[lbo-talk] Iran: World Bank Gender Stats

Jean-Christophe Helary fusion at mx6.tiki.ne.jp
Wed Aug 16 09:39:25 PDT 2006



> And why is one of the world's biggest oil producers a lower-middle-
> income country? Its income & social indicators are on a par with Peru.
>
> Doug

If you check Saudi Arabia's stats on the world bank site you'd wonder what _they_ did with their oil money:

upper middle income but:

life expectancy at birth equivalent to Iran's adult literacy rate equivalent to Iran's for women (slightly higher for men) much lower women participation in the labor force for women much lower net primary school enrollment rate for both men and women (and decreasing)

the fertility rate indicates better education in Iran (2.1 vs 4)

etc.

conclusion: oil money is much better spent in Iran than in another muslim big oil producer (happening to also be heavily supported by the freedom and democracy lover that is the USA)

Jean-Christophe



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