production per capita increased at an average annual rate of more than 1% The per capita daily supply of calories rose from less than 2,500 to 2,750, and that of protein from 71 grams to 76

The world still has 840 million chronically hungry people, 800 in the developing world The overall consumption of the richest fifth of the worlds people is 16 times that of the poorest fifth

Income and Poverty

The average GDP per capita for all developing countries rose from $330 to $4359 between 1960 and 2003 During 1990-2003 per capita GDP increased at an annual average rate of nearly 3%. Real per capita consumption increased at an annual rate of 2.4% during the same period Between 1990 and 2000 the proportion of people in developing countries living on under $1 a day fell from 29% to 20%
Women

1 billion people live on less than one dollar a day, and close to 1 billion cannot meet their basic consumption requirements The share of global income of the richest fifth of the worlds people is 88 times that of the poorest fifth 130 million in the industrialised countries live in income poverty Nearly 340 million women are not expected to survive to age 40 A quarter to a half of all women have suffered physical abuse by an intimate partner Millions of rural women in the Third World spend 6-8 hours a day collecting fuelwood and water 150 million children are malnourished more than 250 million children are working as child labourers

During the period 1990 to 1997 the net secondary enrolment ratio for girls increased from 36% to 61% In 1997 the female enrolment ratio in developing countries had reached 89% of the male ratio at primary level, and 82% at secondary level
Children

World infant mortality rate more than halved between 1960 and 2003, from 129 to 54 per thousand live births Between 1990 and 1997, the proportion of one-year-olds immunised increased from 70% to 89% Between 1990 and 1997 the share of heavily polluting traditional fuels used in energy was reduced by more than twofifths The number of countries adopting sustainable development strategies rose from under 25 in 1990 to over 50 in 1997

Environment

Every year nearly 3 million people die from air pollution more than 80% of them from indoor air pollution Implementation of sustainable development policies remains minimal

Human Security

In the 1990s more than 100 developing and transitional countries ended military or one-party rule Between two-thirds and three-quarters of people in developing countries live under relatively pluralist and democratic regimes

At the end of 2004, there were over 9 million refugees in the world

- Adapted from UNDP Human Development Reports, 1998-2005, UNFAO 2003, UNHCR 2006

80:20 development in an unequal world | 19

Uneven progress around the world

However, in spite of significant advances in development, progress is uneven around the world. Progress has been rapid in East Asia, as well as Latin America and parts of the Middle East, but slower in parts of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1990, some countries have actually experienced reversals in human development. They are in parts of the former USSR, as a result of economic stagnation following the collapse of communism, and in central and southern Africa, due to political instability, the burden of debt and especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Progress in the seven development goals

The United Nations has set seven development goals to reduce world poverty (see Chapter 14) They are: Halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty Enrol all children in primary school Make progress in gender equality and empowering women Reduce infant and child mortality by twothirds Reduce maternal mortality ratios by threequarters Provide access for all who need reproductive health services Implement national strategies for sustainable development to reverse the loss of environmental resources. Of special concern are the 1.1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, and the additional 1.7 billion people living on less than $2 a day (2005). The goals aim to commit the international community to improve the quality of life for the worlds most vulnerable people.

Percentage change in life expectancy, 1980-2004

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Progress has been rapid in East Asia, as well as Latin America and parts of the Middle East, but slower in parts of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

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Changes in Human Development (HDI) and Life Expectancy for eight African Countries The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education and life expectancy, now used widely. It seeks to measure human wellbeing and is currently used by many people to distinguish the level of development in a given country. The Index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and has been used since 1993 in the annual UN Human Development Report. Life expectancy measures the average number of years a person is likely to live to at birth, dependent on where they are born.

Kenya Cameroon
HDI Life Exp. HDI Life Exp.

1990 2003

52 46
DR Congo
HDI Life Exp.

58 47
Zimbabwe
HDI Life Exp.

46 43
Botswana
HDI Life Exp.

59 37
Swaziland
HDI Life Exp.

64 36
South Africa
HDI Life Exp.

57 33
Lesotho
HDI Life Exp.

1990 2003

62 48

62 48

80:20 development in an unequal world | 21

How can we measure development?

This section discusses three key ways of measuring and mapping development, as well as a range of other development indicators. At the end of the section, data on twenty-two countries show how these indicators compare.

Wealth
A number of similar indicators measure a countrys wealth. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the production of goods and services in a country. Gross National Product (GNP) is a measure of income, a countrys GDP plus the net earnings from overseas; the World Bank now uses Gross National Income (GNI). All are measured in US$; they are often expressed per capita, that is, proportional to a countrys population. In 2003 the United States was the worlds largest economy (GDP $10,948 billion), while Luxembourg had the highest GDP per capita ($59,143) and Burundi the lowest ($83). The world map drawn proportional to countries share of world GNP shows vividly the distribution of the worlds wealth, dominated by USA, Western Europe and Japan. China is growing rapidly, becoming the fourth largest economy in 2005 (see page 15).

