Chile: Latin American Diaries
Taylor Cowser, Kirsten Ostling, and Catherine Wright
Political Graphs:
Government Changes since Revolution
Chile and the United States are very similar in terms of their governmental changes. Since revolution, Chile has had 45 firm government changes compared to the United States’ 44. In Chile, however, there have been wars since the revolution of independence, affecting the amount of presidents. And in the United States, multiple presidents have served second terms in office. Multiple presidential changes for a country can be seen as good for many reasons. First, it brings new ideas into power. These new ideas can help the country because new systems often benefit the people. Such variety allows the country to have multiple techniques in case something fails. But, frequent changes may also be a bad thing because once one system begins to work for the country, a new leader could come into power and change everything.
Government Effectiveness and Control of Corruption (2008)
This graph shows the government effectiveness and control of corruption percentage in four different countries in 2008. Chile holds the second highest effectiveness and control of corruption, only behind the United States. This shows that the governments controlling Chile have done a good job of keeping the citizens happy, and preventing revolts against the government.
Economic Graphs:
GDP Per Capita
This graph shows the different GDP per capita levels in Chile, the US, and Chile's previous colonizer, Spain. As shown, the US and Spain have a much higher GDP Per Capita than Chile does. During and after Chile's most recent revolution, inflatoin was higher and there were some economic woes. In additon, Spain and the US have much bigger economies that Chile doesm, so it would make sense that there would be less money to distibute throughout the population, causing a lower GDP Per Capita.
Percent of the Population Below the Poverty Line
As the only member of the OECD in South america, Chile is well on its way to becoming a developed nation. This is reflected in Chile's relatively low poverty rate. When compared to other South American nations, such as Colombia and Brazil with respective poverty rates at 34.1% and 21.2%, a poverty rate around 15% is an accomplishment. This accomplishment is also shown because the poverty rate in Chile is exactly the same as that of the United States, the largest economy in the world.
Social Graphs:
This life expectancy graph shows the life expectancy's between Chile, Spain, and the USA. Chile has a total population life expectancy of 78.16 years, Spain is 81.75 years, and the US is 78.5 years. After Chile obtained their freedom from Spain, they have a lower life expectancy, suggesting that Spain has more access to food and possible better health care systems.
This graph shows the literacy rates between Chile, Spain, and the USA in modern day. Chile has a total population literacy rate of 98.62%, Spain is 97.75%, and the USA is highest with 99%. Although these numbers are all very close and similar, there is still a large difference due to the fact that in Spain there is almost 3% of the population age 15 and over are unable to read or write a percentage which does not seem like much, but the numbers add up. One of the main things that the Chileans fought for from the Spaniards was equality. Equality of males and female, and equality in education. By the Chileans having a higher literacy rate over Spain, it shows that Spain still does not have educational equality while the Chileans succeeded and now have a higher literacy rate. However the US still has the highest literacy rate suggesting that they have the highest educational freedom.