Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development

Harry Anthony Patrinos

World Bank

March 2013

Motivation• Research for Latin America:

– Higher poverty rates among indigenous

– Little to no improvement in incomes– Improved social indicators

• No comparative work in other regions

• Request by UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Cannot IgnoreIndigenous Peoples

5% of global population

10% of poor

USA/Canada

South America

Mexico/Central America

Arabia

Africa

Southeast Asia

South Asia

China

1

4

4

5

7

10

32

36

(% of world total)

Indigenous by Country/Region

Part I – Core set of indicators

Part I – Core set of indicators

Income Poverty Results

Latin America – Lack of Progress

Latin America Income Poverty Trends Updated

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1992 1996 2000 2004 2008

Mexico

Chile

Indigenous

Non-Indigenous

5

10

15

20

25

1996 1999 2002 2005

China

Han

Minority

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

India

Scheduled Tribes

Scheduled Caste

Others

20

30

40

50

60

70

1992 1996 2000 2004

Annual Rate of Change

Probability of Being Poor

Indigenous Non-indigenous AllHousehold head years of schooling0 77 24 526 45 9 1612 10 2 216 2 0 0Household head work sector

Agriculture 53 19

Services 15 1 2

Significantly higher if indigenous, as shown, for example, in Vietnam (2006)

Vietnam: Impact of Shocks

Significant dip in years of schooling during the Vietnam War

Ethnic majority

Ethnic minority

4

6

8

10

1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985Year of birth

Policy Implications• Indigenous ‘poorest of the poor’

• Results from Asia important nuance

• Indigenous poorer, but not consistent global story

• Widespread sustained growth brought millions of indigenous out of poverty in Asia

Final Thoughts

1. Do not ignore vulnerable populations

2. Improve the collection & disaggregation of data

3. Development efforts need to include vulnerable groups’ needs 

4. Improve knowledge base on what works