Wealth per capita is widely used as a measure of development and is straightforward to understand. For example, it is used by the World Bank as a basis for its categorisation of low, lower middle, upper middle and upper income countries. This is a more sophisticated view of the world than the often simplistically used developed/developing or north/south divisions. Wealth is an economic measure of development, firmly linked with ideas of development as wealth and, by comparing countries in this way, with a modernisation view of development (see Chapter 2). It has less to say about the social, political and cultural aspects of development. Wealth has a number of disadvantages as a measure of development. In common with other measures it is an average for the country as a whole, so it does not show inequalities within countries. Perhaps more significantly, wealth data do not include those forms of production that are not accounted for, such as subsistence agriculture, unpaid work (for example in the home), or work in the informal economy. These aspects of the economy are likely to be comparatively more significant in Third World countries. A further weakness is that comparisons in wealth are made between countries with huge differences in living costs; for example you can buy much more for US $1 in India than in the USA. So a variation is to make comparisons using Purchasing Power Parity, which accounts for differences in the cost of living.

Similar human development, different income 2003

Country United States Japan Iran Georgia Zimbabwe Madagascar HDI 0.944 0.943 0.736 0.732 0.505 0.499 GDP per capita (PPP US$) 37,562 27,967 6,995 2,588 2,443 809
4000
- Source: UNDP Human Development Report, 2005

Similar income, different human development, 2003

GDP per capita Life Expectancy Adult Literacy Rate HDI

5500

80 70 60

100

1.0

5000

0.8 90 0.6

Jordan Swaziland

4500

50 0.4 40 30 80 0.2

3500

20

70

0.0

22 | 80:20 development in an unequal world

Human Development
The Human Development Index (HDI) was devised by the United Nations Development Programme and is now widely used as an indicator of human progress and quality of life. It is based on a score derived from three measures: life expectancy, education (literacy and years of schooling) and income (purchasing power in parity dollars). As HDI includes both social and economic aspects, it is considered by many to embrace a broader view of development than measures based on wealth: HDI is focused on people and their needs, and so is linked with views of development focused on social justice. UNDP uses HDI to categorise the world into high, medium and low human development. A world map of HDI (page 24) shows, unsurprisingly, high HDI values in Western Europe, North America and Australasia, and low human development in much of Africa. However, parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and East and South-East Asia also have high HDI scores. In 2003 Norway had the highest HDI score (0.963), and Niger the lowest (0.281). As with other measures, a high HDI score for a country as a whole may conceal great internal inequalities in welfare. HDI is also useful when it is tracked over time to show progress in development, or in some cases, reversals.

Comparison of world rankings for HDI and GDP (PPP US$) 2003
HDI better than expected (>30 ranks) Cuba Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan Moldova Uzbekistan Albania Ecuador 40 36 33 33 32 30 30 HDI worse than expected (>30 ranks) Oman Saudi Arabia Angola Gabon Namibia Swaziland South Africa Botswana Equatorial Guinea

Difference -30 -33 -34 -43 -44 -47 -68 -70 -93

Although in general the wealthiest countries have the highest levels of human development, there is not always a straightforward link between wealth and high HDI. Some countries have a relatively high HDI but lower GDP, for example some republics of the former USSR, suggesting a priority for social development there. Others, especially in Southern Africa and the Middle East, have a high GNP but relatively lower HDI. In 2003 Cuba and Tajikistan had the greatest positive difference between HDI and GDP per capita whilst Botswana and Equatorial Guinea the greatest negative differences.

Progress in HDI
1960 1970 1980 2003 Absolute increase HDI value in 1960-2003 0.434 0.353 0.093 0.349

All developing countries Least developed countries Industrialised countries/OECD World

0.260 0.165 0.799 0.392

0.347 0.209 0.859 0.460

0.428 0.251 0.889 0.519

0.694 0.518 0.892 0.741

80:20 development in an unequal world | 23

Percentage shares of world population

1960 High human development Medium human development Low human development 16.4 11.0 72.6 1975 22.4 67.0 10.6 2003 19.2 66.6 12.5 2015 est. 17.9 65.8 14.4

Human Development Index World Map 2003

KEY

Under-Five Mortality
This measures the number of children per thousand born who die before their fifth birthday; it is similar to the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) which measures the proportion of children who die before their first birthday. UNICEF argues that Under-Five (or child) Mortality (U5M) is a key measure because it indicates the end result of the development process, as it affects the welfare of children. It is a useful indicator of a populations health and nutritional status, and of social progress through health-care and educational programmes; high infant and under-five mortality also correlate closely with high adult mortality and low life-expectancy. It is a measure founded in a basic needs approach to development. In 2004, Singapore had the lowest under-five mortality rates (3 per 1000) and Sierra Leone the highest (283 per 1000).

