Consultancy Globalization Poverty Development Sustainability Puro Chile

Facts and figures from the World Development Indicators 2001

    World View

  1. In 1998, 1.2 billion people (961 million excluding China) lived on less than $1 a day--23 percent of the population of the developing world. And 2.8 billion lived on less than $2 a day--56 percent of the population of the developing world.
  2. Measured by the standard of $1 a person a day, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell in all regions between 1990 and 1998 except in Europe and Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
  3. The number of people living in extreme poverty (on less than a $1 a day) increased from 1.2 billion in 1987 to 1.3 billion in 1990, but declined again to 1.2 billion in 1998. The decline is almost exclusively due to a reduction in the number of poor people in East Asia. Excluding China, the number living on less than $1 a day rose from 880 million in 1987 to 961 in 1998.
  4. Between 1990 and 1998, the number of people in poverty increased in Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia's rose from 495 million to 522 million, and Sub-Saharan Africa's poor from 242 million to 302 million.
  5. In East Asia and Pacific, the number of poor fell by more than 41 percent between 1990 and 1998, with the rest of East Asia cutting its numbers by 42 percent.
  6. The proportion of people living on less than $1 a day decreased by 6 percentage points between 1990 and 1998. East Asia took the lead in reducing its poverty rate from 28 to 15 percent, while the Middle East and North Africa had barely discernible reductions.
  7. Even under the most optimistic assumptions, in 2015 there are likely to be 2.3 billion people living on $2 a day or less, a limit that represents extreme poverty in many middle-income economies.
  8. Although the number of people living on less than $2 a day rose from 2.7 billion in 1990 to 2.8 billion in 1998, the proportion decreased from 62 percent to 56 percent.
  9. The gaps between girls' and boys' enrollments has narrowed in many developing country regions. East Asia should be close to achieving the goal by 2005. Progress has also been good in the Middle East and North Africa and in South Asia. But in Sub-Saharan Africa, progress has been disappointing.
  10. In high-income countries, maternal deaths average about 21 per 100,000 live births. In developing countries, the average is 440, and, in some, it may be as high as 1,000.
  11. In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 26 percent of married women practice contraception. In East Asia, more than 75 percent do.
  12. In 2000, the number of new HIV infections declined slightly, from 5.6 million to 5.3 million, while the number living with HIV/AIDS rose by 2.5 million to 36.1 million. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of new infections also declined, from 4.0 million in 1999 to 3.8 million.

    13. People

  13. The population surge in the last half-century has caused the world's population to increase from 2.5 billion people to 6.1 billion in 2000.
  14. In 1999, the world's population reached almost 6 billion. It will reach 7.1 billion in 2015. More than one-third of the next billion will be born in South Asia (347 million) and more than one-fifth in Sub-Saharan Africa (235 million).
  15. Because of declining birthrates, the number of children of primary school age in developing regions will increase by only 14 million in the next 15 years. Over the same period, the working-age population in most regions will grow.
  16. Between 2000 and 2032, another two billion people will enter the world, with roughly 97 percent from developing countries.
  17. In the first decade of the 21st century, the world's population is projected to grow 1.1 percent a year, adding 70 million people annually.
  18. Living conditions have improved in most developing countries over the past 20 years:
    • Total fertility rates declined for all regions.
    • Population growth slowed worldwide.
    • Mortality rates, infant, child, and adult, have declined, while survival to age 65 has increased.
    • Primary enrollment rates continue to rise in all regions except Sub-Saharan Africa.
  19. Governments seek to reduce risks to the poor through public interventions and providing services--often directly--to the poor:
    • Public expenditure on primary education has increased in almost all countries.
    • Over 75 percent of people in low-income countries have access to an improved water supply.
    • Over 75 percent of children in developing countries are immunized against measles and DPT.
  20. While only 6 out of every 1,000 children die before the age of five in high-income countries, 59 out of every 1,000 die in developing countries.
  21. Between 1990 and 1999, life expectancy increased marginally from 65 to 66 years globally, and from 63 to 64 in developing countries. But life expectancy decreased in 24 of Sub-Saharan Africa's 48 countries, with average life expectancy at 47 years.
  22. Improvements in adult literacy is evident in all regions. In developing countries, the rate rose from 70 percent in 1990 to 76 percent in 1999.
  23. South Asia (32 percent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (23 percent) had the highest youth illiteracy rates in 1999. East Asia and Pacific (3 percent) and Europe and Central Asia (1 percent) had the lowest.

