Center for Puerto Rican Studies

The Human Development Index: How do Puerto Ricans Measure Up?

Research Brief
Issued May 2013 Centro RB2013-03

By Ral Segura and Kurt Birson

Kurt Birson is an Economic Researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. Birson received his Masters degree in Economics from the New School for Social Research and holds a dual BA in International Political Economy and in Latino Studies from Fordham University. Ral Segura is a Research Assistant at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies and a doctoral student in economics at the CUNY Graduate Center. Segura holds a B.Sc. in Economics from University of Malaga and M.A. in Economics from Hunter College (CUNY).

This study is based on an adaptation of the Human Development Index, which allows us to disaggregate distinct racial and ethnic groups within the United States population. It reveals that Puerto Ricans ranked higher than Hispanics in general for 2010 but lagged behind the United States population in terms of education and income levels. In 1990, the United Nations produced its first report using a new measure called the Human Development Index (HDI). The index was created with a specific purpose in mind: putting people back at the center of the development process in terms of economic debate, policy and advocacy, highlighting the idea that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.1 The HDI was created as a tool to compare the relative human-capital characteristics and living standards across distinct populations. The HDI is a composite statistic that measures well-being in nations across the world in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to education and a decent standard of living. The health dimension is measured by life expectancy at birth; living standard is measured by Gross National Income per capita; access to education is measured by a combination of two indicators: school enrollment for individuals 3 years and older and the level of educational attainment for the population 25 years and older. The resulting calculations produce a figure between 0 and 1, which can effectively be used to rank countries based on their development score. Indeed, the index revealed some surprising results about a countrys performance that otherwise may have not been evident. Figure 1. Human Development Index
1.00 0.95 0.90 0.85 0.80 0.75 Total Population NonHispanic Whites NonHispanic Blacks Asians Hispanics Puerto Ricans 0.88 0.89 0.84 0.86 0.84 0.94

Source: US Census Bureau ACS, 2010, 1-year estimates

Center for Puerto Rican Studies Hunter College CUNY 695 Park Avenue New York NY 10065 212-772-5688 centropr.hunter.cuny.edu

 We adapted the concept of the Human Development Index in order to gain a new perspective on the Puerto Rican experience in the United States as it relates to other racial and ethnic groups. By applying the same methodologies used by the United Nations, we produced a disaggregated version of Human Development Index in the United States in order to make observations about where a particular group stands in terms of the Human Development criteria. The standard aggregated index has the effect of masking stark differences that may exist among groups within a countrys population. This study represents the first attempt to estimate a Human Development Index in the United States that disaggregates the Puerto Rican living on the U.S. mainland from the all-Latino population in the U.S. Previous applications of the Human Development Index to the United States that did not disaggregate the Puerto Rican community provided an incomplete picture of demographic characteristics. According to the 2010 American Community Survey, nearly 4.7 million Puerto Ricans were residing in the mainland United States, representing more than 9 percent of the overall Hispanic population.

Human Development Index

In terms of overall development, this composite Human Development Index placed Puerto Ricans in the middle of the five racial and ethnic groups typically used for social, economic, cultural and political analysis, but six points below the national average (Figure 1). With a score of .86, Puerto Ricans ranked higher than both non-Hispanic blacks (.84) and all Hispanics as a group (.85), but below the national average (.88), for whites (.89), and Asians (.91). Puerto Ricans fared well in the health index due to their high scores for life expectancy at birth, and in general outperformed the Hispanic population. However, Puerto Ricans experienced substantial deficiencies relative to others in terms of educational attainment and earnings potential, scoring among the lowest of the groups considered for the education and income indices. Figure 2. International HDI Rankings, compared to U.S racial/ethnic groups
Norway Australia U.S. Asians New Zealand United States Ireland U.S. NH Whites Lichtenstein Spain U.S. Puerto Ricans Greece Italy Luxembourg Austria U.S. Hispanics Singapore U.S. NH Blacks Mexico Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala 0.94 0.94 0.92 0.91 0.90 0.90 0.89 0.89 0.86 0.86 0.86 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.84

0.66 0.66 0.56

0.75

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Source: Human Development Report 2010, authors calculations based on ACS 2010 data *Note: the United Nations calculates HDI for United States using per-capita GNI

One of the advantages of using the Human Development Index lies in its composition. As a standardized measure of well-being, we can use the index to compare the relative human development characteristics of the groups in this study to other diverse groups around the world. Scoring .86 on the Human Development Index, Puerto Ricans residing in the United States in 2010 had
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similar human-capital characteristics as an average citizen of Spain (ranked 20th out of 186 countries considered) and slightly above someone living in Italy or Greece (ranked 22nd respectively) (Figure 2). Hispanics in the United States were roughly on par with Luxembourg and Austria (24th and 25th). With an HDI of .84, non-Hispanic blacks were comparable to citizens of Singapore (27th in the world) or the Czech Republic (28th in the world). Hispanics in the United States ranked much higher than individuals residing in Latin American countries. Mexico had the highest ranking of these, at 56th in the world, a .75 HDI score. Other Hispanic migrantsending countries, like the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and El Salvador, were all classified in the United Nations Human Devleopment Report as countries with medium human development, and HDI scores between .50 and .66. While still ranking among countries with levels of very high human development, Puerto Ricans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic blacks Figure 3. Average life expectancy (years) fell well below the overall rank for 85 the United States, which had the 4th highest Human Development 83 Index score in the world for 2010. 81.6 81 At the same time, non- Hispanic whites had a human development 79.6 79 78.3 level comparable to citizens of 77.3 Ireland or Lichtenstein (4th and 5th 77 76.3 in the world), and Asian Americans 75 experienced human development on par with those of Australia or 73.0 73 New Zealand (2nd and 3rd in the world). In 2010, Norway ranked 71 number one in the world based on 69 its human development score.

