Uruguay leads the 2013 ranking of the Social Inclusion Index published by Americas Quarterly, ahead of countries like Chile and USA.
The Americas Quarterly editorial board includes former Latin American presidents like Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Ernesto Zedillo and Ricardo Lagos —of Brazil, Mexico and Chile, respectively.
Among 21 indicators included in the report —the second of its kind— Uruguay is ranked among the highest for social spending as a proportion of GDP, and the leader for access to formal work.
Second to Uruguay (scoring 75.5 points) is Chile (68.4), which is followed by USA (64.4), Costa Rica (57.8) and Brazil (53.5). Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Colombia and Bolivia are also among the top 10 positions, with Mexico at position 11.
«Uruguay ranks among the highest on social spending and leads the pack on political, civil and LGBT rights, perceptions of government responsiveness by both gender and race, and access to a formal job», according to the report.
Among the indicators for which Uruguay was not ranked among the top three positions was average GDP growth between 2002 and 2012, with Uruguay coming ninth with 4.12%. Secondary education enrolment rates by gender were the seventh highest and those by race were the fifth highest in Uruguay, with Bolivia in the top position in both cases. Uruguay ranked 13th in regard to civil society participation by gender, and 12th by race/ethnicity. Led by USA in the top position, Uruguay ranked sixth in financial inclusion by gender. It ranked fifth in personal empowerment by gender and fourth by race/ethnicity, also led by USA in both cases.
For several other indicators, Uruguay was in the lead or among the top three positions. Such was the case with the percentage of population living on a daily income greater than USD 4, with Uruguay in the first position both by gender and by race (ahead of Costa Rica and Chile, and of Chile and Brazil, respectively).
Uruguay also ranked first in access to formal work both by gender and by race, ahead of Nicaragua and Ecuador, respectively. Perceptions of government responsiveness by both gender and race also put Uruguay in the top position, ahead of Nicaragua and Ecuador in both cases.
The country came first for civil rights (followed by Chile and USA), political rights (tied with Chile and above Costa Rica and USA) and rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals (tied with Brazil and above USA and Mexico).
Uruguay ranked second for the percentage of GDP devoted to social programmes (21.65% of GDP, after Brazil and ahead of Costa Rica) and in women’s rights (together with Colombia and Mexico, after USA and Costa Rica tied in the top position).
Regarding access to a basic dwelling by gender, Uruguay was third after Costa Rica and Mexico (tied in first position) and Chile. Uruguay’s ranking for access to a basic dwelling by race was second to Brazil and ahead of Chile.
The report describes Uruguay as a country where “women’s rights are strong, and the perception of government responsiveness to race and gender issues is high. However, civil society participation by both race and gender was rated higher for other countries”.
Americas Quarterly pointed out that a factor in Uruguay overtaking Chile in the top spot of the ranking was the addition of two of the three new indicators (women’s rights and LGBT rights) in which Uruguay had six-point advantages over Chile.
Source: Web page of Uruguay’s Presidency
