Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
particular health provision systems, but the broad difference between continents
is apparent.
Social and economic balance
Given that in the NIC cases mentioned above, the provision of social welfare has
been stimulated or managed throughout by the state and has accompanied a
strong development process, it may be asserted that social provision is of
positive value. It must be emphasized again, however, that a balance needs to be
struck. There are cases at the national level of social provision which runs ahead
of the economic prosperity of the country, so that imbalances occur. In
particular, health and education provision in countries that cannot offer enough
employment can have a negative overall effect; such imbalances are to be found
in countries such as Cuba and China, constrained by political systems, and in
some ex-colonial territories such as Sri Lanka.
In Sri Lanka there is 100 per cent enrolment of pupils in primary education, as
against typically 20-50 per cent in “low income” countries on the World Bank
scale. Life expectancy is 72 years, against an average of 60 years in low income
countries, infant mortality 21 versus 72 per thousand, and adult illiteracy 13 per
cent against 44 per cent. High levels of education and social provision generally,
in the absence of jobs, can be an explosive political mixture.
Regional patterns: Brazil and Ecuador
Within a country, there can be similar problems at a regional level. Taking the
example of Brazil, the Nordeste region is the poorest in the country. Per capita
regional product figures, shown in Table 4.5 (in thousand cruzeiros), are six times
higher in São Paulo state than in Piaui in the Nordeste. Welfare provision, as
indicated roughly by the listing of sewage disposal facilities ( Table 4.5 ), is also
far lower in the northeast than in the southeast.
As an education indicator, we may use the number of pupils finishing
secondary school, in relation to total state population ( Table 4.6 ). For the major
regions there is not too extreme a difference, although the southeast has far
higher numbers of “finishers” than other regions, despite an older age structure.
But there are major local differences in the northeast. On top of these
differences, the school finishers are almost all in the urban areas of each state.
Secondary school graduates in the rural parts comprise less than 2 per cent of the
small percentage of children actually receiving secondary education. Education
provision of any kind is scarcer in the rural areas, which have always been the
periphery of a periphery.
But the provision of improved facilities in the Nordeste must be set beside the
present-day tendencies. There is heavy underemployment, especially in the rural
areas of the region. Mass migration out of the region, towards the southeast,
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