Inclusive growth is one of the most talked about issues in developing countries, especially those in transition, these days. It has been pretty much widely accepted that growth alone is not sufficient; it has to be followed by wider access to economic opportunities and provision of social protection for those left out of the growth process.
ADB has come up with a framework for inclusive growth, which has three main components: (i) High and sustainable growth; (ii) Access to economic and social development opportunities; and (iii) Stronger social protection.
It also has a list of 35 indicators to quantify (either directly or via proxies) inclusive growth. It is not yet clear what benchmark to use: either within country benchmark relative to earlier years or regional average or both. Anyway, any quantifiable indicators to measure inclusive growth is good to get thoughts straight on this hugely important yet not entirely clear (definition wise) issue.
The first pillar of inclusive growth emphasizes high and sustainable growth to create and expand economic opportunities. Its components include strengthened
- Infrastructure
- Technology
- Human capital
- Private sector
- Finance sector
- Public sector management
- Regulatory regimes
The table below shows the quantifiable indicators for high and sustainable growth (first pillar of inclusive growth). The information and data in this blog comes from ADB’s FIGI 2012 and the related dataset (Nepal only; for other countries, see this one).
| Growth and Expansion of Economic Opportunity | 1990 or Nearest Year | 2010 or Latest Year | ||
| Economic Growth and Employment | ||||
| Annualized growth rate of GDP per capita at PPP (constant 2005 PPP$) | 2.6 | (1990–1995) | 2.5 | (2005–2010) |
| Annualized growth rate of average per capita income or consumption (2005 PPP$) | ||||
| Total | 4.7 | (1996–2003) | 3.4 | (2003–2010) |
| Lowest quintile | 2.3 | (1996–2003) | 6.8 | (2003–2010) |
| Highest quintile | 6.7 | (1996–2003) | 0.4 | (2003–2010) |
| Employment-to-population ratio | ||||
| Youth (Aged 15–24) | 78.8 | (1991) | 73.1 | (2011) |
| Male | 81.0 | (1991) | 73.3 | (2011) |
| Female | 76.5 | (1991) | 72.8 | (2011) |
| Aged 15 years and over | 67.2 | (1996) | 91.6 | (2003) |
| Male | 71.0 | (1996) | 90.0 | (2003) |
| Female | 63.7 | (1996) | 93.0 | (2003) |
| GDP per person engaged (constant 1990 PPP$) | ... | ... | ||
| Number of own-account and contributing family workers per 100 wage and salaried workers | ... | 290.6 | (2001) | |
| by Sex | ||||
| Male | ... | 185.1 | (2001) | |
| Female | ... | 654.7 | (2001) | |
| Key Infrastructure Endowments | ||||
| Electricity consumption per capita kWh | 35 | 91 | (2009) | |
| Paved roads percent of total roads | 37.5 | 53.9 | (2008) | |
| Number of cellular phone subscriptions per 100 people | 0.0 | (2000) | 43.8 | (2011) |
| Depositors with commercial banks per 1,000 adults | ... | ... | ||
In the next blog post, I will share information about the second pillar of inclusive growth (access to economic and social development opportunities).
