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Barbados shinesprint share 0 comments UNDP's Helen Clarke.
By Tony Best | Mon, November 08, 2010 - 12:09 AM
Without the riches of the United States, Canada or Britain, Barbados has joined the ranks of the world’s “developed” nations, albeit only in terms of providing people with an excellent quality of life.

Often called the “Singapore of the Caribbean”, Barbados, according to the United Nations, joins such countries as Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Lichtenstein, Bahrain, oil-rich Qatar, Andorra, San Marino, Brunei Darussalam, Monaco, United Arab Emirates and Estonia on the list of “developed” countries, based purely on the Human Developed Index (HDI).

The HDI, now in its 20th year, measures performances in health, education, income and other quality of life indices.

The classification was contained in the 2010 UN Human Development Index released worldwide a few days ago.

But that wasn’t all about Barbados. With the exception of the Bahamas, it outspends all of its Caribbean neighbours when it comes to providing health care for each resident and it has one of the lowest murder rates in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Barbados was the only Caribbean and Latin American state to be labelled “developed”. It’s among 16 states which don’t belong to the rich nations’ club in Paris, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), but which were placed in a grouping set aside for “developed non-OECD members”.

Mexico, the lone Latin American and Caribbean country which belongs to the OECD, wasn’t included in the ranks of the “developed” states but was placed among the 32 “developing” nations in the Western Hemisphere.

Barbados had previously articulated its desire to be classified as a developed country, but it didn’t set an exact deadline for achieving that goal. Trinidad and Tobago says it wants to reach that level by 2020.

In the latest report, Barbados was listed among the nations worldwide with a “very high” level of human development. It was third on the list of members of the OAS that had attained that ranking.

The others were the United States, fourth, and Canada, eighth. Barbados was ranked 42nd. Narrowly missing the top classification was the Bahamas, which was 43rd.

All of Barbados’ CARICOM neighbours, including energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname, Haiti, Guyana, Suriname and

Grenada were listed as “developing” states.

So too were such emerging economic giants as India, Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation and China.

As the UN Development Programme’s top administrator Helen Clark saw it, success wasn’t simply about money.

“On one crucial point the evidence is compelling and clear: there is much that countries can do to improve the quality of people’s lives even under adverse circumstances,” she said.

“Many countries have made great gains in health and education despite only modest growth in income, while some countries with strong economic performance have failed to make similarly impressive progress in life expectancy.”

In the vital area of health, the UN report put Barbados’ per capita expenditure on health care at US$1 265 in 2007, a figure that was only surpassed in the region by the Bahamas with US$1 987. Trinidad and Tobago had a per capita expenditure of US$1 178.

Barbados’ per capita spending on health was at least three times greater than Jamaica’s (US$357); about six times higher than Guyana’s (US$197) and at least US$400 per person more than Chile, Kuwait, Mexico and Brazil.

Barbados invested more per capita in the provision of care for individuals than such rich countries as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, Kuwait and Algeria. And its outlay was ten times greater than India’s and about US$300 more than Poland.

Dude, Trinidad is more developed. What the article is saying is that BIM is prosperous. Prosperity does not equal development.

Congratulations to Barbados.

sure right cuz if Guyana and Haiti are "developing" Trinidad is utopia... IJS

+1

I know its a matter of semantics, but that what the UN says so im sticking with it LOL

and i give most developed to D.R.

we are also the least corrupt too, even though my cousins who work at the port aint but u didnt hear that from me

Barbados Is Least Corrupt Country In The Caribbean – Report
October 27, 2010
CaribWorldNews, LONDON, England, Weds. Oct. 27, 2010: When it comes to the least corrupt country in the Caribbean, Barbados takes the title hands down.

That’s according to Transparency International’s latest 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, released Tuesday. The new report puts Barbados ranking 17th on the least corrupt scale and scoring 7.8 overall. The CPI is measured on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption), indicating a serious corruption problem.

The only other Caribbean nation to come close was Puerto Rico, at number 33 with an index of 5.8. and Dominica at 44 with a score of 5.2. No other Caribbean nation made the top 50 list. Cuba came in a 69th with 3.7; Trinidad and Tobago at 79 with a score of 3.6 and Jamaica at 87 with 3.3.

The Dominican Republic, Guyana and Haiti brought up the rear for the Caribbean with scores of 3, 2.7 and 2.2, respectively and ranks of 101, 116 and 146. The 2010 CPI shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five.

`These results signal that significantly greater efforts must go into strengthening governance across the globe. With the livelihoods of so many at stake, governments’ commitments to anti-corruption, transparency and accountability must speak through their actions. Good governance is an essential part of the solution to the global policy challenges governments face today,` said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International (TI).

`Allowing corruption to continue is unacceptable; too many poor and vulnerable people continue to suffer its consequences around the world. We need to see more enforcement of existing rules and laws. There should be nowhere to hide for the corrupt or their money,` added Labelle.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore tied for first place with scores of 9.3. Unstable governments, often with a legacy of conflict, continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the CPI. Afghanistan and Myanmar share second to last place with a score of 1.4, with Somalia coming in last with a score of 1.1

i thought this was the index of Human Development???

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mi style still sharp .....u a A-Minor and dem a B-Flat

ok now how the hell do you measure corruption on an even scale?

Oh okay


I thought development only referred to economics.

try reading the article before you comment would really help

thats a really good question

Transparency International, a global network of groups that doesn't investigate alleged corruption but works with organizations that do and campaigns for tougher laws and enforcement, compiles its index from surveys conducted by international nongovernmental organizations like the World Bank and private research from the likes of the Economist Intelligence Unit and the World Economic Forum.

Very nice! I've heard nice things about BIM...have to visit there soon.

wow.....

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