by aha152 | Nov 8, 2023 | Dashboard, Visualization
Ever heard of the Boiling Frog Syndrome? The ‘Boiling Frog’ syndrome is based on an urban legend describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is simple: if a frog is suddenly put into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out and save itself from impending death… But if you place a frog in a pot of cold water and slowly heat the water, the frog will not perceive the gradual temperature increase. The frog becomes accustomed to the warming water and does not react until it’s too late, eventually resulting in its demise as the water reaches a boiling point. The frog’s inability to sense the incremental change in temperature leads to its unfortunate fate.
Similar to the boiling frog, Lebanon’s population may have adapted to challenges it had been bearing, with some becoming desensitized to the increasing hardships. It is only when the situation reached a critical point, with a sudden and dramatic spike in inflation in 2019, that the gravity of the problem became evident. By this time, many were already deeply affected by poverty, economic instability, and a lack of basic necessities, setting the country on an uncertain path.
With the country already having been in debt before 2019, Lebanon was just falling into its worst state, for inflation rates were at an all time high, reaching record numbers, causing a widespread in poverty, where everyone got affected. Lebanon found itself among the top 10 countries with the highest inflation rates, a stark reminder of the severity of the issue. As if that weren’t enough, the nation’s Net Primary Income plummeted to record lows, exceeding $1.2 billion in negative Net Primary Income in 2019, causing hardships for its people and economy. In reference to Turkey, Turkey has also passed through inflation throughout its years, on a growing bases, however by 2021, Lebanon hit a 154% inflation rate with Turkey (even though it recorded its worst high ever) scored a 19.6% inflation rate.
Faced with this grim reality, Lebanon’s leaders and policymakers embarked on a journey to tackle inflation and work towards SDG 1, ‘No Poverty’, they implemented a multi-faceted approach. This included the introduction of transparent and effective monetary policies to stabilize the currency and control inflation. Additionally, they emphasized fiscal discipline, taking steps to reduce budget deficits, promote responsible spending, and enhance financial stability. Seeking international cooperation and drawing inspiration from successful global cases, Lebanon aimed to create an environment conducive to economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction, ultimately striving to ensure that basic necessities became more affordable for its citizens.
by iaa28 | Nov 23, 2022 | Uncategorized
Public health is linked to the economic strength of a country as health expenditure is positively associated with the productivity and GDP of a nation. The advances and improvement of many of the main forces driving economic growth over time span such as technological progress, education, and physical capital accumulation contribute to the improvement of health services in countries. However, with the world divided between first, second and third world countries, public health situation differs between economically strong and weak countries.
COVID-19, as a recent event, shed light on the differences in health systems within the Arab world, especially that the region includes some of the richest oil producing countries as well as poor and war-torn countries.
The below graph visually views the differences between the GDP of the Arab League Countries in the Year 2019. For example, at the top of the GDP scale , we have Qatar, a relatively geographically small GCC country and biggest producer of natural gas, has a GDP of $175 billion which is more than GDP of Libya, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen combined.
The size of a country’s GDP determines the monetary value of its health expenditure as a percentage of GDP. Comparing the GDP tree map with Health Expenditure graph below , we can see that countries with high GDP (e.g, Qatar, UAE) shows small percentage of health expenditure while Countries with low GDP (e.g, Lebanon, Jordan) shows larger percentage of health expenditure.
In monetary terms, Lebanon has a highest total health expenditure % in the Arab World which amounts to 8.64%($51.6 B)= $4.45 billion. On the other hand, Qatar has a low health expenditure % of 2.9 but when multiplied by the country’s GDP, it amounts to 2.9%($175 B)= $5 billion.
Health Expenditure per capita shows the direct impact of GDP of a country on its health spending. As shown in the below graph, countries with high GDP have high health expenditure compared countries with low GDPs.
The above discussion pointed out the relationship between the strength of a country’s economy and its health spending. The question that remains is “How does this reflect on the health of people?”
Diseases
Countries that allocate large budgets for the development of the health sector and public health perform well in the face of diseases, especially communicable diseases and pandemics such as COVID-19. The below bubble chart shows that countries with low GDP have the highest percentage of deaths by communicable diseases.
Life Expectancy and Death Rate
To further show the evidence of the impact of GDP and public health spending, we consider both indicators: Life Expectancy at Birth and Death Rate in the Arab League Countries.
- Life Expectancy at Birth: we can that people from countries with high GDPs and high health expenditure per capita. Qatar leads the way with 80 years expected age in 2020 while Yemen has an expected age of 66 years in the same year.
- Death Rate: the same pattern seen with Life Expectancy is also seen in death rates per 1000 persons. Qatar has a death rate of 1.2 compared to Yemen which has a death rate of 5.9, both in 2020.
What should be done?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #3 “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” points out the need for improving the public health of the world population. Health spending by governments is a very important factor in the health of their people. However, for those countries who are economically disadvantaged, improving health can be also achieved through:
- Investing in education, especially in medicine studies to make sure the health sector has the competent doctors and specialists.
- Directing international aid more towards developing health sectors in poor countries rather than urgent assistance.
- Investing in awareness: one of the most important ways to improve health in developing countries is by educating citizens to take preventive healthcare measures and avoid riskier health behaviors.
by Lea El Halabi | Apr 15, 2022 | Generic, Visualization
Does a Country’s Borrowing Policy Affect its Population’s Income level?
