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Article: Jamaica `Poor'? Look at Haiti
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 5, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Jamaica, with an annual GNP of about $1,000 per person, usually
thinks of itself as a poor country. It is, in fact, well up in the
middle class of nations. For real poverty, the Caribbean's starkest
and most appalling example is Jamaica's close neighbor, Haiti.
The difference between Haiti, with a GNP of about $300 a year per
person, and Jamaica is far greater than the difference between $5,000
a year (Ireland, for example) and $18,500 (the United States). Rich
countries have a habit of thinking of all developing economies as one
broad category. But in some respects Jamaica is visibly closer to
U.S. standards than Haiti is to Jamaican standards.
Life expectancy is a pretty reliable ...