Centro RB2013-03 Human Dev Index

7/28/2019 Centro RB2013-03 Human Dev Index

1/6 Center for Puerto Rican Studies Hunter College CUNY 695 Park Avenue New York NY 10065

212-772-5688 centropr.hunter.cuny.edu

Te Human Development Index:How do Puerto Ricans Measure Up?Research Brief

y Ral Segurand Kurt Birson

urt Birson is anconomic Researcher ate Center for Puertocan Studies at Hunter

ollege. Birson receiveds Masters degree inconomics from theew School for Socialesearch and holds aual BA in Internationalolitical Economy and

Latino Studies fromordham University.

al Segura is a

esearch Assistant at theenter for Puerto Ricanudies and a doctoraludent in economicsthe CUNY Graduate

enter. Segura holds aSc. in Economics fromniversity of Malagand M.A. inconomics from Hunterollege (CUNY).

Tis study is based on an adaptation o the Human Development Index, which allows usto disaggregate distinct racial and ethnic groups within the United States population. Itreveals that Puerto Ricans ranked higher than Hispanics in general or 2010 but laggedbehind the United States population in terms o education and income levels.

In 1990, the United Nations produced its rst report using a new measure called Human Development Index (HDI). Te index was created with a specic purpose in minputting people back at the center o the development process in terms o economic deba

policy and advocacy, highlighting the idea that people and their capabilities should be tultimate criteria or assessing the development o a country, not economic growth alone.Te HDI was created as a tool to compare the relative human-capital characteristics andliving standards across distinct populations.

Te HDI is a composite statistic that measures well-being in nations across theworld in three basic dimensions o human development: a long and healthy lie, access toeducation and a decent standard o living. Te health dimension is measured by lie expetancy at birth; living standard is measured by Gross National Income per capita; access teducation is measured by a combination o two indicators: school enrollment or individals 3 years and older and the level o educational attainment or the population 25 years

and older. Te resulting calculations produce a gure between 0 and 1, which can eectivly be used to rank countries based on their development score. Indeed, the index revealesome surprising results about a countrys perormance that otherwise may have not beenevident.

Center for Puerto Rican Studies

Issued May 2013Centro RB2013-03

1.00

0.95

0.90

0.85

0.80

0.75Total

Population

Non-Hispanic

Whites

Non-Hispanic

Blacks

Asians Hispanics Puerto

Ricans

Figure 1. Human Development Index

Source: US Census Bureau ACS, 2010, 1-year estimates

0.880.89

0.84

0.94

0.84

0.86


2/62

We adapted the concept o the Human Development Index in order to gain a new perspective on thePuerto Rican experience in the United States as it relates to other racial and ethnic groups. By applying thesame methodologies used by the United Nations, we produced a disaggregated version o Human Develop-ment Index in the United States in order to make observations about where a particular group stands in termso the Human Development criteria. Te standard aggregated index has the eect o masking stark dierencesthat may exist among groups within a countrys population.

Tis study represents the rst attempt to estimate a Human Development Index in the United Statesthat disaggregates the Puerto Rican living on the U.S. mainland rom the all-Latino population in the U.S. Pre-vious applications o the Human Development Index to the United States that did not disaggregate the PuertoRican community provided an incomplete picture o demographic characteristics. According to the 2010American Community Survey, nearly 4.7 million Puerto Ricans were residing in the mainlandUnited States, representing more than 9 percent o the overall Hispanic population.

Human Development Index

In terms o overall development, this composite Human Development Index placed Puerto Ricans in the mid-

dle o the ve racial and ethnic groups typically used or social, economic, cultural and political analysis, butsix points below the national average (Figure 1). With a score o .86, Puerto Ricans ranked higher than bothnon-Hispanic blacks (.84) and all Hispanics as a group (.85), but below the national average (.88), or whites(.89), and Asians (.91). Puerto Ricans ared well in the health index due to their high scores or lie expectancyat birth, and in general outperormed the Hispanic population. However, Puerto Ricans experienced substan-tial deciencies relative to others in terms o educational attainment and earnings potential, scoring among thelowest o the groups considered or the education and income indices.