    24. Environment

  24. Based on estimates for the year 2000, the global rate of forest loss has slowed to 90,000 sq. km per year over the 1990-2000 period.
  25. Forests are disappearing most rapidly in Africa and Latin America (and in low-income countries as a group), whereas in Europe and North America (and high-income countries as a group) the reduction of natural forests is largely compensated by new reforestation.
  26. Overall, close to 30 percent of the world's land area is covered by forests; there are around 6,000 sq. meters of forest for each person, which is being reduced by 12 sq. meters every year.
  27. There are 27 countries that live with water stress (with less than 1,700 cubic meters per capita freshwater resources), and, as population grows, the shortage becomes more acute.
  28. Land under cereal production has grown around 30 percent in low-income economies over the last two decades, while it has been reduced in high-income countries.
  29. The use of fertilizers in low-income countries has been doubled to 63 kg per hectare of arable land, but it has been reduced in high-income countries. However, high-income countries as a group consume twice as much as low-income economies.
  30. Farmers in low-income countries must rely on their own labor. In 1996-98, there were only 5 tractors per 1,000 agricultural workers in low-income economies and almost 1,000 per agricultural worker in high-income countries.
  31. High-income economies, with 15 percent of the world's population, use half the world's commercial energy. However, the use of energy by low-income countries grew twice as fast (5.1 percent per year compared with 1.7 percent per year) between 1980 and 1998.
  32. In 1997, the world released 23.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, almost half of it from high-income countries.
  33. The United States is using 16 times more energy per capita than India, even though India's population is four times larger than that of the United States.
  34. Even though CO2 emissions have declined in several high-income countries during the last two decades, high-income countries emit almost six times as much per capita than low-income economies.
  35. The top 10 vehicle-owning countries (per 1,000 people) in 1999 are the United States, Australia, Italy, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

    36. Economy

  36. India and China had strong GDP growth rates, with 6.0 percent and 10.7 percent annual growth between 1990 and 1999. Both countries are expected to have GDP growth rates of 6 percent or higher in 2000.
  37. China, growing 6 percent a year over the past 40 years, has increased its GDP per capita more than sevenfold.
  38. China, Brazil, India, Mexico, and the Republic of Korea were among the 15 largest economies in 1999. China, in seventh place, was the largest developing economy.
  39. From 1990 to 1999, the fastest growing region was East Asia and Pacific at 7.5 percent annual GDP growth, followed by South Asia at 5.6 percent. Latin America grew by 3.4 percent, Middle East and North Africa by 3.0 percent, and Sub-Saharan Africa by 2.2 percent. Europe and Central Asia fell by 2.3 percent.
  40. Five countries had average price increases of more than 100 percent a year between 1995 and 1999: Angola, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Turkmenistan.
  41. In 1990, 22 low- and middle-income economies had deficits exceeding 5 percent of GDP. In 1998, only 16 did.
  42. Throughout the 1990s, the median savings rate in China was 42 percent of GDP, in Gabon almost 40 percent, and in Bhutan 38 percent.
  43. Throughout the 1990s, on average, the lower-middle-income economies were the best savers, putting aside almost 30 percent of their combined GDP.
  44. Since 1980, Latin America saw a slowdown in manufacturing, while South Asia continued to make modest gains.
  45. In the past decade, developing countries' manufactured exports increased from 54 percent to 66 percent of their merchandise exports.
  46. Making up 44 percent of total commercial service exports in 1999, travel services are the most important service export from developing countries.
  47. High public interest payments continue to strain the national budgets of developing countries. For about 13 developing economies, interest payments are equal to 20 percent or more of their central government's total expenditure.
  48. The World Bank's liabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa declined slightly in 1999 (by 1 percent). The International Monetary Fund's liabilities remained concentrated in three regions: East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
  49. The share of short-term debt has declined significantly in East Asia and Pacific in the past five years. But it has been increasing in Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