24 | 80:20 development in an unequal world

Indications of development: Brazil and Sri Lanka compared

A comparison of Brazil and Sri Lanka helps us to review the picture of development given by the indicators for wealth, human development and child mortality. The data shows two countries with broadly similar levels of human development, but significantly lower child mortality rates in Sri Lanka (comparable with those in South East Europe), although Brazil is three times as wealthy. Which country is most developed? The comparison highlights some of the strengths of using these indicators to frame our ideas about development - they can be useful for looking for broad patterns - but also some of the limitations. To find out more about development in these two countries we would need to look at more detailed data, a sample of which is shown in the table. For example, the figures for income distribution and poverty suggest rather different societies and development priorities, and perhaps different political cultures. GNI per capita HDI Under 5 mortality per 1000 Life expectancy, years Access to safe water, % Health expenditure public/private, % of GDP Adult literacy, % M/F Income share of income of top 20% Population below national poverty line: rural/urban/national (1995-8)

Brazil
$3000 0.792 34 71 89 3.6/4.3 88/89 62.1

Sri Lanka
$1010 0.751 14 74 78 1.8/1.9 92/89 42.2

51/15/22

27/15/25

- Source: UNHDR, World Bank: data for 2002-4

Using Development Indicators

The table on page 26 shows data for twenty-two countries, chosen to represent a geographical range, as well as high, medium and low levels of human development and a variety of development paths. This data has significant limitations. The table shows only twelve percent of the countries represented in the main pages of the UNDP Human Development Report, and only a tiny fraction of the huge range of statistics available for these countries. As we have already seen, these statistics are also subject to the difficulties inherent in presenting each country as the average of its people, as well as potential inaccuracies and bias in the collection and presentation of data. So, although in some ways this data represents our best shot at presenting some information about development on a single page, it is important to bear in mind what it does not tell us about the world, and to remember that different data sets for example those for wealth and health - serve different purposes and tell very different stories about development. Also, most of the statistics are also a snapshot, and tell us little about trends or progress in development, particularly in countries such as China that are changing fast.

So when investigating data, try some of these approaches: Use questions to help guide your inquiry; for example, which countries seem to have lower/higher HDI scores? Look for patterns and trends, perhaps by ranking countries in one category; for example, which countries seem to have the best record in primary education? Look for interesting exceptions to patterns that you might investigate further, for example in the data for child mortality Try focusing on one or two data sets, or just compare a few countries; for example, compare the picture for HDI and GNI in the six Asian countries Investigate whether two data sets correlate; for example, does good access to safe water match with high life expectancy? Investigate some of the websites at the end of this chapter to find other sets of data that might tell a different story, or add to the picture; for example, what might data on debt or aid donations/receipts tell us? Finally, remember that useful as data are, they are produced by people, and try to remember the human face of development behind them.

80:20 development in an unequal world | 25

Quality of life Wealth GNI per capita, ($US) 2004 Life expectancy at birth (years) 2004 Population growth rate (%) 2004-2020 Under 5 mortality (per 1000 live births) 2004 8 7 20 34 8 36 283 112 120 67 4 6 6 5 21 85 149 21 23 31 4 6 79 97 88 88 96 56 30 54 74 82 99 61 41 92 90 91 67 100 91 93 89 95 98 57 79 62 87 100 96 86 75 85 73 77 100 100 82 Adult literacy % 2003 Access to an improved water supply (%) 2002 Population Education Environment

26 | 80:20 development in an unequal world

Country

Human Development Index (HDI) value, 2003 12,169 9 552 84 91 1 8 16 165 238 2,013 140 919 489 673 61 158 45 1,938 4,734 544 40,282 41,440 3,300 3,000 5,220 1,250 210 380 480 3,630 51,810 33,630 34,310 21,530 3,400 620 440 2,490 540 1,500 37,050 37,070 6,329 77 77 71 71 78 70 41 57 48 45 80 79 78 80 65 63 63 71 70 71 82 80 67 0.9 0.1 0.3 1.1 0.9 1.7 2.3 1.8 2.5 0.3 0.5 0.3 1.2 0.2 0.5 1.3 1.6 0.7 1.5 0.6 -0.1 0.9 1.1

GNI billion ($US) 2004

USA Cuba Jamaica Brazil Chile Egypt Sierra Leone Ghana Kenya South Africa Norway UK Ireland Spain Russian Federation India Bangladesh Thailand Vietnam China Japan Australia World

