Trends in growth and human development

The past decade's record of economic growth is unparalleled. It includes spectacular performance in some countries and regions-unprecedented stagnation and decline in others. Nearly 1.5 billion people- more than a fourth of the world's population, mostly in East Asia-enjoyed per capita income growth of more than 7% a year during the 1980s, a record exceeding anything experienced. But nearly a billion people, about a fifth of the global total, saw their incomes shrink as per capita incomes fell in almost 70 countries for a decade or more. Most of these countries were among the least developed countries (LDCs) and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two worlds.

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development