GLOBAL INEQUALITY & A NEW WORLD ORDER
INTRODUCTION
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization, Western lifestyle or European civilization, is a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies that have some origin or association with Europe.
The term has come to apply to countries whose history is strongly marked by European immigration, such as the countries of the Americas and Australasia, and is not restricted to the continent of Europe.
Western culture is characterized by a host of artistic, philosophic, literary, and legal themes and traditions; the heritage of Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Jewish, Slavic, Latin, and other ethnic and linguistic groups, as well as Christianity, which played an important part in the shaping of Western civilization since at least the 4th century.
Also contributing to Western thought, in ancient times and then in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance onwards, a tradition of rationalism in various spheres of life, developed by Hellenistic philosophy, Scholasticism, humanism, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment.
Values of Western culture have, throughout history, been derived from political thought, widespread employment of rational argument favouring free thought, assimilation of human rights, the need for equality, and democracy.
Historical records of Western culture in Europe begin with Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
Western culture continued to develop with Christianization during the Middle Ages, the reform and modernization triggered by the Renaissance, and with globalization by successive European empires, that spread European ways of life and European educational methods around the world between the 16th and 20th centuries.
European culture developed with a complex range of philosophy, medieval scholasticism and mysticism, and Christian and secular humanism.
Rational thinking developed through a long age of change and formation, with the experiments of the Enlightenment, and breakthroughs in the sciences.
With its global connection, European culture grew with an all-inclusive urge to adopt, adapt, and ultimately influence other cultural trends around the world.
Tendencies that have come to define modern Western societies include the existence of political pluralism, prominent subcultures or countercultures (such as New Age movements), and increasing cultural syncretism — resulting from globalization and human migration.
(2016)
The countries with the highest quality of life have been announced by the not-for-profit organisation Social Progress Imperative.
Scandinavian nations scored highly in the „Social Progress Index,“ but more surprising are the very large countries which came lower down the list — suggesting that a strong GDP per capita is not the only gauge for a high standard of living.
Despite this, all of the top 19 countries are developed nations — so having a strong economy clear has an impact.
The „Social Progress Index“ collates the scores of three main indexes:
- Basic Human Needs, which includes medical care, sanitation, and shelter.
- Foundations of Wellbeing, which covers education, access to technology, and life expectancy.
- Opportunity, which looks at personal rights, freedom of choice, and general tolerance.
The index then adds the three different factors together, before giving each nation a score out of 100. You can see the countries with the highest quality of life below.
19. United States — 84.62. The US scraping into the top 20 may surprise some, and the report does call it a „disappointment,“ saying the country’s huge economy does not translate into social progress for many of its citizens.
18. France — 84.79. For many France is a liberal bastion, but it scored low on „tolerance and inclusion“ in the report, while a poor score in „opportunity“ keeps it further down the list than it perhaps should be.
17. Spain — 85.88. One of the most popular holiday destinations in Europe, Spain has a strong welfare system and work life balance, but high youth unemployment has hurt the standard of life for many of its citizens.
16. Belgium — 86.19. The HQ of the European Union scores highly on social progress and demonstrates that sometimes being a smaller country makes it easier to look after all your inhabitants.
15. Germany — 86.42. Another country which might be a bit lower down than some people would expect, Germany scores highly for inclusiveness after taking in more than a million refugees over the past few months, but some wonder if the infrastructure can handle it.
14. Japan — 86.54. The ‚Land of the Rising Sun‘ has made great strides in social progress in the last decade, particularly in women entering the workforce. It still has a very small immigrant population, though, and suicide rates for under-30s remain high.
13. Austria — 86.60. Vienna is a cultural capital of Europe and Austrian ski slopes attract people from all over the world. Having the 14th biggest economy in the world, according to the IMF, does not hurt standard of living either.
12. Ireland — 87.94. Brits scrambling for Irish passports in the wake of the vote for a Brexit may be pleased to discover it scores very high on meeting „basic human needs,“ and the potential investment of companies moving from the UK will only make things better.
