Colombia ranks behind Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela in human development: UN .

[Judi Lynn]

Colombia ranks behind Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela in human development: UN .
Thursday, 14 March 2013 13:45 Johnny Crisp

Colombia has been ranked below Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela in the new United Nations world Human Development Report.

The report was released Thursday by the United Nations for Development Program (PNUD) and places Colombia in 91st position beneath Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Chile –which in 40th place was the highest ranked Latin American country on the list.

The Human Development Report (IDR), published by the PNUD, ranks countries using sources compiled from international data agencies, taking into account gross national income per capita (GNI), life expectancy, and access to healthcare and education amongst other components.

The report stresses that economic growth alone does not equate to progress in human development terms and points to "pro-poor policies" and reinvestment in national skills and capabilities as examples of important factors.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/28535-colombia-ranks-behind-cuba-ecuador-and-venezuela-in-human-development-un.html

[joshcryer]

1. Thanks for the report. Love these UN reports.

Looks like Chile and Argentina are the only two Latin America countries to make it in the top 50. Venezuela lags behind such states as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and even war torn Libya. Sad really.

I'm surprised in the result for Brazil, a pithy 85. That's the news here, imo.

[ocpagu]

3. You shouldn't be.

The UN Report used 9 to 14 years old education statistics to calculate the Brazilian HDI. The many progresses of Lula's/Dilma's governments are not reflected in it. And even with outdated information, the report still affirms that Brazil is one of the 15 countries that had the biggest drops in the deficit of human development. That's acceptable considering Brazil was for a long time the most unequal country of the world and that one third of its population was living in favelas a few decades ago. Brazil has always been a "generation behind" in comparison to countries such as Chile, Argentina and Uruguay when it comes to standard of living (we were a conservative, slavery-based economy, ruled by an elitist monarchy whose policies consisted in keeping rich landowners happy during almost the entire 19th-century, while Chile, Argentina and Uruguay were republics, i.e., more open governments and having to rely at least on some popular support, based in free work, and they were starting to build their social security, even by creating schools and universities, while our first universities only were created by the 1920s.) So you can not expect a few years of progressive governments to solve all these problems.

About the HDI:

They used 2000 data about years of school attendance. The report says that only 26,000 Brazilian kids between 5 and 7 years frequent schools. The current number is 4.6 million. The school attendance stats for people older than 25 are also outdated.

The Brazilian Education Minister, Aloizio Mercadante said he would ask the PNUD agency in Brazil to consider using current data to update their statistics: "In one decade, we took an Argentina out of poverty. This "jump" doesn't appear here, because they didn't use updated data."

In a collective interview, the representative of PNUD in Brazil, Jorge Chediek, confirmed that the data was outdated and attributed its use to the methodology used to elaborate the report: "In the report we use universal data and, generally, they are outdated to try to keep an homogeneous database that can serve all the countries. Not all of them have the same rythm of updating Brazil has."

According to Mercadante, Brazil would have jumped 20 positions in the ranking if updated information was used.

http://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/politica-brasil-economia/33,65,33,12/2013/03/14/interna_brasil,354793/governo-contesta-dados-do-programa-das-nacoes-unidas-sobre-educacao.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

4. Ouch! It WOULD make a difference if they used current information, wouldn't it?

Very glad to get your input on this material.

[ocpagu]

5. It certainly would.

It'll take some time, but in a few years we'll see huge differences in the HDI ranking. I predict that in some ten years, HDI will show countries like Argentina and Chile already ahead of most Eastern-Europeans and some Western-Europeans countries, such as Portugal. Countries like Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela will need some more time to achieve this level, but they'll make impressive progress in the index. Well, they already have, it's just that UN statistics are too slow to show that.

[joshcryer]

9. Thanks a bunch for that clarification.

I knew something was up there. That's really a shame when the data is so out dated like that, I expect better of the UN statistics divisions.

[joshcryer]

2. Wow, page 153 is incredible. Inequality index takes a huge hit.

They're second only to North Korea as far as points deducted from their Human Development Index due to inequality. There's your story right there. They should be hovering around the mid 50s, not deep in the 70s! They also have the the second lowest (tied with Botswana) perception of safety of those who answered (a pitiful 35% feel they're 'safe'). (Page 175.) Only Afghanistan is perceived by their people as "less safe." I guess that's what happens when you live in one of the most deadliest places on the planet.

(Note: they share this with the US as well, as we also have a huge inequality disparity, I just found it striking.)

[bemildred]

6. They have been in civil war for decades now?

I'm not questioning the result. I'm just saying it's stupid to expect anything else in the circumstances. If you want human development to occur, you have to stop/prevent/avoid violence and all the things that lead to violence.

[Bacchus4.0]

7. thats part of it for sure

the existence of the war lowers the score, and subsequently inhibits progress in other areas. If the peace treaty goes through I would expect Colombia to advance upward fairly rapidly. large population, many resources, and a diverse economy compared to some of their neighbors.

Still alot of problems there though and no reason to minimize them.

[bemildred]

8. You won't get much unless you resolve the war.

Human development does not happen very well in war zones. Wars consume everything else. People who are freaked out about staying alive don't "develop" much, they are too busy, too exhausted, and too emotionally overwrought.