Assessing social welfare: a mixed success.

Improving the social welfare of mankind has seen mixed success in recent years, according to the 1993 Report on the World Social Situation. Prepared every four years by the UN Department of Economic and Social Development, it provides a background on major issues to be addressed by the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

On the positive side, the end of the cold war potentially freed vast resources to be diverted from armaments to social programmes. Economic expansion in China and other Asian countries showed that developing countries could achieve quick economic and social progress.

At the same time, the political and economic transition process in Eastern European and former Soviet States caused great social disruptions, exacerbated in some parts by ethnic conflicts. The gap between rich and poor countries widened.

Some of the main issues and trends covered by the world social situation Report are outlined below, starting with the basic necessities of human existence and ending with the elusive concept of quality of life.

Rich and poor: A widening gap

"The outstanding economic and social problem in the world is that of poverty", stated Ji Chaozhu, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Development, in his preface to the Report. An estimated 1.1 billion people--one fifth of mankind--are considered to be poor, in the sense of being unable to afford a minimum adequate diet and other bare necessities of life.

The Report states that there was a "widespread impression" that inequality had increased during the 1980s between developing and developed countries. In 1981, the per capita output in the latter was 20 times that of developing countries, but at decade's end that figure had risen to 22. Not all developing countries had the same experience: those in South and East Asia enjoyed fast growth, while those of other regions sharply decelerated.

The economic transformation of the societies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union was bound to "make their income and wealth distribution more uneven than before", even if social transfers to more vulnerable groups had increased, the Report stated.

Among suggestions to alleviate poverty worldwide are: more equitable distribution of land resources, employment creation, and improvement in economic and social conditions of women, as the burden of poverty falls heavily on them.

Half a billion hungry

The World Food Council in 1992--17 years after setting a target to end world hunger within two decades--estimated that 550 million people in 1990 still suffered from chronic hunger, and millions of others were vulnerable to periods of hunger each year.

The food situation in East and South Asia improved, even though the region was still home to almost 60 per cent of the world's hungry. The largest increase in hunger was in Africa--home to 30 per cent of the hungry--where high population growth, poor economic performance and manmade and natural disasters were blamed. The political and economic changes in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union "put millions at risk of hunger, as the accustomed social safety nets broke down".

At both national and international levels, fresh measures were taken to improve food security and eliminate hunger and malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiency diseases, particularly those associated with deficiencies of vitamin A, iodine and iron.

New health concerns

Despite higher life expectancy and progress in medical technology, several major concerns of public health emerged over the past few years, the Report states. The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic raged across much of Africa and threatened to balloon in Latin America and Asia as well, after its initial spread in Europe and North America. Malaria re-emerged as a major health threat in parts of Africa and Asia. Cholera broke out in parts of Latin America where sanitary conditions had deteriorated. Industrial pollution of air and water was a serious health concern, most prominently in the former Soviet Union and in rural areas of central European countries. Rising health care costs were seen as a growing problem that had to be curbed.

Human life expectancy rose on average to 63.9 years in 1985-1990, a gain of 3.5 years over 1975-1980. The gap between developing and developed countries in life expectancy and infant mortality narrowed. But the "most significant public health success in the past decade" was the dramatic increase in immunization against diseases, including diptheria, tetanus and measles.

Housing, education

Citing, among other things, higher interest rates, increased land prices and rapid urbanization, the Report said that housing conditions in most countries had deteriorated in recent years. In overcrowded cities in developing countries, drinking water supplies, sanitation and other critical public services had been "tested beyond their limits".

While the housing situation varies in different parts of the world, "all countries have a number of problems in common: distortions that raise prices and reduce access to housing, rigidities in access to housing which hinder labour mobility, and insufficient housing facilities to meet the needs of the urban poor".

Many developing and developed countries sought to reorient their education policies in the 1980s. Fast technological changes made it imperative to put greater emphasis on mathematics and science, and create closer ties between formal education and workplaces. In addition, the expansion of primary education remained one of the most important objectives of education policy in most developing countries.

About 948 million adults 15 years or older worldwide were illiterate in 1990. While there was a relative decline in illiteracy, the absolute number of illiterates increased due to population growth. It is "especially important to provide females with increased access to education", the Report states, as illiteracy is almost twice as high among women as men in developing countries.

