International Convergence or Higher Inequality in Human Development? Evidence for 1975–2002

Abstract

This chapter is about the dynamics of inequality in development between countries. The issues of inequality along with poverty are firmly back on the agenda of most international development agencies. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and targets were set at the turn of the century against a background of persistent poverty in some developing countries in order to reverse the declining trends. After a few years the hopes for reversing the trends, at least in a large number of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, are receding significantly (Sahn and Stifel 2003). Lack of achieving a basic threshold for education and health has been regarded as a structural impediment, among others, to sustained economic growth and welfare in poorer countries. Despite this the levels of health, education and economic growth are declining in a number of these countries mostly in SSA. During the 1990s, some 54 countries became poorer, 34 countries experienced a drop in life expectancy and the incidence of under five mortality rate (U5MR) increased in 14 countries (UNDP 2003: 34). In the table of life expectancy the bottom ten countries, mostly in SSA, have a life expectancy of below to just above 30 years, half of that of the top ten countries (WHO 2002). The most recent WHO (2003) report indicates that the increasing child mortality and decreasing life expectancy in a number of poorer countries in recent years has widened the global gap between the poor countries and the rest of the world. It seems that the large gap in life expectancy between developed and developing countries of 50 years ago has been replaced in recent years by a large gap between a group of very poor countries, mainly in SSA, and the rest of the world.