Summary: Lessons From A Disaster

Author(s):  
Inge F. Goldstein ◽  
Martin Goldstein

We have told a number of stories in this book about environmental health hazards. To summarize the main messages, we will briefly tell another. There is one common pollutant, a product of human activity, that is responsible for many millions of deaths each year, most of them among small children. Human feces contaminating the water supply is the means by which cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, and a number of parasitic diseases are spread. These diseases were killing people even in Western economically advanced countries throughout most of the nineteenth century, and are still among the most serious threats to the health of the majority of the people of the world. They can be prevented, as they are in the industrialized world, by rather simple measures, but measures that are beyond the economic resources of many of the less developed countries. Recently the United Nations has been providing funds and technological help in controlling them by improving access to uncontaminated drinking water. One such program in Bangladesh involved digging tube wells to get access to deep groundwater sources, so that the people would no longer have to drink surface water from ponds and streams contaminated by human and animal wastes. Bangladesh has had more than its share of misfortune. It is a low-lying country subject to floods and other natural disasters, which has not been spared disasters of human making as well. Originally part of Pakistan when British India was partitioned, it is cut off from the rest of Pakistan by a thousand miles of Indian territory. The people of Bangladesh, although Muslim in religion, were ethnically distinct and spoke a different language from the rest of Pakistan. Their attempts to gain greater autonomy for their region led to a brutal suppression by the Pakistan army in 1971, in which over 1 million people were killed. Indian military intervention led to the defeat of Pakistan and the creation of an independent country of about 150 million people, with the highest population density in the world and one of the lowest per capita incomes, under $300 a year.

Growth and development are the fundamental as well as the basic objectives of all the developing countries in the world. On the other hand, maintaining the economic stability is the major goal of all the developed countries. Each nation has her own economic policies so as to develop its economy. The development of a country can be indicated and understood by examining the major economic variables. Increasing real per capita income over a period of time will indicate the economic development of a country. Therefore, the authors made an attempt to evaluate the performance of Indian economy in terms of GNP, general price will indicate the stability of Indian economy and the living standard of people in a country. Therefore, the authorities made an attempt to evaluate the performance of Indian economy in terms of GNP, general price, imports and exports since 2000. As per the analysis on the basis of certain macroeconomic variable, the growth rate of GDP of India was greater than the per capita GDP that indicates the increasing inequality in India in the last two decades. The purchasing power of the people and the value of money are fluctuating and the economy was unstable. India’s GDP share in the world output is insignificant. The growth of imports of India is greater than the export which indicates unfavorable balance of payment in case of India’s international trade.


1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-59
Author(s):  
Ralph K. Davidson

Today, the need for economic development is self-evident to the millions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America who suffer from malnutrition, are ill-housed, poorly educated, and either unemployed or grossly underemployed. The ultimate objective of economic development is to raise the standard of life – the quality of life - for the mass of the people, to widen their area of choice, to open up new opportunities for human well-being. The less developed countries have two-thirds of the 3.5 billion people but receive only 12.5 percent of the world's gross national product. Life appears to be an economic treadmill with the future blighted by an excessive rate of population growth for millions of people. India provides a good illustration of the problem. With an estimated population of 525 million at mid-1968, India had 15 percent of the world's population, 2.4 percent of the world's land area, hardly 2 percent of the world's income, and an annual per capita income level of around $75.


2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordan Stojic

There are several divisions of countries and regions in the world. Besides geo-political divisions, there also are economic divisions. The most common economic division is the that on developed countries and the poor ones. These divisions are a consequence of the level of: GDP, GDP per capita, unemployment rate, industrial growth, and so on. The question is how to define a mathematical model based on which the following will be assessed: who is rich and who is poor, or who is economically developed and who is not? How the boundaries of transition from one category to another can be defined? This paper presents a model for evaluating the level of economic development of countries and regions using "fuzzy" logic. The model was tested on a sample of 19 EU member countries and aspirants for membership.


