Report card time for Canada

Since 1990 the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has presented its annual human development report. This increasingly renowned publication provides scores of data and plenty of analyses on how well countries are progressing towards improving the living conditions of their citizens. Generally, a lead theme is presented, discussed and assessed. The report collects important data on health, infrastructures, social standards, education, gender, income, civil society and many other issues. Today, the release of the annual human development report is a much anticipated event, among Governments, development agencies, NGOs and increasingly, among the broader public. Indeed the relevance of the report as a reference source and benchmark-setting tool for decision-makers is significant. As an educational instrument and resource for public debate, it is invaluable.

The state of the world is indeed dismal when looking at the indicators and statistics compiled in the report. UNDP speaks out clearly, recognizing " an acute development crisis, with many poor nations suffering severe and continuing socio-economic reversals". ..The Report's annual Human Development Index (HDI), measuring the progress of nations on key social and economic indicators, shows that 21 countries experienced declines in the 1990s. In the 1980s, only four countries tracked by UNDP showed similar decade-long declines..".

Still, improvements can be accomplished and on an upbeat note Mark Malloch Brown, the UNDP Administrator, acknowledges that

"Nonetheless, Africa and the world can reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty, ending hunger, putting every boy and girl in school and stemming health and environment crises if there is commitment of will and resources today."

Against this backdrop it should be expected that in a rich country like Canada, public debate would center on Canada's contribution to international aid efforts and the role played in promoting the millennium goals. But in a typical "mirror-mirror on the wall" fashion, media attention is almost exclusively drawn to Canada's own performance and ranking in the world. Given that most readers will be keen on learning a bit more about the "home team", an overview can serve to quench the thirst for self-knowledge. As mentioned, Canada is now ranked number eight among the 175 assessed countries.

However, this ranking is on the overall human development scale: there are twenty-nine specific rankings on issues such as health access, literacy, inequality energy and the environment. Although Canada is ranked eighth on the HDI, it is important to know that this index does not yet include the impact of poverty on the state of development in Canada. Undoubtedly, poverty in Canada has been on the rise for several years now, especially as federal Government has chosen to take a "wait-and-see-do-little" approach to the problem. It can be rightly assumed that already in next year's report, Canada will be ranked lower again. The UNDP report also provides a "Human income poverty index" which is far less favorable to Canada. The rankings established through this index take into account the proportion of the population living below the income poverty line. This is arguably an increasingly important factor for national development, because a greater number of poor people in a country correlates with less social, economic, cultural and indeed political opportunities. Poor people are by definition excluded from the wealth of a country, their participation in society is structurally impaired. The UNDP report thus compares the human income poverty index between two categories: among 94 developing, by and large poor countries and among 17 selected OECD (essentially rich) countries.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic