Every
year since 1990, the United Nations publishes its
Human Development Report. It contains the most authoritative
data on the state of the world. These reports are
available online: http://hdr.undp.org/reports/view_reports.cfm?type=1.
Based on those reports (referred to by year, followed
by page), what does our world look like?
We live in a capitalist world. Capitalism is a very
dynamic system that produces a tremendous amount
of wealth. Never has the world been so rich.
Global
output increased more than eleven fold between
1850 and 1960, from $611 billion to $6,936 billion
in 1993 dollars. The world's population more than
doubled during the same period, rising from 1.2
billion in 1850 to 3 billion in 1960. The net
outcome: nearly a fivefold increase in per capita
income. During the same period, the goods and
services produced in the industrial countries
expanded nearly thirty fold, from $212 billion
to $6,103 billion (1996, 12)
Between
1960 and 1993, global income increased from $4
trillion to $23 trillion, and per capita income
more than tripled. (1996, 12) If trends continue,
it should grow form 23 trillion in 1993 to 56
trillion in 2030. (1996, 36)
Global
GDP increased nine folds from $3 trillion to $30
trillion over the past 50 years. (1999, 25)
It
has allowed a huge development of consumerism.
Private and public consumption expenditure reached
$24 trillion in 1998, twice the level of 1975
and six times that of 1950. In 1900, real consumption
expenditure was barely $1.5 trillion. (1998,
1)
But
capitalism has made the world a very unequal place.
The
people living in the 20% richest countries in
the world have 86% of global GDP (global income),
82% of world export markets, 68% of Foreign Direct
Investment. (1999, 3)
The
richest 1% of the world received as much income
as the poorest 57%. The richest 10% of the US
population (around 25 million people) have a combined
income greater than that of the poorest 43% of
the world population (around 2 billion people).
(2001, 19; 2003, 39)
The
poorest 40% of the world's population account
for 5% of global income, the richest 10% account
for 54%.(2005, 4)
The
20% of the world's people in the high income countries
account for 86% of total private consumption expenditure.
The poorest 20% for a mere 1.3%. The richest fifth
consume 45% of all meat and fish, 58% of total
energy, 65% of electricity, 84% of all paper,
have 74% of phone lines and own 87% of the world’s
vehicle fleet. The poorest fifth consumes 5%,
less than 4%, 1.1%, 1.5%, and less than 1% of
all this. (1998, 2)
The
poorest 20% of the world's people saw their share
of the global income decline from 2.3% to 1.4%
in the past 30 years, meanwhile the share of the
richest 20% rose from 70% to 85%. (1996, 2)
Capitalism
not only creates inequality, but it increases
it both between and within countries. The income
gap between the richest countries and the poorest
countries was a ratio of 1:3 in 1820. This increased
to 1:7 in 1870 and 1:11 in 1913. In 1960 it was
1:30 and in 1990 1:60. In 1997 it was 1:74. (1999,
3)
Measured
at the extremes, the gap between the average citizen
in the richest and in the poorest countries is
wide and getting wider. In 1990 the average American
was 38 times richer than the average Tanzanian.
Today the average American is 61 times richer.
(2005, 37)
A
Zambian today has less chance of reaching thirty
years of age than someone born in England in 1840.
(2005, 4, 26)
A
study of 77 countries with 82% of the world's
population shows that between the 1950s and the
1990s, inequality rose in 45 of those countries
and fell in 16 countries. (2001, 17)
Inequality
within countries has been increasing over the
last 30 years. Among the 73 countries with data
(and 80% of the world's people), 48 have seen
inequality increase since the 1950s, 16 have experienced
no change, and only 9 (with 4% of the world's
people) have seen inequality fall. (2002, 20)
Between
the 1980s and the late 1990s inequality increased
in 42 of 73 countries with complete and comparable
data. Only 6 of the 33 development countries saw
inequality decline, while 17 saw an increase.
"In other words, within national boundaries,
control over assets and resources is increasingly
concentrated in the hands of a few people."
(2003, 39)
Inequality
is on the increase in countries which account
for 80% of the world's population. (2005, 6)
Between
1979 and 1997, US real GDP per capita grew 38%,
but the income of a family with median earnings
grew only 9%. So most of the gain was captured
by the very richest people, with the incomes of
the richest 1% of families growing 140%, three
times the average. The income of the top 1% of
families was 10 times that of the median family
in 1979 and 23 times in 1997. (2002, 20)
The
USA has the same infant mortality rate as Malaysia,
a country with an average income one quarter that
of the USA. And the Indian state of Kerala has
an infant death rate lower than that for African
Americans in Washington DC. (2005, 58)
At
the end of the 1970s, the richest 10% of the UK
population received 21% of total disposable income.
Twenty years later, it received 28%, nearly was
much as for the entire bottom half of the population.
Average annual incomes for the richest 20% increased
at about ten times the rate for the poorest 20%.
(3.8% compared with 0.4%) The UK's GINI coefficient
climbed from 25 to 35 by the mid-1990s, one of the
biggest increases in inequality in the world. (2005,
68)
As
a system, capitalism does not work for the vast
majority of the world's population; it fails to
provide for their basic needs.
Of
the 4.4 billion people in developing countries,
nearly three fifth lack basic sanitation. A third
have no access to clean water. A quarter do not
have adequate housing. A fifth no access to health
services. (1998, 2)
More
than one billion people lack access to safe water.
(2005, 24) More than 2.6 billion lack access to
improved sanitation. (2005, 24) More than 850
million people, including one in three preschool
children suffer from malnutrition. (2005, 24)
One
in five people in the world, more than one billion,
still survive on less than $1 a day in abject
poverty. (2005, 24) "Living on $1 a day does
not mean being able to afford what $1 would buy
when converted into a local currency, but the
equivalent of what $1 would buy in the United
States, a newspaper, a local bus ride, a bag of
rice." (2003, 41)
Another
1.5 billion people live on $1-2 a day. (2005,
24) "One fifth of humanity lives in countries
where many people think nothing of spending $2
a day on capuccino. Another fifth of humanity
survives on less than $1 a day and live in countries
where children die for want of a simple anti-mosquito
bed net." (2005, 3)
There
are 854 million illiterate adults, 543 million of
them women, 325 million children (one in seven)
out of school at primary and secondary levels, 183
million of them girls. (2001, 9) More than one billion
people live without adequate shelter, sanitation,
electricity, and there are 100 million people homeless
sleeping in the street. (1996,24)
But
capitalism allows a tiny minority to accumulate
a vast amount of wealth.
The
350 largest companies in the world account for 40%
of global trade and their turnover exceeds the GDP
of many countries.
The
turnover of General Motors ($168.8 billion) exceeds
that of the GDP of Denmark ($146.1 billion).
The
turnover of Ford ($137.1 billion) exceeds the GDP
of South Africa ($123.3 billion).
The
turnover of Toyota ($111.1 billion), Exxon ($110
billion) and Royal Dutch/Shell ($109.8 billion)
exceeds the GDP of Norway, Poland and Portugal ($109.6,
$92.8, and $91.6 billion respectively).
The
turnover of IBM ($72 billion) is greater than
that of Malaysia ($68.5 billion). The combined
assets of the top five corporations ($871.4 billion)
is greater than that of the combined GDP of South
Asia ($451.3 billion), Sub-Saharan Africa ($246.8
billion) and least developed countries ($76.5
billion). (1997, 92)
Between
1989 and 1996 the number of billionaires increased
from 157 to 447. Today the net wealth of the ten
richest billionaires is $133 billion, more than
1.5 times the total national income of all the
least developed countries. (1997, 38)
The
world's 200 richest people more than doubled their
net worth in the four years to 1998, to more than
$1 trillion. The assts of the top three billionaires
are more than the combined GNP of all least developed
countries and their 600 million people. (1999,
3)
The
world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth
of over $1 trillion, equal to the annual income
of the poorest 47% of the world ($2.5 billion).
It is estimated that the cost of achieving and
maintaining universal access to education for
all, health care for all, reproductive health
care for all women, adequate food for all and
safe water and sanitation for all is roughly $40
billion a year (0.1% of world income). This is
less than 4% of the combined wealth of the 225
richest people in the world. (1998, 30)
The
material resources to end poverty and inequality
are there.
To
provide universal access to basic social services
and transfers to alleviate income poverty with
efficient targeting would cost roughly $80 billion.
That is less than 0.5% of global income and less
than the combined net worth of the seven richest
men in the world. (1997, 112)
Redistributing
1.6% of the income of the richest 10 percent of
the global population would provide the $300 billion
needed to lift the one billion people living on
less than a dollar a day out of extreme poverty.
(2005, 4)
However,
meeting the basic needs of the world's population
is not a priority for capitalism.
The
annual expenditure necessary to provide basic education
for all around the world is $6 billion. In comparison,
the annual expenditure for cosmetics in the USA
is $8 billion.
Annual
expenditure to provide water and sanitation for
all is $9 billion. In comparison the annual expenditure
on ice cream in Europe is $11 billion. The annual
expenditure to provide reproductive health for all
women is $12 billion. In comparison, the annual
expenditure on perfumes in Europe and the USA is
$12 billion.
Annual
expenditure necessary to provide basic health
and nutrition is $13 billion. In contrast, annual
expenditure on pet foods in Europe and USA is
$17 billion. Compared to all those, annual military
spending in the world is $780 billion. (1998,
37)
For
every $1 that rich countries spend on aid, they
allocate $10 to military spending. Current spending
on HIV/AIDS, a disease that claims 3 million lives
per year, represents three days' worth of military
spending (2005, 8)
The
$7 billion needed to provide 2.6 billion people
with access to clean water is less than European
spends on perfume and less than Americans spend
on elective corrective surgery. This is for an investment
that would save an estimated 4,000 lives each day.
(2005, 8)
This is because capitalism is a system based on
profit rather than need. Food production has increased
and prices fallen.
"If
all the food produced worldwide were distributed
equally, every person would be able to consume 2,760
calories a day -- hunger is defined as consuming
under 1,960 calories a day." (2003, 87)
But
as a result of the operations of capitalism, every
day, 800 million people (almost one in five) go
hungry, and every year ten million people die of
hunger.
Millions
of people are in desperate need of medicines. But
as the pharmaceutical industry is capitalist in
nature, less than 10% of global spending on health
research addressed 90% of the global disease burden
and health problems of 90% of the world's people.
(2002, 7) People dying of hunger in a world
where there has never been so much food, and people
dying because they lack essential medicines because
less than 10% of global spending on health research
and production addresses 90% of the global disease
burden shows that a system based on profit rather
than need is irrational and inhuman.
The
human costs of maintaining the present system
are far too high. Every year, 10.7 million children
died before five of preventable causes (2005,
24) This means that every hour of everyday, 12000
children die of preventable causes. (2005,
1)
In
the 1990s the number of children killed by diarrhea
exceeded the number of people killed in armed
conflicts since the Second World War. (2003,
104)
Some
500,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth each
year, one for every minute of the day. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, a woman is one hundred times more likely
to die in pregnancy or childbirth than in a high-income
OECD country. (2003)
The
environmental costs of maintaining capitalism
are also too high. The problem is that corporations
resist regulations and do not take into account
damage to the environment; resulting in water
scarcity, deforestation, desertification, pollution
and natural disaster. Annual carbon dioxide emissions
quadrupled over the past 50 years. Sulphur dioxide
emissions have more than doubled during the same
period. (98, 4)
Burning
of fossil fuels has almost quintupled since 1950,
consumption of fresh water has doubled since 1960,
marine catch has increased fourfold, wood consumption
is now 40% higher than 25 years ago. (1998, 2)
In
industrial countries, per capita waste generation
has increased threefold in the past 20 years. Water's
global availability has dropped from 17,000 cubic
meters per capita in 1950 to 7,000 today.
A
sixth of the world's land area (2 billion hectares)
is degraded as a result of poor farming since 1945.
Forests are shrinking, since 1970 the wooded area
per 1,000 people has fallen from 11.4 square kilometer
to 7.3. Some eight million to ten million acres
of forest land are lost each year.
Fish
stocks are declining with about a quarter in danger
of depletion and another 44% being fished at their
biological limits. Wild species are becoming extinct
50 to 100 times faster than they would naturally.
(1998, 4)
And
during 1967-1993 natural disasters affected three
billion people in developing countries with more
than seven million deaths and two million injuries.
At current rate of loss, 15% of the earth's species
could disappear over the next 25 years. (1996,
26)
Air
pollution is a serious problem for 700 million people,
primarily women and children. 2.7 million deaths
each year from air pollution (1998, 5)
A
common objection is that capitalism might not be
good, however there are no alternatives. Socialism
does and did not work, the fact that countries in
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union abandoned
it and adopted capitalism proves it.
However,
the UN's Human Development Reports show the achievements
and successes of socialism. It notes that socialism
was one of the world's history's "great ascent
from human poverty". "There have been
two great ascents from human poverty in recent history:
the first in industrial countries during the late
19th and the early 20th centuries, and the second
in developing countries, Eastern Europe and the
former Soviet Union after the Second World War.
They had similar elements, but the second had a
larger scale and a faster timetable. Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union made advances: infant
mortality was reduced by half, from 81 to 41 per
1,000 live births. Life expectancy increased from
58 to 66 years for men and from 63 to 74 years for
women. And income poverty was declining. In Hungary
between the early 1960s and 1972, the proportion
of people living below the poverty line fell from
60% to 14%". (1997, 25)
If
we compare similar countries today on the basis
of Human Development Indicators, socialist China
and capitalist India, or socialist Cuba and capitalist
Latin America, the achievements successes of socialism
compared to capitalism are evident.
Since
1949, China has made impressive reductions in human
poverty. Between 1949 and 1995 it reduced infant
mortality from 200 per 1,000 live births to 42 per
1000 live births, and increased life expectancy
at birth from 35 years to 69. Today almost all children
go to school and adult illiteracy, 80% in the 1950s
has fallen to 19%. The incidence of poverty from
widespread fell to 9% in the 1980s. Hunger has been
totally eradicated. (1997, 49-50)
By
contrast, in India, 53% of children under age four,
60 million, remain undernourished. Infant mortality
is 74 per 1,000 live births, and there are each
year 2.2 million infant deaths, most of them avoidable.
Rural poverty is 39% and urban poverty 30%. Half
the population is still illiterate. Life expectancy
is 61, eight years less than China. (1997, 51-52)
In
China, public spending on education is 2.3% of GDP
while that on health is 2.1% of GDP. The outcomes
for human development are clear. Literacy stands
at 84%, infant mortality rates at 32 per 1,000 lives
birth and under-five mortality rates at 40 per 1,000
live births. (2003, 73)
Proportional
to population, China spends three times as much
as India on health care. In India health spending
stands at 1.3% of GDP. (central and state governments
combined) Human development indicators remain much
lower for India than for China. Literacy stands
at 65%, infant mortality at 68 per 1,000 live births,
and under five mortality rates at 96 per 1,000 live
births. (2003, 73)
If
India provided the same health care as China, every
year 1.7 million children could be saved. (1998,
156-157 and 176-177)
In
Cuba, there is one medical doctor for 170 people.
In the rest of Latin America, the proportion is
of one doctor for 613 people. Cuba spends per inhabitant
twice as much on health care and education than
the rest of Latin America. (2003, 255)
Cuba's
per capita income is a small fraction of that of
the USA, yet it has the same infant mortality rate
and has kept HIV/AIDS under control. (2003, 87)
If
the rest of Latin America invested as much as Cuba
on health care, every year 400,000 Latin American
children could be saved and 20,000 fewer women would
die in pregnancy or child birth.
In
Latin America, the ten per cent richest people earn
46 times what the poorest earn. In Cuba the proportion
is five times. (2003, 283)
A
quarter of Latin Americans have to survive on two
dollars a day or less. In Cuba, less than two per
cent do. (2003, 245)
Evidence
shows that countries that abandoned the construction
of socialism and adopted capitalism experienced
a massive regression. Central and Eastern Europe
and the CIS experienced the sharpest increase in
poverty in the 1990s, the only other region with
worsening trends in poverty is Sub-Saharan Africa.
(2005, 21)
Ukraine
fell 17 places and Russia 15 places while Tadjikistan
fell 21 places. Russia fell 48 places in world life
expectancy ranking from 1990 to 2003. (2005,
22) Life expectancy for men has fallen from
70 in 1990 to 59 today, lower than India. If this
remains constant, 40 percent of 15 years old Russians
will be dead before they reach 60. (2005, 26)
Between
2.5 to 3 million people died during the 1992-2001
period. "In the absence of war, famine or
health epidemics, there is no recent historical
precedent for the scale of the loss." (2005,
23)
Central
and Eastern Europe and the CIS experienced a dramatic
increase in poverty. The number of people on less
than $2 a day there rose from 23 million in 1990
to 93 million in 2001, from 5% to 20%. (2005,
34)
In
the countries of the former Soviet Union, transition
brought with it one of the deepest recessions
since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and in
many case despite positive growth over the last
few years, incomes are still lower than they were
15 years ago. (2005, 34)
Since
1990 real per capita incomes have fallen by more
than 10% in Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine and
by 40% in Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan. In
Russia, 10 percent of the population live on less
than $2 a day and 25 percent live below the national
subsistence level. (2005, 35)
These
are the main reasons why we believe that capitalism,
as a way of organizing society and the economy,
fails and is not sustainable; and advocate socialism
as a viable alternative and a better way of organizing
the world.
Facts
and figures as published by the United Nations Human
Development reports.
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