International Economic Relations - Essay Example

Insert International Economic Relations Human development indicators that are part of the most recent reports. Human development has three indicators, which include Life expectancy, Education attainment, and income (Schenk). The education is also further determined by other two indicators, which are the expected years of schooling and the mean years of schooling (Schenk). Income is obtained by calculating the Gross National Income Per Capita. Life expectancy AUSTRALIA (High human development country) Life expectancy entails the years that a newborn is expected to live throughout his or her life provided there is no change in mortality rates. It is estimated using a maximum age of 85 years and a minimum of twenty years. The life expectancy in high human development countries is a healthy and long life. The living standards of its people are more decent and lively (Schenk). Like in Australia majority of the people have better access to better medical care and their life expectancy is high compared to the middle and the low human development countries. The table below shows the life expectancy trend from 1980 to 2013 of Australia and other high human development countries. 1980 1985 1990 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 66.1 67.6 68.9 71.2 72.9 73.1 73.3 73.5 73.7 73.9 74.1 74.3 74.5 EGYPT (considered being a middle human development country) The life expectancy in middle human development countries is fairly better based on health and life duration. The living standards of it’s people are moderate and better compared to low human development countries but slightly less than high human development countries. The table below illustrates the life expectancy of Egypt and other middle countries. 1980 1985 1990 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 56.91 59.01 60.81 64.01 65.61 65.91 66.21 66.15 66.81 67.11 67.14 67.61 67.19 KENYA (Considered as being a low human development country) Life expectancy for countries with low human aspect of development is relatively small compared to other middle and high countries. Living standards is also lower compared to other countries at higher levels. Below is a table showing the life expectancy in Kenya. 1980 1985 1990 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 49.6 51.21 52.11 53.16 55.71 57.13 57.81 58.31 58.18 58.21 58.61 59.10 59.24 Education attainment Expected years for one to be in school and the considered average years of schooling, indexes are employed to determine the education index. 18 years is used as the expected years of schooling and is based on enrolment of age at all levels of learning. The expected years of schooling indicator uses a minimum of zero years and a maximum of 18 years (Schenk). The mean age of education, on the other hand, is based data on educational attainment collected by UNESCO institute for Statistics. Education is a critical factor to determine if a country has high human development, middle growth or low human development. Comparison of different attainment in education level can be employed to bring a better picture of the past and present state of different countries at different levels of the human development and what we can expect in the future (Schenk). AUSTRALIA (considered being a high human development country) In large human developed countries like Australia the year of schooling is much higher compared to the other low levels were at least one-third of the population has attained the level of higher education (Schenk). Below is the trend of the level of education in Australia where 1 represents the highest level of education. Education index 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 0.870 0.870 0.874 0.894 0.895 0.902 0.905 0.907 0.913 0.916 0.919 0.922 0.927 0.927 EGYPT (Considered as a middle human developed country) The central counties their education level has been improving with time recently having an average level of about 0.5.below is the trend over years: 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 0.281 0.352 0.391 0.432 0.491 0.533 0.532 0.541 0.552 0.561 0.571 0.572 0.572 KENYA (Regarded as a Low developed country) The level of education is below 0.5 currently, which countries are below the average as compared to the other high levels and if it has attained average. Below is the table illustrating the trend. 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 1013 0.341 0.362 0.393 0.413 0.433 0.474 0.421 0.412 0.522 0.521 0.552 0.553 0.554 0.555 INCOME Gross national income is used to determine the living standard dimension. The minimum amount that a person is supposed to use per day is 100 us dollars and a maximum of 75,000 us dollars per day. HDI Rank Country 1980 1985 1990 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Very high human development 0.821 0.831 0.851 0.882 0.894 0.899 0.901 0.901 0.896 0.899 0.902 0.903 0.905 High human development 0.540 0.549 0.609 0.634 0.673 0.685 0.698 0.707 0.708 0.718 0.725 0.732 0.738 Medium human development 0.464 0.473 0.493 0.534 0.562 0.572 0.581 0.586 0.593 0.602 0.608 0.613 0.617 Low human development 0.467 0.455 0.437 0.439 0.468 0.475 0.484 0.486 0.489 0.494 0.500 0.505 0.509 Similarities and differences in development among the three countries Similarities There is an improvement in the human development among the three levels of countries as it is witnessed in the tables. All the indicators of human development show increase in trend as from year to year which concludes that the three levels have an improvement as far as the human development index is concerned (Schenk). Differences There is a variation that exists in the three levels as far as the mean and expected a year of schooling are concerned. The high-level countries have highest index as compared to the middle and the low levels with the low countries having the lowest index. Life expectancy is also higher in high human developed countries as compared to other levels. The gross National income is witnessed to be lowest in low human developed countries while highest in high human developed countries. The role international trade and capital flows play in differentiating the pace and level of development across the three countries. International trade has made a crucial arrangement on international economic to enhance fairness in trade and investment, as well as the wellbeing of the people across the three levels of human development (Schenk). It is concerned with reducing the interest rates and creating a new pace of human development and has ensured its effectiveness among major countries. It has also led to a new pace in developing countries in human development through improved economic management hence boosting the income of the countries thus enhancing human development (Schenk). International trade has also focused on enhancing development policies for better aid and improvement of technology. It has also increased development in low-income countries that rely on aid. Some low-income countries in Asia have made a significant development due to the international aid progress that could not be realized if there no such aid (Schenk). Through the help of the international trade, growth has been accomplished that has led to better lives for hundreds of millions of people living below the poverty line. CONCLUSION From the above information about the indicators of human development, the following conclusions can be made. There is an overall improvement in the three levels of human development whereby with the same pace and improvement can lead to prosperity. This increase in human development index trend with time may lead to merging or convergence in the three levels of human development as those in low level with same pace will be in middle level and those in middle in high level thus resulting in convergence of the levels thus enhancing prosperity. The indicators will help the countries know where they range as far as human development is concerned thus making them look for necessary mechanisms to improve on them thus resulting in prosperity. Works cited Schenk, Catherine. International Economic Relations. 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