One o the advantages o using the Human Development Index lies in its composition. As a standard-ized measure o well-being, we can use the index to compare the relative human development characteristicso the groups in this study to other diverse groups around the world.

Scoring .86 on the Human Development Index, Puerto Ricans residing in the United States in 2010 had

Centro Research Brief November 2012

NorwayAustralia

U.S. Asians

New ZealandUnited States

IrelandU.S. NH Whites

LichtensteinSpain

U.S. Puerto Ricans

GreeceItaly

LuxembourgAustria

U.S. Hispanics

SingaporeU.S. NH Blacks

MexicoDominican Republic

El SalvadorGuatemala

Figure 2. International HDI Rankings, compared to U.S racial/ethnic groups

Source: Human Development Report 2010, authors calculations based on ACS 2010 data

*Note: the United Nations calculates HDI for United States using per-capita GNI

0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0

0.940.94

0.92

0.910.900.90

0.890.89

0.860.860.86

0.850.850.850.850.85

0.840.75

0.66

0.660.56


3/6

similar human-capital characteristics as an average citizen o Spain (ranked 20 th out o 186 countries consid-ered) and slightly above someone living in Italy or Greece (ranked 22nd respectively) (Figure 2). Hispanicsin the United States were roughly on par with Luxembourg and Austria (24th and 25th). With an HDI o .84,non-Hispanic blacks were comparable to citizens o Singapore (27th in the world) or the Czech Republic (28 thin the world). Hispanics in the United States ranked much higher than individuals residing in Latin Americancountries.

Mexico had the highest ranking o these, at 56th

in the world, a .75 HDI score. Other Hispanic migrantsending countries, like the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and El Salvador, were all classied in the UnitedNations Human Devleopment Report as countries with medium human development, and HDI scores be-tween .50 and .66.

While still ranking among countries with levels o very high human development, Puerto Ricans,Hispanics, and non-Hispanic blacksell well below the overall rank orthe United States, which had the4th highest Human DevelopmentIndex score in the world or 2010.At the same time, non- Hispanic

whites had a human developmentlevel comparable to citizens oIreland or Lichtenstein (4th and 5thin the world), and Asian Americansexperienced human developmenton par with those o Australia orNew Zealand (2nd and 3rd in theworld). In 2010, Norway rankednumber one in the world based onits human development score.

Components of the Index:Health, Education, and

Income

Life Expectancyand the Health Index

Te analysis o data centered onmeasures or lie expectancy yielded

unexpected results. We nd thatPuerto Ricans in the United Stateslive on average 78.34 years - twoyears more than the non-Hispanicwhite population, ve years morethan the non-Hispanic blackpopulation, and one year above thenational average o 77.34 (Figure 3).Puerto Rican lie expectancy was

3Centro Research Brief November 2012

85

83

81

79

77

75

73

71

69

67

65

TotalPopulation

Non-

HispanicWhites

Non-

HispanicBlacks

Asians Hispanics PuertoRicans

Figure 3. Average life expectancy (years)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates

77.376.3

73.0

81.6

79.678.3

1.00

0.95

0.90

0.85

0.80

0.75Total

Population

Non-

HispanicWhites

Non-

HispanicBlacks


Figure 4. Health Index by Ethnicity

Source: Mortality data from Vital Statistics, and ACS-2010, 1 year estimates

0.91

0.89

0.84

0.97

0.94

0.92


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similar to, but slightly lower than Hispanics as a whole. Studies attribute the surprisingly high lie expectancyo Hispanics to several actors, including dierences in dietary habits and migration patterns (urra and Elo,2008; Abraido-Lanza, et al., 1999; Blue and Fenelon, 2011). Asians measured highest or lie expectancy, onaverage living 81.5 years.

Puerto Ricans and Hispanics in general ranked among the highest in the nation using the health index,scoring .92 and .94, respectively (Figure 4). Te two groupstrailed only Asians, who scored .97, above the national scoreo .91. In contrast, both non-Hispanic whites and non-His-

panic blacks, with scores o .89 and .84 respectively, rankedbelow other ethnic groups and the national average.

