Describe the inequity and poverty levels in Ecuador!!

1. Poverty and Inequality
in Ecuador
Doaa
Favour
MoonmoonMusa
Shu

2. Contents
Background
Ethnic Groups
Poverty
Inequality
Conclusion

3. Country profile: Ecuador
 Located in Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the
Equator, between Colombia and Peru.
 Natural resources account for more than half of the country's export
earnings and approximately 25% of public sector revenues in recent years.
 Population: 15,868,396

4. Background
 Ecuador experienced deteriorating economic performance from 1997 to
1998, which culminated in a severe economic and financial crisis in 1999.
 So Ecuadorian government adopted U.S. dollar as national currency in
2000. Since this, with increase in oil prices, economic performance has
stabilized.
Source: World Bank
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0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1990 2000 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
GDP(currentUS$billion)
GDPgrowth(annual%)
(Year)
GDP growth
GDP
Global financial crisis

5. Human Development Index
 Ecuador’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.711, 98 out of 187 countries, below the
average of 0.758 for countries in high HD group and below average of 0.741 in
Latin America and Caribbean.
 Between 1980 and 2013, Ecuador’s HDI value increased from 0.605 to 0.711,
an increase of 17.5% or an average annual increase of about 0.49%.
Source: UNDP

6. Multidimensional Poverty Index
MPI
value
Headcou
nt (%)
Intensity
Of
Deprivation
Population Contribution to overall poverty
of deprivations in
Vulnerable to
poverty (%)
In
severe
poverty
(%)
Below
income
poverty
line (%)
Health Education Living
Standards
0.009 2.2 41.6 2.1 0.6 4.6 3.3 78.6 18.1
 2.2% of the population lived in multidimensional poverty while an additional
2.1% were vulnerable to multiple deprivations.
 The intensity of deprivation was 41.6%. MPI value was 0.009
Source: UNDP

7. Multidimensional Poverty Index
Gap between urban and rural especially Amazon area
Source: UNDP
Multidimens
ional Poverty
Index
Percentage
of Poor
People(%)
Population
share
Ecuador 0.013 3.5 100.0
Urban 0.005 1.5 67.5
Rural 0.030 7.7 32.5
Coast 0.010 2.6 49.5
Mountain 0.014 3.5 45.0
Amazon 0.046 11.2 5.3
Mapping poverty rates at the sub-national level
Coast
Mountain
Amazon

8. Why we chose Ecuador?
 The distribution of income remains severely unequal, in 2011, the country’s
richest 20% received more than half of national income.
 Gini coefficient shows domestic inequality.
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Ecuador
(20th/129 countries)
GDP per capita (current US$)
GINIindex(WorldBankestimate)
Ecuador is upper-middle-income country, but they have social inequality

9. Ethnic Groups in Ecuador

10. Ethnic Groups in Ecuador
 Ecuadorian state could be characterized as mono-ethnic in its approach,
favoring the definition of its citizenry as white or mestizo. In 1998, the state
be termed “multi-ethnic”.
 Both the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian communities have suffered
unequal treatment.
 The 2001 census was the first in Ecuadorian history to include a question
designed to account for the Afro-Ecuadorian population.

11. Poverty in Ecuador
 In 2014, 22.5% of population is considered to be in ‘income poverty’
(35.3% and 15.5% in rural and urban areas) and 4% in extreme poverty
(dropped from 10% by 2004).
 Income poverty among indigenous and Montubian peoples is 51.1% and
44.2%, respectively, much higher than the index for whites (14.3%).
Source: Overseas Development Institute

12. Inequality in Ecuador
 In 2004, 53% and 73% of indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian characterize
Ecuadorian society as discriminatory.
 60% of ethnic groups thought that the white and mestizo population is the most
discriminatory group in society.
Inequality
Education
Health
Land
Rights
Labour
Market

13.  In 1993, Ministry of Education regulated Bilingual Intercultural Education
law (BIE) which provides schooling for 13 indigenous nationalities.
 To promote the re-evaluation and recovery of cultures and indigenous
languages of the diverse nationalities and people.
 Currently there are two separate educational systems: one Hispanic (serves
white-mestizo population) and one indigenous.
 BIE continues to be perceived as second-class schools.
Education

14. Education
• Urban elite schools give privilege admission to white children. Other children
need to beg school officials for a space, bribe them, or use their networks.
• In this way, schools make sure that only those who ‘belong’ to a certain
ethnic category can get in.
• Urban and private elite schools teach predominantly white and light-skinned
mestizo students to overvalue whiteness. Almost nothing is taught about
ethnic and cultural diversity.
• The “not belonging” students suffer everyday experiences of exclusion.
• Only Spanish speakers are the only teachers available to teach in indigenous
schools. In Imbabura’s bilingual educational institutions, for example, out of
511 teachers only 20 per cent speak the indigenous language.

15. Education
In urban areas, 62% of children have access to a computer, and 24%
have access to Internet in school.
In rural areas, only 33% have access to a computer, and 6% to Internet.
In rural areas, 53% of schools have a single teacher to teach all six
grades, whereas in urban areas only 4.8% of schools face this problem.
In 2006 the state invested $18.3 million on the bilingual education, or
$154 per student versus $390 million, or $300 per student, on Hispanic
education.
This distortion also affects access and quality of service for the lowest
quintiles, where most of the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorians are
found.
Enrollment registration costs for primary education, are only covered
for 63% of the population, most of them from urban areas.

