[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
#1751: Comparative statistics on Haiti, Cuba, the DR, ... Blanchet compiles data
From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>
Analysis of Some Comparative Statistics
In order to give an idea of Haiti's standing vis-à-vis
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, India, Jamaica, and
Nigeria, I have collected some comparative statistics
(given below) from the United Nations Development
Program's (UNDP) "Human Development Report 1999."
The Human Development Index (HDI) is the key
feature of this report.
In the words of Amartya Sen, 1998 Nobel laureate
in economics, "HDI has been rather successful in
serving as an alternative measure of development,
supplementing GNP or GDP. Based as it is on three
distinct components -- indicators of longevity,
education and income per head -- it is not exclusively
focused on economic opulence, as GNP or GDP is.
Within the limits of these three components, the HDI
has served to broaden substantially the empirical
attention that the assessment of development
processes receives."
Although I am well aware that statistics can be
distorted and say very little about the hearts and
minds of a country, I find these useful nonetheless
for what they seem to tell, namely that:
1. Haiti is at the same level as India and Nigeria
insofar as the statistics on demographic density,
GDP per capita, life expectancy, literacy rate, extent
of urbanization, etc. are concerned. The HDI, which
is a composite index incorporating the statistics on
income, education, and longevity bears this out. The
corollary of all of this is that we are substantially
behind our Caribbean neighbors.
2. The adult literacy rate, namely 46 %, is much better
than the figure typically quoted by most, namely 15 %
corresponding to an illiteracy rate of 85 %. The UNDP
figure seems to reflect literacy in Creole which has
historically been left out. It would make sense if our
leaders could take this fact into account in their
pronouncements in order to convey a more accurate
sense of the complex Haitian reality.
3.There is no need to despair. Our situation can
be improved, and such improvement can be dramatic
and swift as has been experienced in Costa Rica,
Cuba, and the Indian state of Kerala. What it takes
is political will, intelligent planning and a focus on
the social needs of the Haitian people, especially
the majority that lives in rural areas.
Government socio-economic policy should aim at the
stabilization and reinvigoration of rural life by:
1. giving the peasantry the economic incentive to
stay put through land reform that would benefit the
landless segment of the peasantry, the promotion
of increased local food production and infrastructure
projects to support increased production, to facilitate
the resulting increase in trade and to restore Haiti's
damaged ecology.
2. enhancing the quality of rural life through the
opening of schools and clinics and a massive adult
literacy drive to reduce the rate of illiteracy to
the level found in Cuba and Jamaica.
Also this will require the protection of the
agricultural sector for at least a generation and
not its integration into the world economy and
consequent dislocation through the forced migration
of millions currently living in the countryside.
All of this will require a strong state, both in its
centralized and local components, and not one
downsized to insignificance. In this context, the
country has the opportunity to achieve meaningful
decentralization through the implementation of
the clauses of the 1987 Constitution relating to
the territorial assemblies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPARATIVE DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS
UNDP "HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1999"
Basic Statistics Haiti Cuba DR India Jamaica Nigeria
Demographic
density per
square kilometer 281 97 166 293 227 113
Rural population
as % of total 67 23 37 73 45 59
GDP per capita,
1987 US $ 257 not avail. 1,032 465 1,433 315
Combined first,
second & third
level gross
enrollment
ratio, % 24 72 66 55 63 54
Adult
literacy, % 46 96 83 54 86 60
Under 5 infant
mortality
per 1000
Live births 132 8 53 108 11 187
Life expectancy
at birth, years 54 76 71 63 75 50
Daily per capita
supply
of calories 1,855 2,357 2,316 2,415 2,575 2,254
Human
Development
Index (HDI) 0.430 0.765 0.726 0.545 0.734 0.456
Rank out of
174 Countries 152 58 88 132 82 146