The Case of Lebanon
DOLLAR? LBP?
WHAT’S THE EXCHANGE RATE TODAY?
DISCOUNTING CHECKS? AT WHAT RATE?
WHAT???? 20%????
THIS MEANS I’M LOSING 80% OF MY MONEY!!!
I WAS DOING OK BUT NOW I CAN BARELY MAKE ENDS MEET…
This has unfortunately been the sad reality that
theLebanese people have been living for since
October of 2019.
WHY?
Because a Banking | Financial | Currency | Crisis
Made a Huge Bubble Burst!
BUT HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Lebanon has had a budget deficit for over 20 years
and has been borrowing from external parties
for as long as we can remember.
So, as Lebanese citizens, we are born indebted.
A country’s national debt affects its population’s income level:
-
Growing debt has a direct effect on economic opportunities
-
If high levels of debt crowd out private investments, workers would have less to jobs do and therefore earn lower wages
Countries with LOWER DEBT exhibit HIGHER INCOME levels per capita.
SO HOW HAS LEBANON’S DEBT BEEN CHANGING OVER TIME?
WHAT CAN WE DO TO MAKE THINGS BETTER?
Potential Solutions include but are not limited to:
-
Supporting Production and Services Sectors leading to more Job Creation and eventually More Wages
-
Improving Trade Agreements leads to more exports which would Reduce Budget Deficits and make the country economically healthier
-
Attracting Foreign Direct Investments by providing a healthy capital market (ex: improving Reporting Practices) which leads to More Investments & More economic opportunities, More Jobs and eventually More wages
IS THERE PROOF?
Countries with Open Trade Policies seem to have higher income levels
Countries with Updated Reporting Practices also have higher income levels
SO, WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDATIONS?
STOP borrowing from international Agencies
CONTROL High National Debt Levels
Implement Policies to boost the economy
by Lara Zbibo | Apr 13, 2022 | Dashboard
Educate a girl, change the world – Malala Yousafzai
Being a young lady and living in Lebanon, we always heard stories of women being beaten up, tortured, or killed by their husbands from our family members or friends. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Nearly half of women who die due to homicide are killed by their current or former husbands or boyfriends.” Many articles are bringing to light this issue especially with the start of the Covid19 pandemic, where we have seen a spike in that subject due to quarantine and home stays.
As generations, we have progressed in many fields, but we are still lacking a lot in that domain. How is that possible? One main reason for domestic violence’s on-going presence is that, on average, 37.75% of women around the world believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife (percentage from 2000 till 2020). That’s a huge number! Many women justify this type of violence as “normal’” and give the right to their partners/ husbands to beat them. But why are women justifying and accepting domestic violence? Why is that number this high nowadays?
To dig deep into the subject, I decided to evaluate potential factors that could affect women’s decision in justifying domestic violence such as poverty levels, literacy rates, and early marriages rates around the world. It was found that:
- On average, 75.96% of Female aged 15+ are literate around the world (from 2000 till 2020)
- On average, 3.63% of the global population live under Poverty Gap at $1.90 a day (from 2000 till 2020)
- On average, 6.78% of Female between 20 and 24 years old married at the age of 15 around the world (from 2000 till 2020)
The results showed that countries with low literacy rates in female adults have higher percentages of women who believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife (stand with domestic violence) such as Ethiopia who has a low literacy rate of 28.53% in female adults and a very high percentage of women who justify their husband’s violence (74.23%).
On the poverty level, it was found that countries with higher poverty gaps rates have higher percentages of women who stand with domestic violence such as Congo who has a poverty gap of 51.7% and a very high percentage of women who justify their husband’s violence (75.2%).
Also, when comparing that percentage with the percentage of women who married at the age of 15, it was found that countries with higher numbers of early marriages have higher percentages of women who stand with domestic violence such as Chad who has a percentage of early marriage of 29.47% (of female between 20-24 have married at the age of 15) and a very high number of women who justify their husband’s violence (67.9%).
Poverty, Literacy rates, and Early Marriages in the country affect heavily the perception of women in whether domestic violence by their partners is acceptable or not. High poverty rates increase the justification of domestic violence, low literacy rates increase the justification of domestic violence, and high early marriages rates increase the justification of domestic violence.
Increasing educational benefits in underprivileged countries would be a great initiative to increase literacy rates among women and stopping abuse among families. Introducing educational programs such as Girls’ Education by the World Bank Group which focuses on ensuring that young women receive a quality education, and raising awareness about physical abuse would also encourage the fight against domestic violence. Some countries such as Indonesia have increased the age of marriage of adolescent girls which would contribute to less early marriages, and less acceptance of violence.
by Patricia Tawk | May 13, 2020 | Dashboard, Visualization
According to UNESCO, about 258 million children and youth are out of school for the school year ending in 2018. The total includes 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age. This is a major humanitarian challenge that all countries have united to address by anchoring it within SDG number 4: Quality Education.
Every Child deserves the opportunity to learn. In this Dashboard, we tried to show visualizations that highlight the reality behind Children Out Of School.
Poverty is a barrier that keeps children out of schools.
The gap between males and females attending schools was equal to 14% in 1970 and decreased to reach 2% in 2018. For girls in some part of this world, education chances are still restricted.
Data Source: World Bank Data