Components of the Index: Health, Education, and Income

Life Expectancy and the Health Index
The analysis of data centered on measures for life expectancy yielded unexpected results. We find that Puerto Ricans in the United States live on average 78.34 years - two years more than the non-Hispanic white population, five years more than the non-Hispanic black population, and one year above the national average of 77.34 (Figure 3). Puerto Rican life expectancy was

67 65 Total Population NonHispanic Whites NonHispanic Blacks Asians Hispanics Puerto Ricans

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates

Figure 4. Health Index by Ethnicity

1.00 0.95 0.90 0.85 0.80 0.75 Total Population NonHispanic Whites NonHispanic Blacks Asians Hispanics Puerto Ricans 0.91 0.89 0.84 0.97 0.94 0.92

Source: Mortality data from Vital Statistics, and ACS-2010, 1 year estimates
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similar to, but slightly lower than Hispanics as a whole. Studies attribute the surprisingly high life expectancy of Hispanics to several factors, including differences in dietary habits and migration patterns (Turra and Elo, 2008; Abraido-Lanza, et al., 1999; Blue and Fenelon, 2011). Asians measured highest for life expectancy, on average living 81.5 years. Puerto Ricans and Hispanics in general ranked among the highest in the nation using the health index, scoring .92 and .94, respectively (Figure 4). The two groups trailed only Asians, who scored .97, above the national score Table 1. Mean and expected years of schooling of .91. In contrast, both non-Hispanic whites and non-HisMean years Expected years of schooling of schooling panic blacks, with scores of .89 and .84 respectively, ranked below other ethnic groups and the national average. Total Population 12.9 16.0

Educational Attainment and the Education Index

Access to education is a critical determinant of long-term Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates well-being, and is essential to indiFigure 5. Education Index by Ethnicity vidual freedom, self-determination 1.00 and self-sufficiency. Puerto Ricans 0.96 scored second from the lowest of the 0.95 groups considered on the educational 0.93 index (Figure 5). At .83, this was a full 0.90 0.90 0.88 seven points below the index score 0.85 for the population as a whole, though 0.83 four points higher than the index 0.80 0.79 for Hispanics at .79. The educational index for Puerto Ricans is affected by 0.75 NonNonHispanics Puerto Asians Total the general educational profile of the Hispanic Hispanic Ricans Population Puerto Rican population, as discussed Whites Blacks below (Table 1).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates

Non-Hispanic Whites Non-Hispanic Blacks Asians Hispanics Puerto Ricans

13.7 12.4 13.7 11.0 11.9

16.2 16.1 17.3 14.8 15.0

Table 2. Educational attainment 25 years and older (percent)

Puerto Ricans Non-Hispanic Non-Hispanic Blacks Whites Hispanic Asians Total

Less than high school High school or equiv. Some college Bachelors degree Graduate degree

25.5 29.8 28.3 11.1 5.2

9.3 29.3 30 19.7 11.7

17.8 31.8 32.4 11.7 6.3

39 26.1 22.2 8.7 4

14.3 16.7 20 29.1 19.9

14.4 28.5 28.8 17.8 10.5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS, 2010, 1-year estimates

A large percentage of Puerto Ricans have relatively low educational attainment. Table 2 shows the educational attainment in the United States for individuals 25 years of age or older. In 2010, 55.3 percent of Puerto Ricans had a high school education or less and more than a quarter had not completed high school. In the same year, 38 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 31 percent of Asians had a high school diploma. Sixteen percent of Puerto Ricans had earned a college degree compared to the national average of 28.3 percent. Still, Puerto Ricans performed better than the Hispanic population as a whole, for whom nearly two-thirds had attained a high school education or less. As a result of these disparities, the mean years and expected years of schooling for Puerto Ricans were 4

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one full year below those for the population as a whole. The mean years of schooling for Puerto Ricans, 11.9, was slightly higher than the mean for Hispanics, 11.0, but lower than for all other ethnic groups (Table 1). The expected years of schooling for Puerto Ricans followed a similar pattern, with Puerto Ricans at 15 and Hispanics at 14.8. Both were below those of all other racial groups, averaging between 16 and 17 years.

