9486 in the collection
Wealth gap creating a social time bomb
Think of how many headlines
you read about "failing schools" as contrasted
with headlines about households with annual
incomes of less than $15,000. The income
disparity is far worse than the standardized
test score disparity.
by John Vidal, environment editor
Growing inequality in US cities could lead to
widespread social unrest and increased
mortality, says a new United Nations report on
the urban environment.
In a survey of 120 major cities, New York was
found to be the ninth most unequal in the world
and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami
had similar inequality levels to those of
Nairobi, Kenya Abidjan and Ivory Coast. Many
were above an internationally recognised
acceptable "alert" line used to warn
governments.
"High levels of inequality can lead to negative
social, economic and political consequences
that have a destabilising effect on societies,"
said the report. "[They] create social and
political fractures that can develop into
social unrest and insecurity."
According to the annual State of the World's
cities report from UN-Habitat, race is one of
the most important factors determining levels
of inequality in the US and Canada.
megacities
"In western New York state nearly 40% of the
black, Hispanic and mixed-race households
earned less than $15,000 compared with 15% of
white households. The life expectancy of
African-Americans in the US is about the same
as that of people living in China and some
states of India, despite the fact that the US
is far richer than the other two countries," it
said.
Disparities of wealth were measured on the
"Gini co-efficient", an internationally
recognised measure usually only applied to the
wealth of countries. The higher the level, the
more wealth is concentrated in the hands of
fewer people.
"It is clear that social tension comes from
inequality. The trickle down theory [that
wealth starts with the rich] has not delivered.
Inequality is not good for anybody," said Anna
Tibaijuka, head of UN-Habitat, in London
yesterday.
The report found that India was becoming more
unequal as a direct result of economic
liberalisation and globalisation, and that the
most unequal cities were in South Africa and
Namibia and Latin America. "The cumulative
effect of unequal distribution [of wealth] has
been a deep and lasting division between rich
and poor. Trade liberalisation did not bring
about the expected benefits."
The report suggested that Beijing was now the
most egalitarian city in the world, just ahead
of cities such as Jakarta in Indonesia and Dire
Dawa in Ethiopia.
In Europe, which was generally more egalitarian
than other continents, Denmark, Finland, the
Netherlands and Slovenia were classed as the
most equal countries with Greece, the UK and
Spain among the least. "Disparities are
particularly significant in the cities of
eastern Europe, larger Spanish cities and in
the north of England," it said.
It documents the seemingly unstoppable move of
people away from rural to urban areas. This
year it is believed that the number of people
living in urban areas exceeded those in the
countryside for the first time ever, but the
report says there is no sign of the trend
slowing.
"The dramatic transition between rural and
urban communities is not over. Urbanisation
levels will rise dramatically in the next 40
years to reach 70% by 2050," it predicts.
The most dramatic urbanisation has been taking
place in China, with many millions of people
moving from the countryside to cities. The
report says 49 new cities have been built in
the past 18 years. The rapid transition to an
urban society has brought great wealth but also
many negative results.
"China has attained some of the deepest
disparities in the world with urban incomes
three times those in rural areas. Inequalities
are growing, with disproportionate rewards for
the most skilled workers ... and serious
problems for the unemployed and informal
workers."
Urban growth rates are highest in the
developing world, which absorbs an average 5
million new urban residents a month and is
responsible for 95% of world urban growth. The
report predicts that Asian cities will grow the
most in the next 40 years and could have 63% of
the world urban population by 2050.
Tokyo is expected to remain the world's largest
mega city, with 36.4m people by 2025. But
Mexico City, New York, and Sao Paulo could give
way in the league table to Mumbai, Delhi and
Dhaka. Kinshasa and Lagos are the two African
cities expected to grow the most, with each
adding more than 6 million people by 2025.
Rather than countryside to city movement, which
has marked rapid population growth in the last
40 years, the UN expects more people to move
from city to city.
Capital cities in particular are attracting
much more of countries' investments and are
growing fast. Some are becoming home to nearly
half a country's population.
But the report also identified what it believes
is the emergence of a new urban trend, with
many cities now shrinking in size. The
populations of 46 countries, including Germany,
Italy, Japan and most former soviet states, are
expected to be smaller in 2050 than they are
now, and in the past 30 years, says the report,
more cities in the developed world have shrunk
than grown.
It found that 49 cities in the UK, including
Liverpool and other old industrial centres in
the north of England, and 100 in Russia reduced
in size between 1990 and 2000, mainly because
of unemployment. In the US 39 cities are
smaller now than they were 10 years ago.
The reasons for the decline of cities was
mostly economic, but the report says that the
environment is now an important factor.
Air quality and pollution from mines, power
plants and oil exploration have been
responsible for population losses in India,
Mexico and Africa, it says. "Cities tend to
struggle most with health-threatening
environmental issues, such as the lack of safe
water, sanitation and waste."
— John Vidal
The Guardian
2008-10-23
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/23/population-egalitarian-cities-urban-growth
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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