Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Dec 20:7:9.
doi: 10.1186/1472-698X-7-9.

Indigenous well-being in four countries: an application of the UNDP'S human development index to indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States

Martin Cooke  1 , Francis Mitrou, David Lawrence, Eric Guimond, Dan Beavon
Affiliations

Indigenous well-being in four countries: an application of the UNDP'S human development index to indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States

Martin Cooke et al. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. .

Abstract

Background: Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand consistently place near the top of the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index (HDI) rankings, yet all have minority Indigenous populations with much poorer health and social conditions than non-Indigenous peoples. It is unclear just how the socioeconomic and health status of Indigenous peoples in these countries has changed in recent decades, and it remains generally unknown whether the overall conditions of Indigenous peoples are improving and whether the gaps between Indigenous peoples and other citizens have indeed narrowed. There is unsettling evidence that they may not have. It was the purpose of this study to determine how these gaps have narrowed or widened during the decade 1990 to 2000.

Methods: Census data and life expectancy estimates from government sources were used to adapt the Human Development Index (HDI) to examine how the broad social, economic, and health status of Indigenous populations in these countries have changed since 1990. Three indices - life expectancy, educational attainment, and income - were combined into a single HDI measure.

Results: Between 1990 and 2000, the HDI scores of Indigenous peoples in North America and New Zealand improved at a faster rate than the general populations, closing the gap in human development. In Australia, the HDI scores of Indigenous peoples decreased while the general populations improved, widening the gap in human development. While these countries are considered to have high human development according to the UNDP, the Indigenous populations that reside within them have only medium levels of human development.

Conclusion: The inconsistent progress in the health and well-being of Indigenous populations over time, and relative to non-Indigenous populations, points to the need for further efforts to improve the social, economic, and physical health of Indigenous peoples.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Life Expectance at birth, 1990/1–2000/1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Education attainment index scores, 1990/1–2000/1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Income index scores, 1990/1–2000/1.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Human Development Index scores, 1990/1–2000/1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Eversole R. Overview: Patterns of Indigenous disadvantage worldwide. In: Eversole R, McNeish JA, Cimadamore AD, editor. Indigenous peoples and poverty: an international perspective. London: Zed Books; 2005. pp. 29–37.
    1. Stephens C, Porter J, Nettleton C, Willis R. Disappearing, displaced, and undervalued: a call to action for Indigenous health worldwide. Lancet. 2006;367:2019–28. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68892-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. United Nations Development Program . Human development report 2003. New York: Oxford University Press; 2003.
    1. Armitage A. Comparing the policy of Aboriginal assimilation: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Vancouver: UBC Press; 1995.
    1. Cornell S. Paper presented at the National Forum on Indigenous health and the treaty debate. University of New South Wales, Sydney; 2004. Indigenous jurisdiction and daily life: Evidence from North America.http://www.gtcentre.unsw.edu.au/publications/papers/docs/2005/6_StephenC...

LinkOut - more resources