July 27, 1996
The Bangkok Post
Economic Growth with Ruthless Characteristics
Thailand and the Human Development Report
THIS country has paid a high price for rapid economic
growth, according to the 1996 Human Development
Report.
The growth has to a great extent been "ruthless,
futureless and voiceless," it says.
Income distribution is skewed compared to many other
countries in the region, and is becoming more so, it
says.
The report, prepared by the United Nations
Development Programme, is presented by the UNDP
and the National Economic and Social Development
Board.
Per capita income in Bangkok is more than 10 times
that in the Northeast, the report points out.
Per capita income in the wealthiest province (Samut
Sakhon) is 16 times what it is in the poorest province
(Si Sa Ket).
There is unsustainable use of natural resources such
as forestry and fisheries.
One million rai of forest is destroyed every year, with a
consequent loss of biodiversity.
The report says that as Thailand and Indonesia are
fast-growing economies, they can afford not to strip
their forests. But they carry on doing it, it said.
"Between 1961 and 1988 the forest cover shrank from
55 percent of the country's land area to 28 percent;
logging is outlawed, but it appears to continue," the
report says.
The growth is "futureless" in the sense that the
problem persists of insufficient educational quality,
enrolment and skills training.
This is a threat to future generations and to Thailand's
international competitiveness, the report says.
There is unsustainable use of the environment, with air
and water pollution and urban congestion.
Thailand's growth has often been "voiceless", which is
a threat to social cohesion, it says.
"Decision-making is concentrated in Bangkok and there
is a lack of popular participation in the country's future
development," it says.
Despite the threats to future development, the report
says that Thailand has nevertheless recognised the
dangers of unbalanced growth, income inequality and
environmental degradation.
It has presented measures to deal with these
problems in the Eighth National Economic and Social
Development Plan.
"Full and energetic implementation of the Eighth Plan
will keep Thailand in the virtuous circle," it says.
"But if attention is not paid to the quality of growth
and if governments do not take corrective action such
as investment in human capital, mainly through
education and access to social services, then the
virtuous circle can revolve into the wrong kind of
growth or to a vicious circle."
The report says that since 1990, Thailand has risen
from a "medium" human development country to the
"high" category.
This is because life expectancy has increased from 66
years to 69.2.
Per capita income measured at purchasing power
parities has increased from 2,580 US dollars (64,500
baht) to 6,350 dollars (158,750 baht).
Thailand ranks 52 out of 174 countries in this year's
report. It is ahead of Malaysia and below Kuwait.
In 1990 the country ranked 52 out of 130 countries
and was listed just below the United Arab Emirates
and ahead of Paraguay.
According to the report, Thailand's human
development index has increased from 0.783 to 0.832
since the first report in 1990.
But the report says that globally, economic growth has
failed for a quarter of the world's people.
The gap between rich and poor has continuously
widened.
Despite a dramatic surge in economic growth in 15
countries over the past three decades, 1.6 billion
people have been left behind.
These people are worse off than they were 15 years
ago.
Eighty-nine countries are worse off economically than
they were more than 10 years ago.
In 70 developing countries, including Haiti, Liberia,
Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sudan, Ghana and Venezuela,
today's level of income is lower than that achieved in
the 1960s or 1970s.
Among the rich countries, only three - Canada, Finland
and Iceland - are worse off today than in the 1980s.
And research conducted for the UNDP by Columbia
University and Harvard University's institute for
international development shows the extent to which
HIV/AIDS has been a setback, especially in developing
countries.
The world has lost an average of 1.3 years of human
development progress due to the pandemic.
The setback is particularly acute in countries like
Zambia, which has lost more than 10 years of human
development, Tanzania (eight years), Rwanda (seven
years), and the Central African Republic (more than six
years).
"While Africa has shown the greatest impact of the
pandemic to date, Asia's toll will soon affect the global
human development index," says the report.
"The losses will continue to mount, especially in such
countries as India, Myanmar and Thailand, where the
AIDS crisis is becoming increasingly visible," it says.
The drop in the human development index has been
caused mainly by the dramatic reduction of life
expectancy.
More than 85 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths worldwide
occur among people between 20 and 45 years of age.