Among 57 OIC countries, there are 7 high-income OIC countries namely, Bahrain, Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE for which no poverty and inequality data are available currently from WorldBank WDI. From remaining 50 countries data are available for the only handful of countries. More obviously these data are not up-to-date. By collecting base data available for all countries it is observed that only few countries have latest data, therefore, the latest available values are taken for showing the latest poverty and inequality situations in Muslim countries.
The graph shows a comparative picture of poverty in selected OIC countries. It is evident that at the lower threshold most of these countries seem to do well except Nigeria. However, with a higher threshold, almost all countries have more than 5% of the total population living below the poverty line except Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Turkey. For Bangladesh, Tajikistan, and Nigeria it is well above 15%.
Gini coefficient, an accepted standard to measure inequality in literature. From the above graph we have seen a contrasting scenario from the poverty. Even though Kazakstan, Malaysia and Turkey have shown significant progress in terms of poverty reduction but the inequality remains a major concern. Kazakhstan is still better than other Muslim countries in terms of wealth redistribution More striking is the case of Malaysia. For other countries, inequality coexisting with poverty.
The inequality situation is grave - class conflict now seems inevitable in many Muslim countries. We have already seen the first wave (Westerner call it Arab Spring) of a tsunami rapidly gaining momentum. The tremendous growth which many Muslim countries have enjoyed for the last two decades or so in spite of socio-econo-political instability is actually hijacked by the powerful elites. So even though we are singing the song of economic growth, in reality, we are bleeding slowly to death.
Notes: All data used in this blog are collected from World Bank WDI.
The graph shows a comparative picture of poverty in selected OIC countries. It is evident that at the lower threshold most of these countries seem to do well except Nigeria. However, with a higher threshold, almost all countries have more than 5% of the total population living below the poverty line except Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Turkey. For Bangladesh, Tajikistan, and Nigeria it is well above 15%.
The inequality situation is grave - class conflict now seems inevitable in many Muslim countries. We have already seen the first wave (Westerner call it Arab Spring) of a tsunami rapidly gaining momentum. The tremendous growth which many Muslim countries have enjoyed for the last two decades or so in spite of socio-econo-political instability is actually hijacked by the powerful elites. So even though we are singing the song of economic growth, in reality, we are bleeding slowly to death.
Notes: All data used in this blog are collected from World Bank WDI.
No comments:
Post a Comment