Population: A central issue

Population growth remains at the centre of social issues, from nutrition to education to increasing migration and refugee flows, the Report declares. The annual addition of approximately 90 million people--93 per cent in developing countries--limited per capita gain of economic growth and added to the strain on social services.

Relatively fast population growth has attracted renewed attention due to concerns about the sustainability of economic development. Large and growing populations driven by poverty may pose a threat of despoiling the environment irrevocably.

The main cause for that decline is attributed to the "rapid spread of contraception", the Report states. While less than 10 per cent of married couples in developing countries used contraception in the 1960s, 48 per cent did so in 1987. Better health services and education for women could bring fertility rates further down. A study of 30 developing countries showed that women with seven or more years of schooling gave birth to 3.9 children on average, while those with no formal education bore 6.9.

Unemployment: New insights needed

Unemployment and low-productivity employment are "among the outstanding economic and social problems in all parts of the world", the Report states. High levels of unemployment continue in developed countries. Developing countries have failed to create enough new jobs to keep up with rapid population growth. The biggest change in recent years, however, is in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, where unemployment increased 40-fold in 1991 and 1992 during radical economic transformations.

It was estimated that economic growth in the developing countries had to be 6 to 9 per cent a year to accommodate a 3 per cent annual increase in the labour force--a goal which very few countries could hope for. A substantial share of employment in developing countries was of low productivity, in other words "disguised unemployment".

Although there were "no such fresh insights into the problem as were presented in the 1930s", policies to combat unemployment were suggested. Government policies should target both agriculture and the informal sectors where there is the majority of low-productivity employment. Governments should encourage and even undertake investments in research, human and physical capital, infrastructure and institutions, the Report states.

Changing role of government

Government expenditures on social services faced great strains in developed and developing countries during the 1980s, due to slow economic growth and often high interest payments on huge debts, the Report stated. Many Governments subsequently tried to increase the efficiency of their social spending, targeting the neediest groups.

In most developing countries, "secondary education and hospital-based health care receive considerably higher levels of subsidies than primary education and primary health care", the Report declared. As a result, primary health care and education "clearly emerged as a priority for State spending". Changes such as moving from expensive general food subsidies to targeted support of only the needy could, however, prove to be politically difficult for both developing countries and the economies in transition.

A new development philosophy

A "new global development philosophy", a result of "some painful lessons", was emerging, the Secretary-General stated in an annex to the Report (E/1993/50 Add. 1), which contained a review of the implementation of the 1969 Declaration on Social Progress and Development.

The enthusiasm for nationalization and central planning had waned in most regions, it was reported, as had skepticism about the role of markets. The importance of technology to the development process was generally recognized.

This emerging ideology rested, t e Report said, on many important e ments: "a recognition of the priority of human rights over the rights of a collective--be this a community, nation or ethnic group; a belief that a human being and his needs have to be the focus and target of the development process, not the other way around; and the view that Earth is a common habitat which has to be protected and preserved".

While it was too early to say to what extent this philosophy was more effective than previous approaches, it constituted a "distinct set of development priorities, principles, goals and means of implementation".

Measuring quality of life

Admitting that there was no easy or objective way to measure "quality of life", the Report nevertheless offered some discussion of that concept. Looking at life expectancy and income, there had clearly been substantial progress in the industrialized countries and many developing countries.

Improvements in consumption, health and education were, however, "not matched by corresponding increases in level of psychological satisfaction and sense of well-being".

In industrialized countries, an increase in imprisonment, homicides, suicides, drug abuse and divorce accompanied material progress. "The incidence of severe depression has grown substantially, especially among young people", it was stated. Those social ills seemed to be especially concentrated among the urban poor.

Economic growth and urbanization did not come without cost in the developing countries either, as seen by a high incidence of single-parent families and homeless street children in third world cities and high urban homicide and crime rates, especially where poverty and scarce job opportunities coincided with "conspicuous consumption".

Despite the litany of social ills associated with economic growth, the report warns against dismissing the value of material progress.

"The grievances of people who have satisfied all of their objective needs seem trifling to people who do not have enough to eat. To equate, within the hierarchy of human needs, the whines of the materially well-off with the anguished cries of the poor is to trivialize the importance of what is basic and in urgent need of attention", the Report concluded.