Digital transformation can help landlocked countries like Bhutan overcome their geographic disadvantage. With 26 percent of the adult population infected, Eswatini has the highest rate of HIV prevalence in the world. In 2015, the top 1% of earners in the United States averaged 40 times more income than the bottom 90%. Developed by Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1912, the Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, but is often written as a percentage. The Gini coefficient saw sustained growth during the 19th and 20th centuries. including the development of an ecommerce policy in 2020. In view of food price volatility and possible interruption in supplies, increasing food self-sufficiency is a means to achieve food and nutrition security. The pandemics impacts on the state of food security and nutrition in Bhutan is equally of concern. The Gini coefficient is based on the comparison of cumulative proportions of the population against cumulative proportions of income they receive, and it ranges between 0 in the case of perfect equality and 1 in the case of perfect inequality. This is a list of countries or dependencies by income inequality metrics, including Gini coefficients. About ADB, how were organized, transparency, Projects, publications, products and services, operational priorities, and development knowledge, Countries with operations and subregional programs, country planning documents, Careers, business opportunities, and investor relations, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC), Civil Society/Non-government Organizations.

The share of the manufacturing sector in terms of GDP has remained stagnant in the last 10 years, while the industrial sector was driven mainly by construction, mining and electricity. WFP will pursue its shift to providing technical assistance, services and coordination support for national food and nutrition security policies and programmes through gender-transformative approaches that enable progress on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Many of these low-wage workers live paycheck-to-paycheck and have no sick days, pension, or health insurance. Otherwise, it runs the risk of putting the wrong policies in place. Besides safe food and access to varieties of food items, there is also a need to change peoples mind sets and behavior towards nutrition. Bhutan's innovative approaches to tackling 'Gross National Happiness'. Nearly 35 percent of children in Bhutan are stunted, 5.9 percent under five years are suffering from wasting, 11.7 percent of children have low birth weight and 7.6 percent of children under five are overweight. A high-income country and a low-income country can have the same Gini coefficients. In South Africa, the richest 10% hold 71% of the wealth, while the poorest 60% hold just 7% of the wealth. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. We are supporting the Governments systemic approach to solving Bhutans malnutrition and dietary challenges through policy and programme reforms, effective partnerships and joint implementation, data and knowledge management, innovations, and social and behaviour change communication. While gaps remain in critical areas, including implementation, the report found that health systems enabling environments across countries in South Asia are strong and robust with sound policies and systems to support the delivery of services to improve diets.

Notwithstanding a high gross domestic product per capita of USD 3,850, Eswatini, with a Gini coefficient of 51.5has the tenth highest income inequality in the world. It is however their out-of-the-box thinking and intrepid spirit that can and should be emulated. The Report is timely in reflecting nutritional status and needs while also featuring key solutions to achieve our nutritional goals and thus enhancing health and wellbeing, particularly of our women and children in Asia and the Pacific Region during pandemic era, WHO Bhutans Representative Dr Rui Paulo de Jesus said. Aiming to diversify exports while recognizing the small size of its domestic market,the country created Brand Bhutan.