1988 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Knight

South Africa has neither a developed nor a typical underdeveloped economy. Too often it has been wrongly classified, along with, say, Australia and New Zealand, as one of the peripheral developed countries, because only a part of the economy and population have the characteristics we associate with that group. Yet its economy is distinctly different from others in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa falls squarely into the category which the World Bank classifies as ‘upper middle-income’ developing economies, with G.N.P. per capita in 1982 ranging from $2,000 to $7,000 and averaging $2,500, thereby including South Africa, with $2,700.1 (By contrast, Kenya's G.N.P. per capita was $400 and Britain's $10,000). The World Bank's group includes Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Korea, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. South Africa shares many structural economic characteristics with these semi-industrialised countries.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Nunes Silva

The level of E-Planning development in African cities is in general far behind cities in developed countries. This is also, to a large extent, what happens in the five Lusophone African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe). Besides sharing a common colonial history, administrative tradition and language these five African countries have in common similar urban planning cultures. In the recently published report “E-Government Survey 2012: E-Government for the People” the United Nations confirms a growth tendency in the implementation of e-government throughout the world, a trend that will make possible the development of E-Planning in countries where this new urban planning paradigm is still missing or has been insufficiently implemented, as is the case of the five Lusophone African countries. This review of the UN 2012 E-Government Survey aims to summarize and discuss the key challenges for e-government development identified in the survey and, based on these findings, to explore the challenges and prospects for e-Planning adoption in the five Lusophone African countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Murányi ◽  
Bálint Varga

The COVID-19 pandemic had huge impacts on the global world, with both a negative impact on society and economy but a positive one on nature. But this universal effect resulted in different infection rates from country to country. We analyzed the relationship between the pandemic and ecological, economic, and social conditions. All of these data were collected in 140 countries at six time points. Correlations were studied using univariate and multivariate regression models. The world was interpreted as a single global ecosystem consisting of ecosystem units representing countries. We first studied 140 countries around the world together, and infection rates were related to per capita GDP, Ecological Footprint, median age, urban population, and Biological Capacity, globally. We then ranked the 140 countries according to infection rates. We created four groups with 35 countries each. In the first group of countries, the infection rate was very high and correlated with the Ecological Footprint (consumption) and GDP per capita (production). This group is dominated by developed countries, and their ecological conditions have proved to be particularly significant. In country groups 2, 3, and 4, infection rates were high, medium, and low, respectively, and were mainly related to median age and urban population. In the scientific discussion, we have interpreted why infection rates are very high in developed countries. Sustainable ecosystems are balanced, unlike the ecosystems of developed countries. The resilience and the health of both natural ecosystems and humans are closely linked to the world of microbial communities, the microbiomes of the biosphere. It is clear that both the economy and society need to be in harmony with nature, creating sustainable ecosystems in developed countries as well.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Driton Fetahu

: Social, political and institutional factors play a major role in the country's economic development and economic growth in developing and developed countries. Corruption, which is a symptom of deep institutional weaknesses, is one of the factors responsible for reducing investment and spending (for education and health), increasing income inequality, decreasing foreign direct investment, and allocating resources. It tends to grow faster than the dynamics implemented to neutralize it. Systematically, it has caused many disturbing problems in all countries of the world. Based on a Transparency International report. Corruption is one of the greatest contemporary challenges of the world. It determines good governance, leads to inefficient resource allocation, disrupts the private and public sector, and often affects the poor. The people in the world carry the phenomena that society has so far encountered but has neglected. Nepotism usually means hiring close relatives, close friends, regardless of their merits and abilities. While corruption poses a permanent threat to both the economic system and the country's legal system. The purpose of this paper is; To assess the factors that have influenced the appearance and development of nepotism and corruption. Then, analyze the influence of nepotism and corruption in the country's economy. The impact of nepotism on employment and the advancement of relatives in the important sector of the country as well as the influence of corruption and nepotism in justice institutions. The research results will be useful for researchers who will be concerned with analyzing the influential factors of nepotism and corruption.