Educational Attainment and the EducationIndex

Access to education is a critical determinant o long-termwell-being, and is essential to indi-vidual reedom, sel-determinationand sel-sufciency. Puerto Ricans

scored second rom the lowest o thegroups considered on the educationalindex (Figure 5). At .83, this was a ullseven points below the index scoreor the population as a whole, thoughour points higher than the indexor Hispanics at .79. Te educationalindex or Puerto Ricans is aected bythe general educational prole o thePuerto Rican population, as discussedbelow (able 1).

A large percentage o Puerto Ricans have relatively low educational attainment. able 2 shows theeducational attainment in the United States or individuals 25 years o age or older. In 2010, 55.3 percent oPuerto Ricans had a high school education or less and more than a quarter had not completed high school. Inthe same year, 38 percent o non-Hispanic whites and 31 percent o Asians had a high school diploma. Sixteenpercent o Puerto Ricans had earned a college degree compared to the national average o 28.3 percent. Still,Puerto Ricans perormed better than the Hispanic population as a whole, or whom nearly two-thirds had at-tained a high school education or less.

As a result o these disparities, the mean years and expected years o schooling or Puerto Ricans were

Table 1. Mean and expected years of schooling

Mean years

of schooling

Expected years

of schooling

Total Population 12.9 16.0Non-Hispanic Whites 13.7 16.2Non-Hispanic Blacks 12.4 16.1Asians 13.7 17.3

Hispanics 11.0 14.8Puerto Ricans 11.9 15.0


1.00

0.95

0.90

0.85

0.80

0.75Total

Population

Non-

HispanicWhites

Non-

HispanicBlacks


Figure 5. Education Index by Ethnicity


0.900.93

0.88

0.96

0.79

0.83


Table 2. Educational attainment 25 years and older (percent)Puerto

RicansNon-Hispanic

Whites

Less than high school 25.5 9.3 17.8 39 14.3 14.4High school or equiv. 29.8 29.3 31.8 26.1 16.7 28.5Some college 28.3 30 32.4 22.2 20 28.8Bachelors degree 11.1 19.7 11.7 8.7 29.1 17.8

Graduate degree 5.2 11.7 6.3 4 19.9 10.5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS, 2010, 1-year estimates

Non-Hispanic

BlacksHispanic Asians Total


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one ull year below those or the population as a whole. Te mean years o schooling or Puerto Ricans, 11.9, wasslightly higher than the mean or Hispanics, 11.0, but lower than or all other ethnic groups (able 1). Te ex-pected years o schooling or Puerto Ricans ollowed a similar pattern, with Puerto Ricans at 15 and Hispanics at14.8. Both were below those o all other racial groups, averaging between 16 and 17 years.

Earnings and the Income Index

As with the education index, Puerto Ricans and Hispanics in general ranked the lowest on the Income index.Tis component o the HDI was derived rom total individual earnings per capita.With a value o $32,841,Puerto Ricans per capita individual earnings were ar below those o nonHispanic whites ($44,290) and Asians($49,480), but above the non-Hispanic blacks ($31,374) and all Hispanics ($28,095)(Figure 6).

As a result, Puerto Ricans scored .82 in the income index, which was our points below that o non-His-panic whites, and six points below Asians (.86 and .88, respectively)(Figure 7). Puerto Ricans scored higher on


$60,000

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

$0 TotalPopulation

Non-

HispanicWhites

Non-

HispanicBlacks


Figure 6. Total Persons Earnings per capita in the U.S. by Ethnicity


$40,478$44,290

$31, 374

$49, 480

$28,095

$32, 841

0.90

0.88

0.86

0.84

0.82

0.80

0.78

0.76

0.74 TotalPopulation

Non-HispanicWhites

Non-Hispanic

Blacks


Figure 7. Income Index by Ethnicity


0.850.86

0.81

0.88

0.79

0.82


6/6 Center for Puerto Rican Studies Hunter College CUNY 695 Park Avenue New York NY 10065

212 772 5688 centropr hunter cuny edu

The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro De Estudios Puertorriqueos) at Hunter College, City University of New York, is the onlyuniversity-based research institute in the United States solely devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience indiaspora. It is the oldest and largest Latino research and archival institution in the Northeast, and boasts the worlds only repository ofarchival and library materials dedicated exclusively to the Puerto Rican migration. Since its inception in 1973, Centro also has developednotable ties to academic, advocacy, and community-based constituencies, enabling it to document and respond to critical cultural andsocial conditions within the stateside community. This report is part of a series designed to provide up-to-date information on demo-graphic changes in our communities.

