Costa Rica Outscores U.S. in 2014 Social Inclusion Index
Costa Rica Outscores U.S. in 2014 Social Inclusion Index
“Costa Rica comes in first in access to adequate housing by gender, and GDP spent on social programs, women’s rights and financial inclusion,” according to the Americas Quarterly Social Inclusion Index 2014.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Costa Rica ranks near the top of a just-released annual index that scores 17 Latin American countries plus the United States on civil rights, access to markets, political participation, education spending and other criteria.
The Social Inclusion Index 2014, published last week in Americas Quarterly magazine, puts Uruguay at the top, with Argentina and Costa Rica tied for second place. The United States, by comparison, comes in fourth and Panama is in ninth place. The rest of Central America’s nations are all clustered at the bottom, with Nicaragua at 13th, El Salvador at 14th, Honduras at 16th and Guatemala dead last at 17th place.
Venezuela was excluded from the index because government data are “unreliable,” and Caribbean nations were not evaluated.
“Costa Rica comes in first in access to adequate housing by gender, and ranks consistently high on GDP spent on social programs, women’s rights and financial inclusion. It is, however, in the bottom half of the countries in terms of LGBT rights,” says the report, which was conducted by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas....