2015 ◽  
Vol 794 ◽  
pp. 470-477
Author(s):  
Tobias Redlich ◽  
Manuel Moritz ◽  
Sonja Buxbaum-Conradi ◽  
Pascal Krenz ◽  
Susanne Heubischl ◽  
...  

Technical progress in production technology, the advancement of ICTs as well as increasing social and economic imbalances and ever-scarce resources ask for new means of value creation. . With the spill over of the highly efficient and innovative open source principles to the world of physical goods and products new modes of value creation appear that put traditional economic strategies and assumptions into question by stressing collaboration instead of competition, knowledge sharing engineering and fostering the empowerment of the people to participate and get engaged.The here presented multidisciplinaryOpenLabsconcept takes into account these new patterns of value creation based on open source principles and is a suitable approach to increase the overall empowerment and participation in local communities in developing, but also in developed countries.


2000 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-347
Author(s):  
Eremenegildo Spaziante

The Author has examined the recent statistics concerning the legally induced abortion, registered in 25 selected countries in the world. From a total population of 997 millions inhabitants, the cases of induced abortions were 6,126,000 during the year 1996. A formal decrease of 20% was recorded yearly between 1994 and 1996. The changes were not similar for all the examined countries. The most intensive decrease was registered in the countries with previous highest incidence, especially those with experience of Soviet system or Marxian ideology. The study reports the comparison of the abortive phenomenon with the birth rate, the infant mortality, the socio-economic conditions. Invers correlation come in evidence between induced abortiveness rates and the “human development index” (UNDP), especially with the cultural level and the Goss National Product (GNP) per capita. The Author supposes that in the more developed countries the decrease of registered abortiveness was related also to a larger use of contraceptive means. In the less developed countries of the ex-Soviet system, the attenuation of incidence of induced abortion can be connected with a mitigation of public power to coercive birth control. The A. suggests te working hypothesis that a large seeking f induced abortion, especially if repeated, is not only a consequence of economical and cultural misery, but also an important factor of moral, social, and economic depression. In the changing world induced abortion is still a persistent form of misery.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 754-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Ayofemi Olalekan Adeyeye ◽  
Abiodun Omowonuola Adebayo-Oyetoro ◽  
Hussaina Kehinde Tiamiyu

Purpose This paper aims to examine the concept of poverty and malnutrition in Africa, implications and the way out. Design/methodology/approach Several literatures were reviewed on the causes, modes, implications and solutions to the contemporary challenges of poverty and malnutrition in Africa. Findings Poverty and malnutrition are two sides of a coin that are ravaging the African continent. These were as a result of underdevelopment, maladministration and lack of focus and vision by the generations of leaders saddled with administration in different African countries. Poverty in Africa embraces lack of basic human needs faced by people in African society. Many African nations are very poor, and their income per capita or gross domestic product per capita fall toward the bottom of list of nations of the world, despite a wealth of natural resources. In 2009, according to United Nations (UN), 22 of 24 nations identified as having “Low Human Development” on the UN’s Human Development Index were in sub-Saharan Africa and 34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries are in Africa. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 233 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were hungry/undernourished in 2014-2016 (its most recent estimate). In total, 795 million people were hungry worldwide. According to the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa was the area with the second largest number of hungry people, as Asia had 512 million, mainly due to the much larger population of Asia when compared to sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank also reported in 2012 that sub-Saharan Africa Poverty and Equity Data was 501 million people, or 47 per cent Poverty has also been reported as the principal cause of hunger in Africa and the principal causes of poverty have been found to be harmful economic systems, conflict, environmental factors such as drought and climate change and population growth. Originality/value This study examined the concept of poverty and malnutrition in Africa, the implications and the way out.


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