But the outbreak of COVID-19 and a lack of decent work opportunities in many parts of the region, alongside significant uncertainty of food systems and markets, has led to a worsening of inequality, as poorer families with dwindling incomes further alter their diets to choose cheaper, less nutritious foods, he said. Revision 02 approved by the RD in October 2020. If Bhutan were to use income tax return data instead, however, the country might not face the same issues. While measurements of income are more common when reporting on developed economies, those of expenditure are a better metric for developing economies like Bhutan. While these surveys have led to comprehensive official reporting on poverty statistics by the National Statistics Bureau, in-depth analyses on inequality is still lacking. As a close partner and technical agency, WHO Bhutan continues to support the Ministry of Health and its role in nutrition interventions has become crucial during pandemic. Education on what constitutes a healthy diet and how to create hygienic environments at home, in schools and in the community, together with investment in girls education and infrastructure that underlies good water, sanitation and hygiene practices, are critical. Owing to structural inequalities, woman-headed households are more likely to be poor and have restricted access to productive assets, employment opportunities, education and health services. It is best known for its philosophy ofpromoting Gross National Happiness over Gross Domestic Product(GDP). Inequality can refer to economic inequality which is the difference in how assets, wealth, or income are distributed among individuals and/or populations. Income distribution is the primary focus for many inequality assessments several of which use data from household surveys. FAO partnered with the Department of Agriculture in intensive and commercial scale vegetable production in urban and peri-urban by displaced employees. Providing a nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable diet for all requires coordinating with partners in the Food, Water and Sanitation, Health, Social Protection and Education systems, to collectively create an enabling environment. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. Gaps in policy enforcement, legal frameworks and the allocation of resources limit the effectiveness of social protection programmes in addressing hunger, womens empowerment and HIV. The nutrition of Bhutanese people is likely to be affected by the pandemic as people shift diets to more affordable food and shelf-stable and pre-packaged foods, which generally are less nutritious. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 corresponds with perfect equality (where everyone has the same income) and 1 corresponds with perfect inequality (where one person has all the incomeand everyone else has no income). Food prices have increased by approximately 15 percent over the last year and have cast a shadow on food security and livelihoods of vulnerable people. This report provides new evidence on social mobility in the context of increased inequalities of income and opportunities in OECD and selected emerging economies. The report states that Bhutan is among the four countries along with Nepal, the Philippines and Vanuatu in reducing the burden of anaemia in women of reproductive age between 2000 and 2016 with all other countries experiencing slower or no progress, or even a worsening status.

The Gini coefficient, also called the Gini index or Gini ratio, is the most commonly used measure of income distributionsimply put, the higher the Gini coefficient, the greater the gap between the incomes of a country's richest and poorest people. Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderators approval. In 2015, Bhutan mobilized$12 million in impact investment for Mountain Hazelnuts a social enterprise established to encourage hazelnut production by contracting smallholder farmers across the country. UNICEF remains committed to support the Royal Government of Bhutan in building back better by implementing nutrition-sensitive polices such as the 1,000 golden days programme that can nurture the health of every child and mother.. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income or consumption expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and notof the Down to Earth. Seventy percent of the rural population lives below the national povertyline and 25 percent is considered extremely poor. Although Bhutan's figure is comparable to its immediate neighbours Bangladesh and Nepal, a comparison with best performers such as Cambodia and Maldives not only shows where Bhutan is losing out but also shows the potential that exists. Bhutan has also made considerable improvements on environmental, social and governance indicators in the past two decades. The government should, therefore, make a greater effort to finance them. How to Promote Social Mobility, In It Together: Why less inequality benefits all, Redistribution from a joint income-wealth perspective, Inequalities in emerging economies: Informing the policy dialogue on inclusive growth, Inequalities in household wealth across OECD countries: Evidence from the OECD Wealth Distribution Database, Income Inequality: The Gap between Rich and Poor, Adapting to the changing face of work: Policies to make the most of part-time and temporary work. Export diversification should go hand in hand with the possibility to move up the value-chain ladder, which requires appropriate skills, technology, quality infrastructure, trade facilitation measures and logistics. Living standard surveys are important to Bhutan as they provide crucial information on its socio-economic conditions, while allowing its government to measure the success of its policies. Exploringinnovative financing such as blended finance and impact investmentis an increasingly attractive option to finance economic growth for all countries, not only due to the inevitable reduction of official development assistance, including Aid for Trade, but also to simultaneously create a thriving business environment. The Behaviour Change Communications Strategy for nutrition, and a sevenminute video on nutrition garden that were developed highlight the importance of kitchen gardens for family nutrition. While the overall expected financial return is in single digits, the project is expected to have a significant development impact on livelihoods and the income of smallholder farmers by linking tens of thousands of farmers to markets, creating jobs and developing skills, and increasing womens participation in the job market. Countries with a similar large-scale production constraint could explore how their local products could be tailored to smaller but premium markets, thus compensating for their lack of economies of scale. Selected comments may also be used in the Letters section of the Down To Earth print edition. The impact of a poor diet is most severe in the first 1,000 days, from conception through the first two years, and improving nutrition for women and children in the first 1,000 days would contribute to stunting prevention and improve cognitive ability of children. All rights reserved. 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550, Metro Manila, Philippines. Since backbone infrastructure such as electricity and internet are both accessible and affordable in Bhutan, this area offers tremendous potential. Additionally, due to limitations such as reliable GDP and income data, the Gini index may overstate income inequality and be inaccurate. As such, WHO Bhutan collaborated with the Ministry by providing regular technical updates on essential healthcare services, which aimed to prevent parallel disease outbreaks and ensure healthcare services to the people affected by COVID-19.

