B. Country Profiles

To better understand the urban administrators' perceptions of their city problems, it will be useful to provide a brief description of the countries in which the cities are located. It is even more important to note how those countries have changed over the past few decades. Later in the report, we shall see that administrators' perceptions of urban problems are closely related to both the levels and changes of social and economic conditions in their countries. Seventeen indicators of change are shown for each of the eight countries in Table 2. The figures in the following two pages graphically illustrate eight of those indicators.

The eight countries span the range from the most to the least developed. Nepal's per capita GNP ($180) is one of the lowest in the world, and Japan's ($21,020) is the second highest.*3 In between are, in rank order, India ($340), Indonesia ($440) Philippines ($630), Thailand ($1,000), Malaysia ($1,945), and Korea ($3,600). All other social and economic measures show the same rank order, with the exception of automobiles, where Korea ranks behind Malaysia and the Philippines. Otherwise, the wealthier countries are more urbanized, have lower birth and death rates, are more industrialized, have higher levels of educational achievement, and have more passenger cars per capita.

Equally important, however, is to note that all countries have experienced significant changes over the past few decades. Even the poorest, Nepal, has more than doubled its per capita GNP and its proportion in urban areas in the past two decades. It has also seen a significant reduction in the death rate, and a modest reduction in the birth rate as well. Perhaps most striking is the spread of education. Even Nepal now has over 80 percent of its primary aged school children in school. All of the other countries have reached essentially universal primary education, with enrollment rates that go above 100 percent. *4 The economic structure of all countries has also changed significantly. In addition to becoming more urbanized, all have increased the proportion of GDP that comes from industry and reduced the proportion coming from agriculture. All except Nepal have seen a proportionate reduction in the agricultural labor force and a complementary rise in the proportion of the labor force in industry. Korea has seen the most dramatic change in all indicators, again except automobiles. In the past two decades it has moved from a predominately rural and agrarian to an urban industrial society. In effect all countries have become more urbanized and industrialized, and all have seen significant rises in human welfare.

*3. Japan ranks 120 in the World Bank list from poorest to most wealthy countries. It is second only to Switzerland in GNP per capita. Nepal ranks 11th. Only ten of the 121 countries reported in the World Bank tables are poorer than Nepal. The rank orders of the other six are: India 22, Indonesia 34, Philippines 44, Thailand 57, Malaysia 74, and Korea 89.

*4. When countries are expanding their educational systems rapidly they can register more than 100 percent of the age group in primary school, largely because the school draws young people over the age of 12, and under 6, which are the years used as the denominator in the ratio.

Table 2.
Country Profiles: Indicatiors of Socio-Economic Change 1965-1988

Figures A. - D.
Country Profiles
Indicatiors of Change 1965-1988

Figures E. - H.
Country Profiles
Indicatiors of Change 1965-1988