Fuente : World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org

UN Report Says 20 Percent Of World's Population Controls 80 Percent Of Global Wealth

/noticias.info/ Despite unprecedented economic growth, especially in Asia, 20 percent of the world's population controls 80 percent of global wealth, and inequalities in income and opportunity persist and in many cases are getting worse, a UN report titled "Report on the World Social Situation 2005: The Inequality Predicament" said Thursday, reports The Associated Press.

It said the commitment by world leaders at the 1995 UN social summit in Copenhagen to close the gap between the wealthy and poor is fading. "The report shows that many forms of inequality have been increasing in the world in the last 20 to 25 years," said Undersecretary-General Jose Antonio Ocampo, who heads the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs that published the report. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said focus on growing inequalities makes it "all the more imperative" that world leaders take action to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

According to the report, "80 percent of the world's gross domestic product belongs to the 1 billion people living in the developed world; the remaining 20 percent is shared by the 5 billion people living in developing countries." Focusing exclusively on economic growth and ignoring the inequality "is perilous," the report said. The rapid pace of globalization has been accompanied by inequalities, not only between countries but within countries, with negative consequences on jobs and wages. Unemployment is a growing problem in Latin America, the Caribbean, and some other developing countries, the report said. Young people are two or three times more likely to be jobless, accounting for up to 47 percent of the 186 million people out of work around the world, it said.

At the same time, millions of working people remain poor, the report said. Nearly a quarter of the world's workers don't earn enough to lift themselves and their families above the $1-per-day poverty threshold. A majority of the working poor are in the informal economy, and are often excluded from legal protections and basic social benefits. Ocampo said that "about 60 percent of informal workers are women" which is a high proportion because there are fewer women in the labor force. Informal employment is not only much higher in developing countries, particularly the poorest like sub-Saharan Africa where it includes almost four out of five workers, "but actually has been increasing in a very large number of countries," Ocampo said. "This may be one of the most significant and general trends in the world," he said.

Another important trend is the increase in income disparity in industrialized, transitional and developing nations. Of 73 countries on which there is detailed data, the inequality in people's income rose in 48 countries since the 1980s, remained constant in 16 countries, and improved only in 9 countries, he said. While China and India have seen considerable economic growth, the gap between rich and poor remains wide, and in developed countries the income gap has been especially pronounced in Canada, Britain and the United States.

In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Ocampo says “globalization hasn't addressed the inequalities between the world's haves and have-nots. The fact that income distribution has worsened at the same time that global markets have been expanding, probably indicates that the expansion of markets without sufficient levels of social protection may be part of the explanation. Global markets have to be accompanied by better systems of social protection.”

Xinhua (China) adds the report said that socioeconomic strategies should focus on access to resources, social services and the markets. This access must be incorporated alongside economic development programs. Economic stimulation without associated social programs is inadequate to eradicate the cycle of poverty, the report stressed.

BBC News also reports Annan said the report showed the development agenda could not be advanced without addressing the gap between skilled and unskilled workers and between the formal and informal sectors. The report recommends expanding opportunities for productive employment, bringing marginalized groups into society and working to distribute the benefits of what it called the increasingly open world economy. notas_de_prensa_archivo