| I went poking around, mostly on the World Bank's website, to check out the most recent statistics available for the countries I've visited for my current book, along with Kenya, which I will visit in February. I'm not sure if I've said it here yet, but my book will be out in early 2013 from Chelsea Green, which is a thrill as they were my absolute first choice in publishers.
The statistics below are not all taken from the same year, but they are generally from within the last decade, and they are all the most recent numbers available. Only one statistic - gini coefficient - is not from the World Bank. That came from the CIA, as they seemed to have more current data.
Compare the inequality in the Philippines and Kenya. The Philippines has a much higher per capita GDP than Kenya, and yet there is a higher percent of the population living on less than $2/day in the Philippines compared to Kenya. Also note the health indicators in Cuba. They have less money than Mexico and yet they are doing slightly better than the U.S. in life expectancy, infant mortality, and AIDS prevalency.
Stunting and wasting both refer to malnutrition. Stunting means the child is low in height, wasting means the child is low in weight. Stunting is due to chronic malnutrition, whereas wasting is due to acute malnutrition.
Here, the measure for "sanitation" is basically looking at the percent of the population that has some form of toilet. Electricity measures the percent of the population with access to electricity. |
