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The Good News
- Since World War II,
average real incomes in developing economies have
more than doubled. According to the United
Nations Development Programme, China, Malaysia,
Republic of Korea and Thailand are among the ten
economies that have made the most progress in
human development over the past 30 years;
- In much of the Asia
and Pacific region, the proportion of poor people
is declining. In South Asia, the poor decreased
from 45.4 per cent of the population in 1987 to
43.1 per cent in 1993. In East and South-East
Asia, the poor declined from 28.2 per cent of the
population in 1987 to 26.0 per cent in 1993;
- From 1960 to 1990,
spending on education in the developing world
rose from 2.2 per cent to 3.4 per cent of GNP.
Between 1970 and 1990, female literacy doubled to
36 per cent in the least developed economies;
- Fertility rates are
falling in every region except Africa. The
average rate of population growth in Asia and the
Pacific declined to 1.3 per cent per annum in
1997. It is estimated that the annual number of
births in the developing world will have peaked
by 2020;
- The number of child
deaths worldwide is falling despite population
growth and high infant mortality rates in some
countries and areas; and
- The average life
expectancy in the developing world has increased
from 40 years in 1950 to 63 in 1990.
The Bad News
- The number of poor in
the Asia and Pacific region grew from 960 million
in 1987 to 1.3 billion in 1993, according to the
World Bank. Asia still accounts for more than
three-quarters of the world’s poor. One-half
of the world’s poor live in South Asia,
while one-quarter live in East-Asia. In
Central-Asia, the number of poor increased nearly
sixfold from 6.5 million in 1987/88 to 24.5
million in 1993/94. Eight Asian and Pacific
countries and areas are among the 45 classified
by the United Nations Development Programme as
having low human development;
- Poverty in rural
areas in Asia and the Pacific remains higher than
in urban areas. Over 30 per cent of the rural
population in the region live in poverty. But
urban poverty is expected to rise in both
absolute and relative terms as urbanization
accelerates;
- Female-headed
households are more likely to be poor. Asia has
374 million poor rural women, which is more than
the population of Western Europe;
- In 1994, of the world
labour force of 2.8 billion people, an estimated
30 per cent, mostly from developing economies,
were not productively employed. Of these, more
than 120 million want to work but cannot find
jobs. An estimated 700 million are considered
underemployed: that is, they work long hours, but
do not earn enough to save themselves from
poverty;
- In much of Asia and
the Pacific, the proportion of first-time job
seekers, most of whom are young workers and
women, in the total population of unemployed has
increased over the past decade. Workers below the
age of 24 constitute the bulk of unemployed in
many countries and areas in the region;
- The number of
unemployed females is generally higher than that
of unemployed males, in the region and worldwide;
- Of the estimated 120
million children worldwide between five and 14
years old who working full time, two out of three
are in Asia. An estimated half a million children
work the sex tourism centres of three Asian
countries;
- Of the 23 million
people worldwide infected with HIV, 5.2 million
are in South and South-East Asia. Of the 3.1
million new infections among adults in 1996, 1.5
million were in Asia;
- Discrimination and
violence against women continue. Allegedly,
one-third of all wives in developing economies
are battered while one woman in 2,000 is reported
to have been raped. An estimated 100 million
female foetuses have been aborted, mostly in
South Asia and East-Asia. Of the 100 million
children between the ages of 6 and 11 who do not
attend school, 70 per cent are girls;
- Infant mortality in
the region is an average 55 per 1,000 live births
in 1997. In the developed world, the average is
15;
- Political power
remains centralized. In the developing world, on
average, less than 10 per cent of national
spending goes to local governments; and
- The top 20 per cent
of income earners worldwide receive 83 per cent
of the world’s income. The bottom 20 per
cent receive only 1.5 per cent. Developed
countries spend as much on military power in one
year as the poorest 2 billion people earn in
total income.
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