Tag Archives: Burma

The Gender Gap in Science by Country

women in science

The number of women researchers is small compared to that of men globally. Researchers are professionals who are engaged in the creation of new knowledge, technologies, or products.

The map above shows the number of women as a share of total researchers by country. It is interesting to note that countries like Bolivia and Burma, both developing nations, show the highest ratio of female researchers compared to the total in each country.  Since the data used here is based on headcounts of people employed in R&D full time and part time, I would take this results with caution considering that the total number of researches in these countries could be very low to begin with, and the results, therefore, not very solid.

In the same manner, the percentage of women researchers for Latin America and the Caribbean as a share of the total is the highest in the world, higher than the number for developed nations (45.2% according to this study) which seems counter-intuitive.

Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics: Women in Science – The Gender Gap in Science

 

Freedom on the Net 2013

freedom on the net 2013

Freedom House has conducted a study on internet freedom in 60 countries across the globe.

What the authors of the study found is that global internet freedom has deteriorated in the last three years as a consequence of the increase of laws and regulations that try to limit free speech on the web.

An estimated 34 countries have seen a decline in internet freedom since 2012 including Vietnam, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Venezuela. On the other hand, 16 countries have seen an improvement in internet freedom, among them Morocco, Burma, and Tunisia. Despite those improvements, limits on internet freedom are still rampant in many countries that make the list, where censorship, threats, and murder of bloggers and users who post information governments see as a threat continues.

Source: Freedom House: Freedom on the Net 2013

 

The Economic Freedom Index 2013

economic freedom index

The Economic Freedom Index, compiled by the Heritage Foundation, is a measure of the economic freedom given to citizens in each of the 185 countries where it is measured. A total of ten components of economic freedom are considered, all grouped under four categories: rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets.

The highest ranking country in the list is Hong Kong, with a score of 89.3, affording its citizens the highest degree of economic freedom in the world. Hong Kong is followed by Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Mauritius, Denmark, and the United States, among the top ten.

On the opposite side, the most repressed countries in terms of economic freedom include North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Eritrea, and Burma.

Source: International Business Times: US Economic Freedom Is At Lowest Point Since 2000 [MAP]

 

Political Rights and Civil Liberties Around the World for 2012

2011 and 2012 have been years full of changes in the level of political rights and civil liberties around the world, primarily due to the Arab uprisings. Freedom House, an organization that supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, has identified which countries have improved and which countries have declined in their level of freedom. The Freedom House Index (FHI) designates countries and territories included in the index as “free”, “partly free”, and “not free”.

As shown in the map above, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Burma are among the countries that have improved the most, while Ecuador, Sudan and Yemen are among the worst performers.