Growing economic gap in developing countries Several pockets of the globalised world are now witnessing resurgence in their

economy. These pockets of developing countries have seen exponential growth in their GDP and improved material prosperity ever since they warmed up to an open market policy. However, with growing economic affluence is emerging a wider fissure between the rich and the poor. If statistics are to be believed this economic gap between the haves and have-nots is biggest ever in a century. This wealth disparity owes itself to poor implementation of economic policies as well as muddled distribution of economic benefits to the needy. While income and expenditure of the rich have seen rapid growth, the comparable income and expenditure measures are paltry for the poor. Thus fruits of the GDP growth rate that developing countries notched up over the past decade or so have not percolated down to the poor. In Brazil, India or South Africa vast sections of the underprivileged still thrive on barely a square meal a day. Reports show that while a variety of food products like vegetable, fish, meat eggs and milk products have inundated tables of the rich, these edibles are strikingly missing from the diet of a poor person. This in-itself is a measure of where things stand today. Apart from poor distribution mechanisms, corruption and rising inflation being factors fuelling this rich-poor disparity movement of vast sections of the poor to cities, leaving their traditional vocations has made matters worse. This is because income of the erstwhile farmer has dwindled ever since agrarian policies changed. A number of these poor people, who come to cities seeking jobs, go hungry for days, say experts. Poor health and sanitation standards, lack of housing facilities for the poor, together make the situation grimmer for the city poor. World statistics reveal that in most developing nations the trend over the last 12 years show that the richest 10% have seen highest growth while the poorest 10% have seen the slowest increase in incomes. The remaining 80% of the people have seen roughly the same levels of growth ranging between 35% and 40% in rural areas and between 40% and 50% in urban areas. The table below reveals the recent statistics on economic disparity prevailing in different countries. Higher the disparity greater is the percentage shown. Countries with greatest inequality 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Lesotho South Africa Botswana Sierra Leone 63.2 63.1 63.0 62.9

Central African Republic 61.3 Namibia Haiti 59.7 59.2

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Colombia Honduras Guatemala Hong Kong Thailand Paraguay Bolivia Chile Panama Brazil

58.5 57.7 55.1 53.7 53.6 53.2 53.0 52.1 51.9 51.9 50.9

Papua New Guinea Zambia Swaziland Costa Rica Gambia Zimbabwe Sri Lanka Mexico Singapore Ecuador Madagascar China 50.8 50.4 50.3 50.2 50.1 49.0 48.3 47.8 47.7 47.5 47.4

Dominican Republic

47.2

Countries with greatest equality 1. 2. 3. Sweden Slovenia Montenegro 23.0 23.8 24.3

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 27. 29. 30.

Hungary Denmark Norway Luxembourg Slovakia Austria Finland Germany Belarus Malta Iceland Belgium Serbia Ukraine Kazakhstan Cyprus Switzerland Ethiopia Kosovo Australia Pakistan

24.7 24.8 25.0 26.0 26.0 26.3 26.8 27.0 27.2 27.4 28.0 28.0 28.2 28.2 28.9 29.0 29.6 30.0 30.0 30.3 30.6 30.7

European Union Netherlands Armenia 30.9 30.9

Czech Republic 31.0 Estonia Italy 31.3 31.9

Read more: Gap between Rich and Poor: World Income Inequality | Infoplease.com (www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/inequality-income-expenditure.html)

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