0.944 0.817 0.738 0.792 0.854 0.659 0.298 0.520 0.474 0.658 0.963 0.939 0.946 0.928 0.795 0.602 0.520 0.778 0.704 0.755 0.943 0.955 0.741

Primary school completion rate (%) Male/Female, 2004 93/92 84/89 110/111 98/97 95/91 65/67 90/89 94/98 102/103 101/100 88/79 70/75 104/98 99/100 100/100 - Sources: UNDP Human Development Report 2005, World Bank World Development Indicators 2006

Carbon dioxide production per capita (tonnes) 2002 20.2 2.1 4.1 1.8 3.6 2.1 0.1 0.4 0.2 7.6 13.9 9.2 11.0 7.4 9.8 1.2 0.3 3.7 0.8 2.7 9.4 18.1 3.9

Think about what life might be like in these countries, then work out which they are:

Caution with data

The word data must be treated with caution. Literally translated, it means things that are given. Classical scholarship must, however, be rejected: the numbers that present themselves to us are not given naturally in that form. Any particular batch of numbers has been fashioned by the human hand; it did not drop from the sky ready made Data, in short, is produced, not given.
- Catherine Marsh, Exploring data

Country X People in country X live about as long as they do in Ireland The population is growing more slowly than in Ireland Child mortality is slightly higher than in Ireland Peoples income is less than a sixth of the average in Ireland On average, people produce about a third the carbon-dioxide as in Ireland. Country Y People in country Y live about as long as they do in Ireland Child mortality is slightly higher than in Ireland On average, peoples income in this country is about a quarter as much again as in Ireland The population is growing more slowly than in Ireland People in this country produce more carbon dioxide than in Ireland. Find the two most similar high income countries in terms of development Find the two most similar medium or low income countries in terms of development.

Throughout this chapter and this book you will find measures of various things: poverty, literacy rates, infant mortality rates, etc. For each you should ask, not just how many?, but also how is it being measured?. In each case you will find that the figures provided are the result of a decision someone has made as to how to measure something. Not only are there different ways of measuring things, there are different ways of presenting data, selected by people to tell a particular story. This does not mean that statistics lie, just that statistics never speak for themselves. For example, the data in the table on page 10 has been selected to tell some of the story of progress in development, as well as some of those aspects of development where much work remains to be done. The data was included as it underpinned one of the key messages of this publication, to show that there is much good news about development; it was sourced (selectively) from UNDP an organisation with similar aims. Compare too the optimistic message given about improvements in peoples wealth from this source (the average GDP per capita for all developing countries rose from $330 to $4359 between 1960 and 2003) with the message from the graph on page 281. Although the measure is the same and the timescale similar, the agencies collecting the data are different; crucially, comparative data for GDP growth in wealthy countries is included in the World Banks graph, so the extended scale makes GDP growth for the middle and lower third of countries appear relatively insignificant.
Modern day consumer based development, Beijing, China.

80:20 development in an unequal world | 27

Statistical Sources All are available annually.

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, UN FAO Yearbook Instituto del Tercer Mundo, Montevideo, Third World Guide New Internationalist, The World Guide: an alternative reference to the countries of our planet, New Internationalist Publications, Oxford UNESCO Statistical Yearbook UNICEF, The State of the Worlds Children, Oxford University Press, Oxford United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report, Oxford University Press, Oxford United Nations, United Nations Statistical Year Book World Bank, World Development Report World Health Organisation, World Health Statistics Annual

See:
Development Gateway: http://developmentgateway.org/ Forbes Magazine richlist: http://www.forbes.com/ OECD site (summary of progress in development): www.oecd.org/dac/indicators Social Watch (based in Uruguay): www.socwatch.org.uy/ The World Gazetteer (country data): www.world-gazetteer.com/home.htm UN FAO: www.fao.org/ UNDP: http://hdr.undp.org/ UNESCO: http://unescostat.unesco.org/ UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/statis/ United Nations Cyber School Bus: http://www.un.org/Pubs/cyberschoolbus/ United Nations Environment Programme http://www.grid.unep.ch/ UN Statistics Division - Milleninium Indicators: http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/mdg/default.aspx World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org World Health Organisation: http://www.who.int Worldmapper (thematic world maps) http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/ World Resources Institute (environmental information) http://earthtrends.wri.org

Reading
Allen, T. and Thomas, A (2000) Poverty and Development: into the 21st Century, Oxford, Oxford University Press with the Open University Smith, D. (1999) The State of the World Atlas, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books Ltd. Thomas, A. and Crow, B. (1994) The Third World Atlas, Oxford, Oxford University Press J. Seabrook (2003), The No-Nonsense Guide to World Poverty, London, New Internationalist and Verso Maggie Black (2002) The No-Nonsense Guide to International Development, London, New Internationalist and Verso Amartya Sen (1999) Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press

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