DEVELOPMENT
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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