16. Education
 Only 30% of Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian children complete primary
school (compared to 76% of children from other groups).
 Indigenous students face far longer commutes to the nearest school, the costs
of transportation much higher.
 Access to educational services is adversely affected by the fact that a number
of children do not have birth certificates, which makes the process of
registration enrollment more difficult.
In 2006 Illiteracy rate Years of school for
kids younger than 14
Indigenous 30% 4
Afro-Ecuadorians 15% 6
National 9% 8

17. Health
Inequalities by economic status and ethnicity are strong determinants in the
use of health services in Ecuador.
Private Health Plan: average 60-year-old man may expect to pay between $70
and $100 for a middle-grade plan.
Public Health: one physical doctor for 730 people, huge regional disparities,
public infrastructures.
30% of Ecuadorians go without affordable health care. Western health-care
delivery exists mainly in large cities, with remote clinics rarely functioning in
anything similar to western designs.
Shamanism and home remedies are important
resources that fill in the gap.

18. Health
The Law of Free Maternity and
Infant Health Care (LMGYA)
guarantees free healthcare for
women during maternity period
and to every kid younger than 5.
Due to lack of access, 68% of the
deliveries among indigenous
women still occur outside of
health care system.
The access and continuous
provision of free maternity and
child care is heavily affected by
insufficient information.
Only 34% of the women knew
about their entitlements under
this program. Service providers
themselves also lack information
about the Law, especially in rural
areas.
LMGYA has not been translated into ten
indigenous languages and the majority of
health staff does not speak any of them.

19. Land Rights
 In 1998, Constitution outlined a series of right for Afro-Ecuadorians.
 Another legislative promise in 2004 called National Institute of Agrarian
Development.
 Ethnic groups forced to leave their ancestral lands.
 Ecuador has one of worst land distribution with a Gini coefficient of over 0.8.
 On average, 5 hectare land shared by 5 to 8 families.
 Wealth from petroleum production is rarely invested into development of the
Amazon region.
 Indigenous habitat continues to be eroded by extractive activities in the
Amazonian region which negatively impact the environment and infringe
upon the rights of indigenous people.

20. Labour Market
 The national unemployment rate in 2007 was at 7.9% whereas Afro
Ecuadorians were 11% over all and indigenous population unemployment rate
was 6%.
 Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in rural areas, and they are
concentrated in agricultural and informal employment “low-income
occupations”.
 Women from white and mestizo population make up a considerable portion of
the workforce and are particularly visible in banking and finance, university
teaching and research, and NGOs.

21. Labour Market
 Ethnic women have lower years of experience required in formal paid jobs.
They work in informal sector, which are difficult to be counted in national
statistics.
 They are not equally distributed in all occupations and 87.92% of them are
concentrated in 5 out of 10 occupations in 2012.
 Employers often would not interview persons whose job applications carried
Afro-Ecuadorian photos.
Source: Inter-American Development Bank

22.  Government should take more responsibly to reduce inequality within
groups:
 Paying greater attention to social sectors that have not shared fully in the
benefits of growth, especially Afro-Ecuadorian and indigenous populations.
 Need to foster a culture of respect for diversity, mainly on the part of the
media and in the daily practices of citizens.
 Address the lack of qualified teachers through creating a feasible incentive
program that brings teachers into remote areas.
 Non-indigenous students should be exposed to the indigenous perspective as
a way to lessen stigmatization.
 In order for the language to be fully accepted and integrated into Ecuadorian
society, both groups must alter their beliefs and stereotypes.
Conclusion

23. Bibliography
 Chi, D. F.-C. (2009). Health Care Utilization in Ecuador: A Multilevel Analysis of
Socio-economic Determinants and Inequality Issues, Oxford Journals , 209-218.
 Gallardo, L. and Ñopo, H. (2009), Ethnic and Gender Wage Gaps in Ecuador, Inter-
American Development Bank, Working Paper #679, RG-N3338.
 Hernández, T. (2014), Racial Subordination in Latin America: The Role of the State,
Customary Law, and the New Civil Rights Response, ISBN: 9781107695436.
 Huish , R. (2013). Where No Doctor Has Gone Before: Cuba’s Place in the Global
Health Landscape. Wilfred Laurier University Press.
 Iturralde, D. (2001), Ethnic Discrimination, Economic Inequality and Political
Exclusion in Ecuador, International Council on Human Rights Policy, International
Seminar, Racism: Economic Roots of Discrimination, Geneva, 24-25 January
 Novo, C. and Torre, C. (2010), Racial Discrimination and Citizenship in Ecuador's
Educational System, Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies, 5(1): 1-26, DOI:
10.1080/17442220903506875

24. Bibliography
 Ordóñez, A., Samman, E., Mariotti, Ch. And Marcelo, I. (2015), Sharing the Fruits
of Progress Poverty reduction in Ecuador, Case Study Summary, Overseas
Development Institute, UK.
 Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (2015), OPHI Country Briefing
June 2015: Ecuador Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) At a Glance.
 Sánchez, J. (2005), Inequality, Ethnicity and Social Disorder: The Ecuadorian Case,
Andean Center of Popular Action.
 UNDP (2015), HDI values and rank changes in the 2014 Human Development
Report.
 World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/ (Accessed: 05 December 2015)
 World Health Organization. (2008), Health Systems Profile, Ecuador.