The average under five mortality (U5MR) and infant mortality (IMR) rates in Arab countries are lower than that of the world average, despite the fact that average gross national income (GNI) for the world is $5,492, higher than the average GNI for the Arab countries average at $1,214 per capita.
According to a recently compiled report on the Status of the Arab Child by UNICEF, this is a notable accomplishment and speaks to the potential for targeted and effective public policies. It is important to note, however, that GNI for individual Arab countries ranges from a low of $120 per capita in Somalia to $19,020 in Kuwait.
GNI for Arab countries ranges from dramatic highs in Arabian Gulf countries with Kuwait at $19,020, the United Aeab Emirates (UAE) at $18,060 and Qatar at $12,000, to dramatic lows in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Mauritania at $370, Sudan at $320 and Somalia.
GNI, throughout the report, is used as a means of comparing various countries’ performance in meeting goals for other indicators on health, education, nutritional status and standards of living. Nonetheless, in some cases, countries with high GNI perform poorly on certain indicators of child survival, and vice versa. In other cases, GNI is highly correlated with other indicators.
Regardless of these instances, however, GNI serves as a powerful indicator for gauging the overall status of children, especially when regional and internal inequalities are taken into account.
For statistical reasons, UNICEF Headquarters leaves out the oil producing countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE when calculating GNI. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
