Chile  

Unemployment is at 9% and inflation at 4%, indicating that the Chilean economy has moderately sound fundamentals. Chilean workers have access to a larger than average amount of physical capital, including offices, factories, and machinery, placing them 40th on this variable. Domestic saving and foreign direct investment, as percentages of GDP, both rank in the top 20 in the Index, indicating a large amount of capital available for investment in the country. Household expenditure stands at 25% of GDP, suggesting moderate domestic demand. Despite an overreliance on raw material exports – ranking the country at 86th – export revenues are high relative to the cost of imports, placing Chile 19th in the Index on this variable. In the banking sector, non-performing loans account for an extremely low percentage of total loans indicating an effective vetting process. However, an interest margin of five percentage points could point towards lack of competition in lending.

Barriers to entry, in terms of the number of procedures required to start a business, are near the global average with nine formal procedures in place. Despite this average performance, more than 25,000 new businesses registered in 2007, indicating an attractive entrepreneurial environment. The level of internet infrastructure as measured by bandwidth, and secure internet servers, is above average, ranking the country 37th and 43rd, internationally, on these variables. Although there are approximately 14 personal computers available per 100 people, this is still above the international average, ranking the country 45th. Despite this, ICT exports as a proportion of total goods exported are very low at 0.1%. However, high-tech exports account for a significantly higher percentage of manufactured exports at 7%. Only 0.5% of GDP is spent on R&D, but high levels of royalty receipts indicate a healthy respect for intellectual property and the ability to capitalise upon it.

Chilean citizens enjoy excellent political rights and civil liberties. The democratic political system boasts a high level of competition with multiple parties competing in free and fair elections, at both the executive and legislative levels. The judiciary is independent, preventing interference in legal proceedings from the other branches of the government. Political constraints, in place to prevent political actors from enforcing arbitrary changes in legislation, are adequate, ranking the country 46th, internationally. The current regime was established less than 20 years ago, ranking Chile 48th on this variable of political stability.

Chilean enrolment rates at the primary level are substantially below the international average, ranking the country 69th on this variable. Gross secondary schooling fares slightly better with an enrolment rate of 91%, placing Chile at 41st on this measure. Average class sizes as proxied by the number of students per teacher are larger than the global average, with only one teacher for every 26 students. The average Chilean worker suffers from below average levels of secondary education; however, levels of gross tertiary schooling are above average at 47%. Chilean workers have, on average, 4.2 years of tertiary schooling. With 99 girls enrolled in primary and secondary education for every 100 boys, inequality of enrolment is minimal. Education expenditure is close to the global average, ranking Chile 46th, internationally.

Chilean citizens have only 11 health professionals and 23 hospital beds per 10,000 people, which is below the global average. However, health adjusted life expectancy is high at 67 years, ranking Chile 29th in the Index on this variable. Poverty related health issues are low as 94% of the population has access to improved sanitation facilities, only 4% of the population is undernourished, and infant mortality is low at four deaths per 1,000 live births. A majority of 85% also report relatively high satisfaction with the quality of water.* On subjective health indexes, more than a third of the population reported pain and a quarter claimed to have debilitating health problems which ranks Chile 93rd and 75th on these variables, respectively. In addition, only three-quarters of people are satisfied with their personal health placing Chile in the bottom quintile on this factor.* However, two-thirds of Chileans feel well rested, a value that is about average internationally.*

Government-sponsored violence and political imprisonment of citizens, movement of refugees, repression of certain communities, and voluntary immigration have a minimal effect on Chile’s domestic security, placing Chile within the top 20 countries according to these variables. By contrast, 42 homicides per 1,000,000 people is just below the international average, placing Chile at 45th in the Index. Approximately one in five Chileans reported property theft in 2008, while one in 10 reported assaults and muggings.* These figures are comparatively high, placing Chile 80th on the former and 84th on the latter, which may explain why only 42% of the population feel safe walking alone at night, ranking Chile in the bottom 10 for this variable.*

Chile ranks in the top 20 countries in the Index on variables of both the rule of law and regulatory quality, indicating that commercial regulation and legal enforcement are applied with fairness and even-handedness. It ranks 21st for government effectiveness, signifying that the civil service is efficient in its actions. Despite boasting a highly democratic political system only 52% of Chileans have confidence in electoral honesty and only a quarter approve of the judicial system, placing Chile within the bottom five countries on both variables.* The percentages of people who believe that local businesses and local government are corrupt, at 73% and 66%, respectively, are significantly below the international median, ranking 31st and 22nd, respectively.* Although 56% of Chileans have confidence in the country’s military force, this is comparatively low by international standards, ranking Chile 80th according to this factor.*

Chileans enjoy among the highest levels of personal freedom. They are at liberty to exercise and practise their religious beliefs, to speak without fear of government censorship, and to travel freely. Despite this, only 68% of Chileans are satisfied with the freedom of choice in their daily lives.* Levels of tolerance are around the international average, with 68% believing that the country is a good place for ethnic minorities to live, and 72% believing the same for immigrants, ranking the country 50th and 34th, respectively, on these variables.*

Less than a quarter of Chileans believe that others are trustworthy, ranking Chile 42nd, internationally, on this variable, and 82% believe that they can rely on family and friends in times of need.* Most Chileans also believe that friends are not too important, ranking Chile last on this variable.* This shows extremely low levels of social ties within the nuclear family and between close friends. Despite low levels of social trust and volunteering, instances of charitable donations and helping strangers were both high at 50% and 58%, ranking 19th and 21st, respectively.* On the religiosity variable, Chileans rank below the international average, indicating that they are less likely to attend religious services, or feel like religion plays an important part in their daily lives.*

* Data taken from the Gallup World Poll

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