Southern Cone - Education and Standards of Living

Education and Standards of Living

The other conspicuous characteristic of the Southern Cone is its relatively high standard of living and quality of life. Chile's, Argentina’s, and Uruguay's HDIs—(0.805), (0.795), and (0.783)—are the highest in Latin America, similar to those of the richest countries in Eastern Europe, such as Slovenia, Poland or Hungary. Uruguay, where illiteracy technically does not exist, reaches the same level in this area, even considering that it faces restrictions to its industrial and economic growth. The Southern Cone is the most prosperous macro-region in Latin America. It has high life expectancy, access to health care and education. From an economic and liberal point of view the region has been praised for its significant participation in the global markets, and its "emerging economy" profile. More troubling are high levels of income inequality.

Summary of socio-economic performance indicators for Latin American countries
Country GDP per
capita
(PPP)
Income
equality
Poverty
Index
Human
Develop.
Quality
of life
Annual
economic
growth
Envirnm.
Perform.
(2008)
FSI
2011
CPI
2010
IEF
2011
GPI
2011
DI
2010
Southern Cone 17,359 46.8 3.3 0.795 (H) 6.766 7.6 82.5 42.6 5.7 69.7 1.694 7.54
Mexico 15,177 51.7 5.9 0.770 (H) 6.542 5.4 79.8 75.1 3.1 67.8 2.362 6.93
South America 9,389 51.7 9.1 0.705 (H) 6.000 6.0 79.4 77.3 2.9 55.7 2.190 6.19
Central America 8,033 52.2 12.6 0.662 (M) 5.897 3.8 79.3 70.6 3.4 63.3 2.077 6.53

Southern Cone = Argentina Chile Uruguay

Mexico = Mexico

South America = Brazil Colombia Venezuela Paraguay Ecuador Peru Bolivia

Central America = Costa Rica Panama Nicaragua Honduras El Salvador Guatemala

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