Public and Private Savings of Selected Developing Countries in the First UN Development Decade

The developed countries contain about one-third of the worldpopulation and they produce more than 80 percent of Gross World Product(GWP). The remaining two-thirds of the population of our Globe who livesin Asia, Latin America and most of Africa produces less than 20 percentof the GWP. A small segment of the population of these countries iswealthy but the over¬whelming majority subsists on substandard incomesand is characterised by mass illiteracy, mal-nutrition, bad housing andlack of medical care. Because of these characteristics they have lowproductivity, which yields low level of income; low incomes, in turn,imply a small capacity to save resulting in an economic situation wherethere is barely a possibility to moblize resources for development. Thequestion has often been raised: 'Is there way out for the developingcountries' ? 1960s were declared as the First UN Development Decade andit was hoped that during these years the pre-conditions for a successfuldevelopment would be established in various developing countries. Thepresent study analyses data on public revenue, public expenditure,public savings and private savings for 12 selected developing countriespertaining to the years of the First U.N. Development Decade. Thegeneral conclusion that emerges from the study clearly suggests thatwith appropriate economic policies resources for development can bemobilized in the developing countries.