Permission granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited

the income index than non-Hispanic blacks (.81) and all Hispanics (.79).Te relatively low level o educational attainment undoubtedly plays a key role in lowering the earn-

ing potential o Puerto Ricans and Hispanics overall. According to calculations o Census Bureau data or 2010(able 3), Puerto Ricans working ull-time with less than a high school education could expect to earn approxi-mately $30,000 a year less than their counterpart with a bachelors degree, and $50,000 a year less than individu-als with a graduate degree. Having a high school degree decreases the dierence by $5,000.

ConclusionsTese results highlight the inequalities in human capital and social well-being between Puerto Ricans and other

groups in the United States, emphasizing the continued need or solutions to reduce these gaps. Te applicationo the disaggregated Human Development Index represents a useul and complementary tool that can be usedby a variety o stakeholders including policy makers, advocacy groups, researchers and individuals - to have amore comprehensive understanding o the challenges and opportunities that distinct communities ace.

Notes1 United Nations Development Program Te Human Development Index. [Accessed Online 5.3.13]2 Te HDI is the geometric mean o normalized indices measuring achievements in each dimension. For a ull elaboration o

the method and its rationale, see any o the Human Development Reports and Klugman, Rodriguez, and Choi (2011).3 Ranked 2nd in the world, Australia ranked higher than the United States, despite having a large migrant andindigenous popu

lation.4 Authors calculations based on published one-year estimates o the 2010 American Community Survey.5 Human Development Report, 2010.

6 Tese authors consider the hypothesis o the healthy migrant eect, attributing low mortality among immigrants due to a possible tendency or sick immigrants to return to their home country beore death and a possible tendency or new immigrantsto be unusually healthy compared to the rest o the home-country population.

7 Authors calculations based on published one-year estimates o the 2010 American Community Survey.

ReferencesAbraid-Lanza A.F., Dohrenwend B.P., Ng-Mak D.S., and urner J.B. (1999). Te Latino Mortality Paradox: a test o the salmon bias

and healthy migrant hypothesis.American Journal of Public Health 89(10): 1543-1548.Blue, L. and Fenelon, A. (2011). Explaining Low Mortality among U.S. immigrants Relative to Native-Born Americans: Te Role o

Smoking. International Journal of Epidemiology40(3):786-793.United Nations. (2010). Te Real Wealth o Nations: Pathways to Human Development. 20th anniversary edition. Human Developmen

Report 2010. United Nations Development Programme. Palgrave Macmillan: New YorkSmith, D.P., Bradshaw, B.S. (2006). Rethinking the Hispanic Paradox: Death Rates and Lie Expectancy or U.S.

Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic PopulationsAmerican Journal of Public Health 96(9).urra, C.M., Elo, I.. (2008). Te Impact o Salmon Bias on the Hispanic Mortality Advantage: New Evidence

rom Social Security Data. Population Research and Policy Review 27(5): 515-530.

Table 3. Earnings by educational attainment for full-time, year-roundworkers (U.S. dollars)

Puerto

RicansNon-Hispanic

Whites

Less than high school 29,588 35,167 27,829 25,592 29,130 29,270High school or equiv. 35,556 40,418 32,669 31,143 33,651 37,717Some college 42,179 48,097 38,805 38,901 43,939 45,512

Bachelors degree 58,130 73,663 55,727 56,117 66,623 70,131Graduate degree 83,924 103,314 75,677 82,780 102,281 99,704


Non-Hispanic

BlacksHispanic Asians Total

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