BackgroundCanada, 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.MethodsCensus 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.ResultsBetween 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.ConclusionThe 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.
Cet article pose trois questions: 1) Pourquoi étudier les inégalités entre les autochtones? 2) Quel est l'écart entre les salaires et les revenus de la population canadienne en général et ceux des différents peuples autochtones? et 3) Jusqu'à quel point existe‐t‐il des inégalités entre les peuples autochtones ainsi qu'entre la population autochtone et la population non autochtone? Cet article montre une tendance générale de l'augmentation des disparités mesurées ainsi que de la polarisation des revenus chez tous les groupes autochtones compara‐tivement à la population non autochtone. Pour ce qui est de l'inégalité entre les groupes autochtones, les Inuits se classent au sommet de la pyramide, suivis des Indiens inscrits, des Indiens non inscrits et, finalement, des Métis. This article addresses three questions: 1) Why study intra‐Aboriginal inequality? 2) What is the gap in wages and income between the general Canadian population and the different Aboriginal peoples? and 3) How much inequality exists within the Aboriginal groups and between Aboriginal groups and the non‐Aboriginal population? The article points to a general pattern of increase in measured disparity and polarization in income for all Aboriginal groups in comparison to the non‐Aboriginal population. In terms of intra‐Aboriginal inequality, Aboriginal groups rank from Inuit at the high end, through Status Indians, to non‐status Indians and, finally, to Métis.
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