ABSTRACT
Taken as a whole, the contemporary Caribbean region is by no means as poor as many parts of what is frequently referred to as the ‘developing world’. Indeed, the latest statistics show that incomes have risen quite sharply in the Caribbean along with those in South America. Between 1960 and 1998, average incomes in the Latin America and Caribbean region doubled, from around US$2,200 to US$5,000. During the same period, the region’s income kept in line with the increase in the income of the wealthy industrial nations, standing at around one-quarter of these at both the beginning and end dates (United Nations 2001). If we turn to data summarising contemporary global levels of poverty for Latin America and the Caribbean, the relatively enhanced standing of the region is discernible. Thus, in 1998, some 16 per cent of the total population of the region was living on less than US$1 a day. This compares with 40 per cent in South Asia and 46 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. Further comparative data are shown in Table 5.1. Proportion of the population living on less than US$1 per day for Latin America, the Caribbean and other developing regions, 1990–1998
|
Percentage living on less than US$1 per day |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Region |
1990 |
1998 |
|
Latin American and the Caribbean |
17 |
16 |
|
East Asia and the Pacific |
28 |
15 |
|
Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
2 |
5 |
|
Middle East and North Africa |
2 |
2 |
|
South Asia |
44 |
40 |
|
Sub-Saharan Africa |
48 |
46 |
|
All developing nations |
29 |
24 |
