The Eurasian Economic Union & Latin America and the Caribbean: A Transcontinental Partnership
There are important differences between countries that have achieved the most noticeable progress in the sphere of economic development. The best EAEU performers, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, receive high marks primarily due to high electric energy consumption that reveals economic activity hidden by formal estimations of GDP. In the LAC region, the Bahamas and Chile are characterized by high adjusted real net national income per capita; in this regard, the former country’s level is comparable to that of Qatar, while that of the latter country is only around half that and is comparable to the level of Turkey. In Panama, the third-best performer, the best results from the economic sphere include a high employment level and a large degree of trade openness. At the other extreme, the economic aspect of inclusive development has been hindered in Kyrgyzstan by low per capita income and in Armenia by low employment presumably stemming from the high incidence of informal economic activities. Unemployment has been an impediment to inclusivity in the LAC region as well, especially in countries such as Saint Lucia, Haiti and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Haiti also has one of the world’s lowest levels of electricity consumption, adjusted for per capita GDP and net income. Notably, none of the countries under consideration is estimated to be close to the world advanced economy average. However, the developing state average, comparable to the estimates registered for Peru and Uruguay, has been outstripped by slightly fewer than half of the economies under consideration.
2.
Living conditions
The indicators reflecting quality of life show relatively limited correlation with those in the preceding economic pillar, with a different set of countries performing well. (The Bahamas – the LAC leader according to the economic development pillar – cannot be assessed in the following two pillars due to a lack of data.) Despite a good performance in per capita income, employment level and other economic activity indicators, neither the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, nor Chile and Panama demonstrate comparable success in access to healthcare, educational and communication services, or environmental conditions. Much of the low performance level within EAEU can be attributed to the high levels of CO2 emissions. According to this indicator, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan are ranked 121st and 126th, respectively, out of 129 countries. Ecological concerns are urgent for Chile as well, whereas potential improvements in quality of life in Panama are concentrated in ensuring access to educational and financial services (see table IV.3).
80 46 68 100 52 78 73
Total, living conditions
83 91 66 95 70 57 113
Access to bank account or mobile-money services
65 19 57 83 44 50 87
CO2 emissions
66 45 53 70 82 33 88
Logistics performance index
75 39 18 54 34 43 68
Coverage of essential health services
88 37 46 84 71 17 75
Fixed Internet broadband subscriptions
63 19 58 80 44 59 94
School enrolment, secondary
Armenia Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Russian Federation Argentina Bolivia (Plur. State of)
People using safe water source
Under-5 mortality rate
Table IV.3 Eurasian Economic Union and Latin America and the Caribbean: ranking according to all indicators for living conditions, 2018 (Ranking out of 129 observations)
74 111 126 122 121 86 92
78 40 67 89 64 50 87
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