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 Ignore
Indigenous Peoples
5% of global population

Indigenous by Country/Region
China
South Asia
Southeast Asia
Africa
Arabia
Mexico/Central…
South America
USA/Canada
1
4
4
5
7
10
(% of world total)
32
36

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

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
1992 1996
Mexico
2000
Indigenous
Non-Indigenous
2004 2008

25
20
15
10
5
1996 1999
Chile
2002
Indigenous
Non-
Indigenous
2005

China
4
2
0
8
6
14
12
10
1998 1999 2000
Minority
2001
Han
2002

India
70
60
50
40
30
20
1992 1996
Scheduled Tribes
2000
Scheduled Caste
Others
2004

Annual Rate of Change

Probability of Being Poor
Significantly higher if indigenous, as shown, for example, in Vietnam (2006)
Non-indigenous All Indigenous
Household head years of schooling
0 77
6 45
12
16
Household head work sector
10
2
Agriculture
Services
53
15
24
9
2
0
1
52
16
2
0
19
2

Vietnam: Impact of Shocks
Significant dip in years of schooling during the Vietnam War
10
Ethnic majority
8
Ethnic minority
6
4
1945 1950 1955 1960 1965
Year of birth
1970 1975 1980 1985

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