T-10. New Zealand — 88.45. New Zealand’s tourist board calls it „the youngest country in the world,“ and it is certainly one of the most beautiful. „Opportunity“ is where it scores really high, as a low population means jobs are in abundance.
T-10. Iceland — 88.45. Speaking of beautiful countries, Iceland scores very well in social progress, particularly in the „basic human needs“ index and GDP per capita. Its football team has proven itself a force to be reckoned with too.
9. United Kingdom — 88.58. The NHS is big part of the UK’s high placing, with „basic medical care“ scoring almost 100% on the report. Education scores almost as highly, with free access to quality schools.
8. Netherlands — 88.65. The Netherlands is famously one of the most tolerant countries in the world, so its position in the top ten should be no surprise. It is one of the highest-scoring countries on „personal freedom and choice.“
7. Norway — 88.70. Get used to seeing Scandinavian nations in the top ten. Norway is big on „nutrition and basic medical care,“ and its „access to basic knowledge“ is strong too. Many have said the Norway model is one to follow for a non-EU UK.
6. Sweden — 88.80. „Water and sanitation“ may be taken for granted in developed economies, but it is not enjoyed everywhere. Luckily it is an area Sweden nails, scoring 99.77. The country also picks up high scores in „nutrition“ and „personal rights.“
5. Switzerland — 88.87. Switzerland may have some of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, but its citizens get value for money. According to the Social Progress Report, „medical“, „nutritional“ and „access to basic knowledge“ is where the country shines.
4. Australia — 89.13. There is a good reason so many people want to start a new life „down under.“ Australia has fantastic education, job opportunities and a strong sense of personal freedom. Its „tolerance and inclusion“ score could be higher though.
3. Denmark — 89.39. Denmark has one of the best social mobility and income equality rates in the world, so no surprise it makes it into the top three on this list. „Basic human needs“ is where the country scores particularly highly, though its „health and wellness“ stats such as life expectancy could be higher.
2. Canada — 89.49. For such a huge nation, Canada only has 35 million citizens, and they are some of the best looked after in the world. Canada’s healthcare is what stands it above the rest. Education and opportunity in the country are also impressively strong.
1. Finland — 90.09. Everyone says Nordic nations have the highest standard of living, and now Finland has made it official. It scores highly on almost every index on the report, from basic needs, foundations of wellbeing and personal freedoms. If you move there just make sure to bring warm coat — temperatures can reach minus 50 celsius in the winter!
This entry presents the evidence on global economic inequality. It considers economic history and how global inequality has changed and is predicted to continue changing in the future.
A related entry on Our World in Data presents the empirical evidence of how income inequality has changed over time, and how the levels of inequality in different countries can vary significantly. It also presents some of the research on the factors driving the inequality of incomes.
Global inequality of opportunity
Living conditions are vastly unequal between different places in our world today. This is largely the consequence of the changes in the last two centuries: in some places living conditions changed dramatically, in others more slowly.
Our individual stories play out amidst these major global changes and inequalities and it is these circumstances that largely determine how healthy, wealthy, and educated each of us will be in our own lives.1 Yes, our own hard work and life choices matter. But as we will see in the data, these matter much less than the one big thing over which we have no control: where and when we are born. This single, utterly random, factor largely determines the conditions in which we live our lives.
Today’s global inequality is the consequence of two centuries of unequal progress. Some places have seen dramatic improvements, while others have not. It is on us today to even the odds and give everyone – no matter where they are born – the chance of a good life. This is not only right, but, as we will see below, is also realistic. Our hope for giving the next generations the chance to live a good life lies in broad development that makes possible for everyone what is only attainable for few today.