    50. States and markets

  50. Market capitalization has increased almost five-fold in developing countries in the past 10 years, from $485 billion in 1990 to $2,243 billion in 2000. But the performance in 2000 was poor…showing a 7 percent decline in market capitalization.
  51. 2000 saw declines in market capitalization in most developing countries, with declines in Mexico of around 20 percent, and Indonesia declined about 60 percent, and Korea declined about 50 percent. But market capitalization almost doubled in China and increased by about 75 percent in Argentina.
  52. Road statistics are not as reliable as most economic and other infrastructure data, but it is clear that paved roads as a percent of total roads lags in some regions. In the late 1990s, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia were at the bottom with about 15-20 percent of roads paved, and Latin America has only about 20-25 percent of roads paved. The developing economies of Europe and Central Asia are much higher, with about 85% of roads paved.
  53. One measure of the investment climate is country creditworthiness. The September 2000 ratings from Institutional Investor and Euromoney show that out of 100 points (with 100 being the highest score), no developing countries score above 50. But for both ratings, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa score the highest, with ratings around 40 to 45…compared to high income ratings of close to 90. But some upper-middle-income countries such as Chile, Malaysia, and Poland have ratings in the 60 point range.
  54. Colombia spends about seven times as much on Information and Communications Technology per person as Romania--and Brazil about five times as much as Russia--although all four countries have similar per capita incomes (about $6,500 in purchasing power parity terms).
  55. Five years ago only five Sub-Saharan countries had internet access. This year all the region's countries are connected. And at 36 percent, its annual growth in internet hosts is almost twice the world's average.
  56. Many countries are bridging the "digital divide." Since 1992 China has increased spending on Information and Communications Technology about 30 percent a year. During the same period, the number of PCs in China grew more than 40 percent a year.
  57. There are wide disparities in access to information and telecommunications not only between countries, but also within countries. In Panama, the wealthiest fifth of the population are 43 times as likely to have private telephones as the poorest fifth. And in South Africa, households in cities are 10 times as likely to have access to private telephones as those in rural areas.
  58. E-government is saving citizens time and money. In Chile's procurement program alone, savings of at least $200 million are projected. Every dollar saved is an extra dollar for health care, social security, or public housing.
  59. In 1999, the average number of personal computers per thousand people in developing countries was 17--a 25 percent annual increase from 1990; compared with almost 350 per thousand in high-income countries--a 13 percent annual increase.
  60. In 1999, global e-commerce revenues were more than $150 billion and are predicted to climb as high as $3 trillion by 2003.
  61. In 1997, approximately 85 percent of the world's scientific and technical journal articles were published in high income countries, with low income economies accounting for about 3 percent, and middle income countries for about 12 percent.

    62. Global links

  62. Between 1990 and 1998, the 12 fastest growing developing countries saw their exports of goods and services grow by 14 percent and their output by 8 percent.
  63. Growth in trade has been strongest in upper-middle-income economies, whose share of world trade in goods (measured as the sum of imports and exports) grew from 8 to 11 percent between 1990 and 1998.
  64. Tariffs imposed by high-income economies on trade with developing economies cost an estimated $43.1 billion in 1995--three-fourths as much as the OECD countries provided in official development assistance in 1998.
  65. Developing country tariff barriers impose losses on high-income economies--almost $50 billion. But they cause even greater losses for other developing countries--$65.1 billion.
  66. More than three-quarters of world imports go to high-income economies. This share has remained much the same since the 1980s.
  67. World flows of foreign direct investment increased fourfold between 1990 and 1999, from $200 billion to $884 billion.
  68. In 1997, developing countries received 38 percent of world flows of foreign direct investment. By 1999, their share had fallen to 21 percent.
  69. The ratio of gross (two-way) capital flows to GDP measured in purchasing power parity terms has increased by about 250 percent since 1989 in developing as well as high-income economies. But the average in developing countries, 4.1 percent, is less than a ninth that for the highly integrated European Monetary Union.
  70. Since 1990, gross private capital flows have increased in all regions except the Middle East and North Africa, with Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia and Pacific experiencing the biggest increases.
  71. Ten of 21 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members (excluding Greece, which became a member in 1999) provided less aid per capita in 1999 than they did in 1994. Overall, aid per capita from DAC members fell from $71 to $66.
  72. In 1999, world receipts from tourists were $455 billion. Developing countries received $132 billion, accounting for 7.7 percent of their exports of goods and services.
  73. Low-income economies receive the fewest international visitors, but are experiencing the fastest growth in tourism--an average of 10 percent a year.
  74. Net financial flows from multilateral institutions decreased substantially after countries, the Republic of Korea in particular, paid pack loans from its crisis aid package.
  75. In 1998, total net financial flows from multilateral institutions to the world were $8,975 million--with virtually all ($8,510 million) going to developing countries. Latin America and the Caribbean, the largest regional recipient, received $6,379 million; South Asia, $2,162 million; Sub-Saharan Africa, $1,971 million; Middle East and North Africa, $1,087 million; Europe and Central Asia, $121 million; and East Asia and Pacific, $-3,210 million.