23.09.2015 Views

DEVELOPMENT

The pdf-version - Eesti Koostöö Kogu

The pdf-version - Eesti Koostöö Kogu

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Figure 1.1.5<br />

The health sub-index: Estonia compared to the groups of<br />

countries with very high and high human development<br />

levels, 1990-2012<br />

health sub-index<br />

Countries with very high human development<br />

Countries with high human development<br />

0.95<br />

0.90<br />

0.85<br />

0.80<br />

0.75<br />

0.70<br />

1990<br />

Source: UNDP 2013<br />

the health and income indices, while in the education<br />

index, i.e. the number of years devoted to the acquisition<br />

of education, we have, at least in the context of the<br />

HDI’s sub-index, exceeded the average of the countries<br />

with very high human development (Figure 1.1.3).<br />

However, at the same time, we have made no further<br />

development in this index since 2004. Is this a problem?<br />

Probably not, since it appears that for most countries<br />

the saturation point, related to years of education,<br />

is arrived at around the sub-index value 0.9, the point<br />

which Estonia has already reached (see Figure 1.1.4).<br />

New Zealand and Ireland, the countries with the<br />

highest values in the education sub-index, stand out<br />

– their saturation point was just arrived at a slightly<br />

higher level. It seems that from that point on, the<br />

suitability of the current sub-index for differentiating<br />

the educational levels of various countries ends.<br />

There is no point in extending the duration of education,<br />

and development will proceed on to substantive<br />

measurements.<br />

In the health sub-index, which calculates life<br />

expectancy at birth, Estonia is at a more modest position.<br />

Figure 1.1.5 shows that in the 1990s, during an<br />

economically and socially difficult transition period,<br />

Estonia’s development in this area was halted, and<br />

compared to the countries that continued to develop,<br />

a relative setback occurred. However, since the turn of<br />

the century, we have succeeded in somewhat closing<br />

the gap with the average of the countries with very<br />

high human development. But, to date, we have not<br />

been able to achieve the average achieved by the reference<br />

countries 20 years ago.<br />

At the same time, the increase in average life expectancy<br />

in Estonia, since the beginning of the new century,<br />

has been faster than that of any of the Central and Eastern<br />

European countries included in the comparison; we<br />

2000<br />

2005<br />

2006<br />

2007<br />

2008<br />

2009<br />

Estonia<br />

2011<br />

have already surpassed Hungary and are catching up with<br />

Slovakia, which can be considered to be a good achievement<br />

(Figure 1.1.6).<br />

In the comparison with Western and Northern<br />

European countries, during the last decade, the pace of<br />

our improvement in the health sub-index has been rapid,<br />

compared to the successfully rising Ireland. Yet, closing<br />

the gap with Ireland, or even Finland, may take another<br />

twenty years.<br />

Against the background of the rest of the world,<br />

during the last decade, Estonia has made relatively rapid<br />

progress. The speed of our development is roughly equivalent<br />

to that of the “miracle country” – South Korea. On<br />

the other hand, in regard to the health sub-index (average<br />

life expectancy), we unfortunately lag significantly behind<br />

all of the reference countries, and in the near future, we<br />

will probably only begin to catch up with Uruguay.<br />

Due to rapid economic fluctuations, the development<br />

in the income sub-index has been more sporadic<br />

than in the other indicators. The 1990s, due to the transition<br />

crisis, was a time when the relative gap increased,<br />

if we compare Estonia to the general trend in the countries<br />

with a very high level of human development<br />

(Figure 1.1.7). The short boom period after the turn of<br />

the century improved the wealth indicator significantly,<br />

but after the last economic crisis, the restoration of the<br />

convergence with the average achieved by countries with<br />

a very high level of human development, which occurred<br />

during the boom period, is not very probable.<br />

The economic crisis has reduced the gross national<br />

income (GNI) of all the Central and Eastern European<br />

countries included in the comparison. Our closest competitors<br />

in the economic growth sphere continue to be<br />

Slovakia and Hungary, with whom we have very similar<br />

wealth levels, but, for instance, in comparison to Slovenia,<br />

no significant progress has been made in closing the<br />

gap (Figure 1.1.7).<br />

Figure 1.1.6<br />

The health sub-index: Estonia in comparison to the<br />

reference countries, 1990-2012<br />

health sub-index<br />

Ireland Chile Slovenia Uruguay<br />

South Korea Estonia<br />

0.95<br />

0.90<br />

0.85<br />

0.80<br />

0.75<br />

1990<br />

Source: UNDP 2013<br />

2000<br />

2005<br />

2006<br />

2007<br />

2008<br />

2009<br />

2011<br />

12<br />

Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!