It strikes many people as inherently unfair that some people are able to enjoy healthy, wealthy, happy lives whilst others continue to live in ill-health, poverty and sorrow. For them it is the inequality in the outcomes of people’s lives that matters. For others it is the inequality in opportunity – the opportunity to achieve good outcomes – that is unfair. But the point of this text is to say that these two aspects of inequality are not separable. Tony Atkinson said it very clearly: “Inequality of outcome among today’s generation is the source of the unfair advantage received by the next generation. If we are concerned about equality of opportunity tomorrow, we need to be concerned about inequality of outcome today.”2
The extent of global inequality – it is not who you are, but where you are
Today’s global inequality of opportunity means that what matters most for your living conditions is the good or bad luck of your place of birth.
The inequality between countries that I am focusing on in this text is not the only aspect that needs to be considered. Inequalities within countries and societies – regional differences, racial differences, gender differences, and inequalities across other dimensions – can also be large, and are all beyond any individual’s own control and unfair in the same way.
This visualization shows the inequality in living conditions between the worst and best-off countries in the world today in a number of aspects:
- Health: A
child born in one of the countries with the worst health is 60-times more
likely to die than a child born in a country with the best health. In
several African countries more than one out of ten children born today
will die before they are five years old. In the healthiest countries of
the world – in Europe and East Asia – only 1 in 250 children will die
before he or she is 5 years old.
- Here is the world map showing child mortality rates around the world.
- Education: In the countries
where people have the best access to education – in Europe and North
America – children of school entrance age today can expect 15 to 20 years
of formal education. In Australia, which is an outlier, school life expectancy
is 22.9 years. Children entering school at the same time in countries with
the poorest access to education can only expect 5 years. And additionally,
children tend to learn much less in schools in poorer countries, as
we explained before.
- Here is the world map of expected years of schooling.
- Income: If you look at
average incomes and compare the richest country – Qatar with a GDP per
capita of almost $117,000 – to the poorest country in the world – the
Central African Republic at $661 – then you find a 177-fold difference.
This is taking into account price differences between countries and
therefore expressed in international-$ (here is an explanation).
Qatar and other very resource-rich economies
might be considered outliers here, suggesting that it is more appropriate
to compare countries that are very rich without relying mostly on exports
of natural resources. The US has a GDP per capita of int.-$54,225 and
Switzerland of 57,410 international-$. This means the Swiss can spend in 1
month what people in the Central African Republic can spend in 7 years.
- Here is the world map of GDP per capita differences.
The inequality between different places in the world is much larger than the difference you can make on your own. When you are born in a poor place where every tenth child dies you will not be able to get the odds of your baby dying down to the average level of countries with the best child health. In a place where the average child can only expect 5 years of education it will be immensely harder for a child to obtain the level of education even the average child gets in the best-off places. The difference is even starker for incomes. In a place where GDP per capita is less than $1,000 and the majority lives in extreme poverty, the average incomes in a rich country are unattainable. Where you live isn’t just more important than all your other characteristics, it’s more important than everything else put together.
You cannot get healthy and wealthy on your own – Societies make progress, not individuals
What is true for inequality across countries around the world today, is also true for change over time. What gives people the chance for a good life is when the entire society and economy around them changes for the better. This is what development and economic growth are about: transforming a place so that what was previously only attainable for the luckiest few comes into reach for most.
When everyone is sick, everyone is sick
The blue line in this visualization shows this transformation of Finland, a country where people today are among the healthiest and richest in world history.
The datapoint in the top left corner describes life in Finland back in 1800 (a time when the country was not yet autonomous or independent). Of all children born that year 42% died in the first five years of their lives. And the average income in Finland was extremely low: GDP per capita was only $827 per year (this is adjusted for price increases to keep the purchasing power comparable to today). And similarly, even basic education was not available for most.
A society where almost half of all children died was not unusual: it was similarly high in humanity’s history until just very recently. The dashed purple line in the chart shows that around the world in 1800 a similarly high share of children died before they had their fifth birthday. At that time there was little global inequality; life was short everywhere and no matter where a child was born, chances were high that he or she would die soon.
