Essay on Difference in High, Middle and Low Income Countries.

Education, if looked at beyond its traditional sense, forms the fundamentals of our daily lives. How we act and what we believe are based upon the knowledge we gain through instruction and knowledge. Thus it’s simple to conclude that education has become the very key to a sustainable development of a nation. At a smaller scale, each individual 's future is also dependent upon their levels of education, such as: the amount of income, social status, and is also a strong predictor of attitudes and wellbeing(Easterbrook et al). Such a concept is globalizing around the world, and more countries are starting to recognize the

In making comparisons, countries are classified according to their level of economic development (p27). Developed countries known as high-income countries have high income which can support any needed health access (p27). Less developed countries do not have that privilege. Less developed countries or developing countries also known as middle-income countries, have relatively low income (p27). In environments as such, there are not always the possibility to afford any healthcare. Last, but not least, least developed countries known as low-income countries are the poorest. In environments as such, there is no chance to receiving the proper health care.

2) Afghanistan and Japan differ greatly in terms of the Human Development Indicator (HDI) which include the GDP and GNI per capita, infant mortality rate, literacy rate and life expectancy. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or GNI (Gross National Income) per capita, which are both indicators of a nation’s level of wealth, are determined by dividing the GDP or GNI by the total population of the country. Japan has a GPD per capita of $34,870 whereas Afghanistan has a GDP per capita of only $2,000. Here, Japan, having a much higher GDP per capita is considered a rich developed country and Afghanistan, with a much lower GDP per capita, is considered a poor developing country. Another HDI that determines the wealth level of the country is the infant mortality rate.

The environmental health and demographics of a nation determine whether the nation is classified as high, middle, or low income. The World Bank provides global economic data for all nations. In my opinion the Rio Grande Valley can be considered a low income nation. The book talks about global stratification; this is the unequal distribution of resources among nations. The World Bank describes a low income nation whose gross national income per capita is $1,045 or less.

Murray, Harry. "Deniable Degradation: The Finger-Imaging Of Welfare Recipients." Sociological Forum 15.1 (2000): 39. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 May 2013.

This is due in part because of the unequal wealth distribution. The top one percent of the richest people own forty six percent of the global wealth. This wealth being held by the rich would not be a problem if they were not so selfish with their earnings. The distribution of wealth leads to the subsequent unequal distribution of resources. Some issues this raises are human settlement and population distribution, economic activities, trade and quality of life. Certain indicators can be expended in order to measure a nation’s wealth and they include: Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income (GNI) and Human Development Index (HDI). The Gross Domestic Product is the total value of all goods and services. This is a good indicator of what the country is like in relation to their products being sold. The GNI is the GDP plus the income from foreign investors minus the money paid out to foreign investors. The GNI and GDP are not always equal between or within countries. The HDI captures the health, education and income of any given area. It is often a more accurate depiction of what the people are like.

According to Global Health Observation (GHO) data, 71.4 years was the average life expectancy at birth of the global population in 2015. Base on the database and information provided by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004, 58.8 million deaths were estimated globally of which 27.7 million death were females and 31.1 million males. More than half of all death were people who are 60 years and older and 22 million were people who are 70 years and older. Looking at the statistics distribution of death by age between different regions, income plays a great role in life expectancy. In Africa region, due to low-income those countries, 46% death were children aged under 15 year and 20% people reached 60 years and over compare to high-income countries

There is not singe factor that determine the quality of health and wellbeing. Many intersecting social and individual factors control the societies health. Income inequality is one of the leading determinant for our health. The effects of income inequality on health maybe understood by examining some social mechanisms, such as public education and healthcare, structural violence, disruption of social cohesion and social capital; and individual risky behaviors. (Kawachi and Kennedy, 1999)

What drives poverty? First, how does one country consider itself living in extremely poor conditions? This can be answered by using tools like PPP or GDP per capita to distinguish between poor and rich countries. However, the purpose of this paper is not to discuss which country has the highest GDP, but rather to discuss the ability the poor obtain to boost their way out of poverty. Are there certain limitations that poor people face that refrain them from growing or is it just that the poor will always be poor? This paper will summarize main arguments of mechanisms that give rise to poverty traps from the article, Do Poverty Traps Exist. Based on these summaries, I will conduct further critical reviews on some and provide evidence to back my opinion on the specific mechanism at hand.

The low economic productivity keeps poverty stricken countries in absolute poverty because they don’t have what is needed to thrive; agricultural machinery, seeds, water, and training. Countries like Manila and so many others don’t have medical care. This escalates the population that is already too poor to provide for another mouth to feed.

Education remains to be the priority of all nations around the globe. Most countries devote vast resources to guarantee equal education opportunities to all their students. Most education systems are developed to meet the economic and social demands of the country, both locally and globally. As the world’s 8th highest education spender, Saudi Arabia initiates an overhaul on the education system. It is the largest country in the Middle East. The Saudi Arabian education has gone through an astounding transformation. Initially, education was only available to few people who were children of the wealthy families. However, the transformation of the Saudi Education is now offering education to all children regardless of their social status.

Using a cross sectional data with 30 observations, this paper finds the relationship between life expectancy and income in countries that are growing endogenously. After gathering the data and doing the regression analysis using STATA, even though it is true that there is a positive correlation between the two variables, income has a very small impact towards life expectancy. There are other factors that would have a bigger impact to change life expectancy.

Villages and communities in far removed or mountainous regions of countries lack the human and capital resources that are needed in order to initiate and sustain educational projects; furthermore, the cost of supplying adequate teachers, sufficient materials, and proper supervision to each community in need is difficult for many countries to support. However, access to basic skills and literacy education programs are crucial for improvements in the overall health, environment, and economic status of the communities and people of those areas. This “catch 22” disallows poor countries to grow; lack of resources and education keep these areas at a low status while rich countries continue to grow and get richer (once again, following the “Gap” hypothesis).

Education comes with social benefits as well which can improve the situation of the poor, such as lower fertility and improved health care of children ("Poverty and Education"). "Poor people are often unable to obtain access to an adequate education, and without an adequate education people are often constrained to a life of poverty." - Servaas Van Der Berg. The absolutely poor in developing countries have low education levels. Some may not even have access to primary education or may not have completed their primary education, not realizing that it is important to reduce poverty. Education is often poorly measured, and the impacts do not always show up as statistically significant in cross- country growth regressions (Levine & Renelt, 1992). Africa’s education crisis makes media headlines and analysis by the Brookings Center for Universal Education (CUE) explains why this needs to change. Progress towards universal primary education has come to a halt and learning levels of children who are in school are poor as well. Using a Learning Barometer, CUE estimates that 61 million African children will reach adolescence lacking even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills, this will deprive a whole generation of opportunities to develop and escape poverty ("Poverty, Education, & Opportunity").

The goal of low income focuses on social welfare and increasing revenue. “After sharply increasing to almost 9 percent in the period 2013-2014, the real gross domestic product (GDP) rate decelerated in 2015 and the growth rate is not expected to exceed 2.5 percent in 2016. This slump is mainly due to declining raw material prices and a shrinking global demand for raw materials” (Worldbank, 2017). This is just one example of the difficultly in having unpredictable market and income due to the lack of a central bank and the challenge of establishing a long term economic growth policies.