Some Good News on Inequality

Developing countries are closing the quality of life gap with their wealthier peers, The Economist notes, citing data from the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI).

“The index combines four simple measures: life-expectancy at birth; gross national income per person; average years of education; and expected years of school,” The Economist says.

“In 1990 a child born in sub-Saharan Africa could expect to live just 50 years. Today, assuming current mortality trends persist, newborns can expect to live for 61 years. As a result, the gap in life-expectancy between the world’s poorest region and the global average has narrowed by four years. Similar gains have been registered in educational outcomes and income, meaning that all 189 countries with HDI scores have improved their marks since 1990, by an average of 0.5% a year. Just seven countries have seen a reduction in their HDI score since 2010, often as a result of war or famine.”

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