Assessing social welfare: a mixed success.

Improving the social welfare of mankind has seen mixed success in recent years, according to the 1993 Report on the World Social Situation. Prepared every four years by the UN Department of Economic and Social Development, it provides a background on major issues to be addressed by the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

On the positive side, the end of the cold war potentially freed vast resources to be diverted from armaments to social programmes. Economic expansion in China and other Asian countries showed that developing countries could achieve quick economic and social progress.

At the same time, the political and economic transition process in Eastern European and former Soviet States caused great social disruptions, exacerbated in some parts by ethnic conflicts. The gap between rich and poor countries widened.

Some of the main issues and trends covered by the world social situation Report are outlined below, starting with the basic necessities of human existence and ending with the elusive concept of quality of life.

Rich and poor: A widening gap

"The outstanding economic and social problem in the world is that of poverty", stated Ji Chaozhu, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Development, in his preface to the Report. An estimated 1.1 billion people--one fifth of mankind--are considered to be poor, in the sense of being unable to afford a minimum adequate diet and other bare necessities of life.

The Report states that there was a "widespread impression" that inequality had increased during the 1980s between developing and developed countries. In 1981, the per capita output in the latter was 20 times that of developing countries, but at decade's end that figure had risen to 22. Not all developing countries had the same experience: those in South and East Asia enjoyed fast growth, while those of other regions sharply decelerated.

The economic transformation of the societies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union was bound to "make their income and wealth distribution more uneven than before", even if social transfers to more vulnerable groups had increased, the Report stated.

Among suggestions to alleviate poverty worldwide are: more equitable distribution of land resources, employment creation, and improvement in economic and social conditions of women, as the burden of poverty falls heavily on them.

Half a billion hungry

The World Food Council in 1992--17 years after setting a target to end world hunger within two decades--estimated that 550 million people in 1990 still suffered from chronic hunger, and...