your login credentials do not authorize you to access this content in the selected format. Development partners such as theEnhanced Integrated Frameworkand theInternational Trade Centrehave joined the Government in supporting this initiative. With COVID-19 vaccine development and approval process making impressive progress, we hope that the vaccination will mitigate impacts of the pandemic. According to World Bank's Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020 report, the Gini coefficient increases about 1.5 points in the five years following major epidemics, such as H1N1 (2009), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016). The national lockdowns caused by COVID-19 in Bhutan have affected school feeding programmes with schools remaining closed for almost the entire academic year. Follow UNICEF Bhutan on Twitter and Facebook. For example, development partners that conduct these surveys may struggle to find a sustainable source of funding. Its work analyses the multiple causes linked to growing inequalities, such as globalisation, technological change and changes in redistribution and policy fashion. We believe information is a powerful driver for the new tomorrow. It tends to drag down GDP growth, due to the rising distance of the lower 40% from the rest of society. A country's Gini coefficient is important because it helps identify high levels of income inequality, which can have several undesirable political and economic impacts. The TechPark increased productive employment in Bhutan through the promotion of enterprise development in the ICT sector, enhanced ICT skills amongst the Bhutanese workforce and improved access to finance. We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Revision 01 approved by the RD in January 2020. ADB is helping Bhutan diversify its economy, catalyze private sector growth, improve connectivity, build climate-resilient infrastructure, and strengthen human capital. The report also calls for action within the private sector, as it has an important role to play in supporting the transformation of the food system and its value chains for achieving healthy diets. Safe, accessible and responsive feedback and complaint mechanisms will be mainstreamed throughout the CSP. Moreover, this kind of data gives valuable insight into levels of inequality across the world the same applies to Bhutan. At the beginning of the pandemic, UNICEF estimated a 30 percent overall reduction in essential nutrition services coverage, reaching 75100 percent in lockdown contexts. ADB encourages websites and blogs to link to its web pages. The challenges in accessing quality and diversified nutrition services due to and during the pandemic, will leave deep impacts on early life nutrition with possible intergenerational consequences for child growth and development, life-long impacts on education, chronic disease risks, and overall human capital formation. The size of Bhutan is also an impediment to its economic development. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Except for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, most countries experience moderate to significant bottlenecks in the delivery of counselling by community health workers to mothers on healthy eating to prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy. It recommends mainstreaming nutrition-focused behaviour change campaigns would help people achieve healthy diets. The proportion of people living in poverty remains very high, with poverty levels having decreased from 63 percent in 2010 to 58.9 percent in 2018. Income distribution can vary greatly from wealth distribution in a country (see List of countries by wealth inequality). Risks and Opportunities, Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class, A Broken Social Elevator? The concept focuses on niche exports of high-value, low-volume Bhutanese products geared towards high-end markets. Nutritious foods such as eggs, fruits and vegetables are often much more expensive than staples such as wheat, rice and maize, which fill stomachs and provide calories, but offer little in terms of vitamins and minerals. It also discusses policy initiatives to address the concerns raised by the middle class, by protecting middle-class living standards and financial security in the face of economic challenges. Via Cesare Giulio Viola, 68, 00148 RomeRM, Italy, Eswatini Country Strategic Plan (2020-2025), Performance management and accountability, Democratic Republic of the Congo emergency, UN agencies and international institutions, Clusters and multistakeholder partnerships, Goodwill ambassadors, advocates and high-level supporters. Instead of employing household surveys, they should consider focusing on income tax return data. South Africa ranks as the country with the lowest level of income equality in the world, thanks to a Gini coefficient of 63.0 when last measured in 2014. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. The support focused on technology-induced production of different types of vegetables in a few urban sites of Thimphu, Bumthang, Punakha and Sarpang districts. Knoema, an Eldridge business, is the premier data platform and the most comprehensive source of global decision-making data in the world. There are no national reports that provide deeper analysis to support national policy frameworks for reducing levels of disparity. Over 46 percent of the population is under the age of 20and 58 percent of children under the age of 17 are orphaned and vulnerable due to AIDS. Despite, or perhaps because of, this outlook, the country has experienced impressive growth in the past four decades. The Asian Development Outlook analyzes economic and development issues in developing countries in Asia. Mathematically, the Gini coefficient is defined based on the Lorenz curve. What's your perception of income inequality? Eswatini is a land-locked lower-middle-income country with a population of 1.1 million. The Lorenz curve plots the percentiles of the population on the graph's horizontal axis according to income or wealth, whichever is being measured. As international borders closed and in-country movements got restrained, supplies of fresh vegetables, fruits and livestock products stopped. Tobden Tobden is Deputy Chief Statistical Officer of the Economic and Environment Statistics Division at the National Statistics Bureau in Bhutan. Okay to continue Among subregions, Southern Asia has the highest prevalence, at 49 percent, with Pakistan, India, Maldives and Afghanistan having a prevalence of 40 percent or higher. Income from black market economic activity is not included and is the subject of current economic research.[2][3]. The country has been able to achieve this feat despite relatively high growth in tourism in recent years becauseits government has adopted a strict sustainable tourism approachto avoid a potentially negative impact on the environment. While the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being calculated, early estimates predicted an increase in Gini coefficient of 1.2-1.9 percentage points per year for 2020 and 2021, signaling an increase in income inequality. The national strategy for sustainable development and inclusive growth through 2030 and the strategic road map for 20192022, which guide the development and economic recovery of Eswatini, recognize the critical dimensions of human development, including poverty reduction, employment creation, gender equity and social integration. Bhutans food and nutrition security are fragile to events such as disasters and pandemics as the country still imports about 50 percent of its total food consumption. Bhutan endeavours to develop and execute policies to minimise income inequality and the concentration of wealth, while promoting the equitable distribution of public facilities across the country. Tax return data is quite regular in comparison to surveys and censuses. UNICEF Bhutan Representative Dr Will Parks said that the report is a call to not lose momentum in the efforts that are made for the wellbeing of mothers and children. The report, Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2020: Maternal and Child Diets at the Heart of Improving Nutrition was launched on January 20 in Bangkok and can be accessed at https://www.unicef.org/rosa/reports/asia-and-pacific-regional-overview-food-security-and-nutrition. For more information, please contactInequality.Contact@oecd.org, Follow us on Twitter @OECD_Social, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The OECD Compare your income toolallows you to see whether your perception is in line with reality. UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. It should fund these surveys permanently and commit to sustaining the initiatives of the National Statistics Bureau. To offer two hypothetical examples, if a nation were to have absolute income equality, with every person earning the same amount, its Gini score would be 0 (0%). It is also described as the gap between rich and poor, income inequality, wealth disparity, wealth and income differences, or the wealth gap. According to its income tax laws, anyone be they a citizen or a resident with personal income sources in the country is required to pay tax based on how much they earn. Some of the world's poorest countries, such as the Central African Republic, have some of the highest Gini coefficients (61.3 in this case). Inequality in Bhutan has been on the governments radar since the first living standard survey in 2003. Copyright Down To Earth 2022. It looks at the availability of liquid wealth holdings for poorer households as a buffer to draw in exceptional circumstances such as the current crisis, and discusses policy options to help counteract high and rising wealth inequality. This is reflected in its Gross National Happiness policies as well as its Constitution. next in line to graduate from the LDC category, promoting Gross National Happiness over Gross Domestic Product, Bhutan is the only carbon-negative country in the world, its government has adopted a strict sustainable tourism approach. Recognizing the immediate benefits in domestic vegetable production, to substitute imports and employment generation, the government replicated the urban vegetable programme in all 20 districts.

Operations type: Country Strategic Plan (CSP), CSP approved by the EB November 2019 session. Of the 90,000 school children entitled for school meals, almost 71 percent missed out on the fortified school meals, which means they couldnt access the nutrition needed for their growth, health and cognitive development. This report is a timely reminder of all the work that remains to be done in the region, given that the pandemic has significantly halted and in some instances even reversed the progress made so far, said the Head of WFP Bhutan, Svante Helms.