And just as there was little inequality in mortality and health between different places around the world, there was also little inequality within countries. The health of the entire society was bad. We have data on the mortality of the English aristocracy from 1550 onwards. Aristocrats died just as early as everyone else.3 Their life expectancy was below 40 years too. Before broader social development even the most privileged status within society would not give you the chance for a healthy life. You just cannot be healthy in an unhealthy place.
Development and global inequality
After two centuries of slow, but persistent transformation, Finland is today one of the healthiest and wealthiest places in the world. It wasn’t smooth progress – during the Finnish Famine in the 1860s the mortality rate increased to over half – but gradually child health improved and today the child mortality rate is 0.23%. Within two centuries, the chances of a Finnish child surviving to the first five years of its life increased from 58% to 99.77%.
The same is true for income. Back in 1800, global inequality between countries was much lower than it is today. Even in those countries that are today the richest in the world the majority of people lived in extreme poverty until recently. Finland was no exception.
The red bubbles in the same chart show child mortality and incomes around the world today. It is the same data that we discussed above in the discussion on the extent of global inequality today, but now you see the data for all the world’s countries, not just the worst- and best-off.
Until around 1800, today’s best-off places were as poor as today’s worst-off places, and child mortality was even worse. All were in the top-left corner of the chart. What created the global inequality we see today were the large cross-country differences in improvements in health and economic growth over the last two centuries. Angus Deaton referred to this as the ‘Great Escape’. He wrote a book about it with this title in which he chronicles how some parts of the world escaped the worst poverty and disease, while others lagged behind.
Without looking at the data it is not possible to understand just how dramatically the prosperity and health of a society can be transformed. The health and prosperity in the past was so very bad that no one in Finland could have imagined living the life that is today the reality for the average person in Finland.
Development caused an inequality between places and between generations
Even the countries where health and access to education are worst today have made progress in these dimensions. In the first chart of this text I added the estimates for the global average for each dimension two centuries ago underneath each scale. In terms of health, even today’s worst off places are faring better than the best-off places in the past. Here is the evidence for life expectancy and here for child mortality.
And just as there is almost no overlap between the distributions of income in today’s poor and rich countries, there is also almost no overlap between the distribution of income in a rich country today and that of the same country in the past.
The fact that these transformations improved the living conditions of entire societies so dramatically, means that it’s not just where you are born that matters for your living conditions, but also the time when you were born. Children with a good chance of survival are not just born in the right place, but also at the right time. In a world of improving health and economic growth, all of us born in the recent past have had much better chances of good health and prosperity than all who came before us. (…)
Go through the data in the INTRODUCTION, PART I and PART II and prepare a presentation on the „Uniqueness of the Western Civilisation“ and on the „Global Inequality“.
You can add some information from the previous projects connected with the cultural heritage of Europe.
Carry out additional research and identify the impact of the „Western civilisation“ on the rest of the world.
Play a role of a visionary and create a picture of the „Western world“ in the future. How can we protect and save it?
Do you agree with the ideas presented in the RESEARCH?
How can the Western civilisation contribute to the reduction of the global inequality in the times to come?
Is Western culture a synonym to luxury ?
The aim of this project is to make clear how unique the Western civilisation is regarding its economic prosperity and the fulfillment of not only the basic but also higher human needs.
It intends to point out the problem of the global inequality in order to encourage the students to investigate the positive influence the Western culture has on the rest of the world.
In this context it intends to sharpen the awareness of being privileged and of having the responsibility concerning the ones who are economically and socially disadvantaged.
This project does not intend to handle the problems of poverty, migrations, climate change, ecology, (fair) trade, religions, spiritualities, ideologies, etc., which can be traced back to the abuse of the Western culture´s values.
It focuses on the uncomparable tangible and intangible assets of the Western civilisation, on an idea of a new (post-pandemic) world order and implies a concern about the current and the future state of the „Western culture“, „a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies that have some origin or association with Europe.
The term has come to apply to countries whose history is strongly marked by European immigration, such as the countries of the Americas and Australasia, and is not restricted to the continent of Europe“. (See: INTRODUCTION)