Earnings and the Income Index

Figure 6. Total Persons Earnings per capita in the U.S. by Ethnicity
$60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $0 Total Population NonHispanic Whites NonHispanic Blacks Asians Hispanics Puerto Ricans $40,478 $44,290 $31, 374 $32, 841 $28,095 $49, 480

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates

Figure 7. Income Index by Ethnicity

0.90 0.88 0.86 0.84 0.82 0.80 0.78 0.76 0.74 Total Population NonHispanic Whites NonHispanic Blacks Asians Hispanics Puerto Ricans 0.81 0.79 0.82 0.86 0.85 0.88

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates

As with the education index, Puerto Ricans and Hispanics in general ranked the lowest on the Income index. This component of the HDI was derived from total individual earnings per capita.With a value of $32,841, Puerto Ricans per capita individual earnings were far below those of nonHispanic whites ($44,290) and Asians ($49,480), but above the non-Hispanic blacks ($31,374) and all Hispanics ($28,095)(Figure 6). As a result, Puerto Ricans scored .82 in the income index, which was four points below that of non-Hispanic whites, and six points below Asians (.86 and .88, respectively)(Figure 7). Puerto Ricans scored higher on 5
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Table 3. Earnings by educational attainment for full-time, year-round workers (U.S. dollars)
Puerto Ricans Less than high school High school or equiv. Some college Bachelors degree Graduate degree 29,588 35,556 42,179 58,130 83,924 Non-Hispanic Non-Hispanic Blacks Whites 35,167 40,418 48,097 73,663 103,314 27,829 32,669 38,805 55,727 75,677 Hispanic 25,592 31,143 38,901 56,117 82,780 Asians 29,130 33,651 43,939 66,623 102,281 Total 29,270 37,717 45,512 70,131 99,704

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2010, 1-year estimates

the income index than non-Hispanic blacks (.81) and all Hispanics (.79). The relatively low level of educational attainment undoubtedly plays a key role in lowering the earning potential of Puerto Ricans and Hispanics overall. According to calculations of Census Bureau data for 2010 (Table 3), Puerto Ricans working full-time with less than a high school education could expect to earn approximately $30,000 a year less than their counterpart with a bachelors degree, and $50,000 a year less than individuals with a graduate degree. Having a high school degree decreases the difference by $5,000.

Conclusions

These results highlight the inequalities in human capital and social well-being between Puerto Ricans and other groups in the United States, emphasizing the continued need for solutions to reduce these gaps. The application of the disaggregated Human Development Index represents a useful and complementary tool that can be used by a variety of stakeholders including policy makers, advocacy groups, researchers and individuals - to have a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities that distinct communities face. Notes

1 United Nations Development Program The Human Development Index. [Accessed Online 5.3.13] 2 The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices measuring achievements in each dimension. For a full elaboration of the method and its rationale, see any of the Human Development Reports and Klugman, Rodriguez, and Choi (2011). 3 Ranked 2nd in the world, Australia ranked higher than the United States, despite having a large migrant andindigenous popu lation. 4 Authors calculations based on published one-year estimates of the 2010 American Community Survey. 5 Human Development Report, 2010. 6 These authors consider the hypothesis of the healthy migrant effect, attributing low mortality among immigrants due to a pos sible tendency for sick immigrants to return to their home country before death and a possible tendency for new immigrants to be unusually healthy compared to the rest of the home-country population. 7 Authors calculations based on published one-year estimates of the 2010 American Community Survey.

References

Abraid-Lanza A.F., Dohrenwend B.P., Ng-Mak D.S., and Turner J.B. (1999). The Latino Mortality Paradox: a test of the salmon bias and healthy migrant hypothesis. American Journal of Public Health 89(10): 1543-1548. Blue, L. and Fenelon, A. (2011). Explaining Low Mortality among U.S. immigrants Relative to Native-Born Americans: The Role of Smoking. International Journal of Epidemiology 40(3):786-793. United Nations. (2010). The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development. 20th anniversary edition. Human Development Report 2010. United Nations Development Programme. Palgrave Macmillan: New York Smith, D.P., Bradshaw, B.S. (2006). Rethinking the Hispanic Paradox: Death Rates and Life Expectancy for U.S. Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic Populations American Journal of Public Health 96(9). Turra, C.M., Elo, I.T. (2008). The Impact of Salmon Bias on the Hispanic Mortality Advantage: New Evidence from Social Security Data. Population Research and Policy Review 27(5): 515-530.

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The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro De Estudios Puertorriqueos) at Hunter College, City University of New York, is the only university-based research institute in the United States solely devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience in diaspora. It is the oldest and largest Latino research and archival institution in the Northeast, and boasts the worlds only repository of archival and library materials dedicated exclusively to the Puerto Rican migration. Since its inception in 1973, Centro also has developed notable ties to academic, advocacy, and community-based constituencies, enabling it to document and respond to critical cultural and social conditions within the stateside community. This report is part of a series designed to provide up-to-date information on demographic changes in our communities.

Center for Puerto Rican Studies Hunter College CUNY 695 Park Avenue New York NY 10065 212-772-5688 centropr.hunter.cuny.edu