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Human Opportunity Index (HOI) Selected Findings

• The Human Opportunity Index (HOI) measures the percentage of available opportunities needed to ensure children’s universal access to basic services and their equal allocation. The index ranges from 0 (absolute deprivation) to 100 (universality).
   

• The HOI for Latin American children has increased in the last decade for all basic opportunities (education, water, electricity and sanitation), mainly due to an increase in average access.
   

• The HOI for education includes two indicators: completion of sixth grade on time and school attendance for ages 10-14. The HOI for housing includes three indicators: access to water, sanitation, and electricity. Within each dimension (i.e. education and housing), the indicators have the same weight. In generating the composite HOI, each dimension has the same weight.
   

• Parent’s education seems to be the most important factor in explaining unequal distribution of children’s opportunities in the region among the six factors considered. It is the most important for educational opportunity and it is among the three most important factors for housing opportunities, after area of residence and per capita income.
   

• Gender is very important in explaining inequality of opportunity for school attendance, while the number of siblings is an important factor towards completing the sixth grade on time. For housing conditions, area of residence is the leading factor. Presence of parents seems to be the least important circumstance in explaining unequal distribution of children’s opportunities.
   

• Argentina (82%), Chile (81%), Jamaica (86%), and Mexico (84%) have the greatest percentages of children completing sixth grade on time. The average HOI for completion of sixth grade on time in 2005 was 62%. From 1995-2005, HOI for completion of sixth grade on time increased by 1.5 percentage points annually in the LAC region. Measured in percentage points per year, Colombia (2.9), Peru (2.5) and Paraguay (2.4) had the region’s largest increases.
   

• Brazil (96%), Chile (98%), and Dominican Republic (97 percent), have the most universal HOI for school attendance (ages 10-14). The average HOI for school attendance (ages 10-14) during 2005 was 90%. From 1995-2005, the average growth of the HOI for school attendance (ages 10-14) in the region was 0.5 percentage points per year. Brazil (0.9), El Salvador (0.8), Honduras (1.1) and Nicaragua (1.2) had the greatest change in annual percentage points.
   

• Argentina (90%), Brazil (91%), Chile (94%), and Costa Rica (97%) have the most universal HOI for access to safe water. The average HOI for access to water in 2005 was 67%. From 1995-2005, the average annual growth of the HOI for access to water in the region was 0.9 percentage points. Costa Rica (1.6), El Salvador (1.3), Guatemala (1.3), Mexico (1.3), and Paraguay (2.8) show the largest annual changes in percentage points.
   

• Chile (87%), Costa Rica (88%), and Venezuela (82%) have the most universal HOI for access to sanitation. The average HOI for access to sanitation around 2005 was 43%. During 1995-2005, the average annual growth of the HOI for access to sanitation in the region was one percentage point. Chile (2.0), Costa Rica (1.9), and Peru (2.5) had the largest annual changes in percentage points.
   

• Argentina (98%), Chile (99%), Costa Rica (98%), Mexico (98%), and Venezuela (98 percent) have the most universal HOI for access to electricity. The average HOI for access to electricity in 2005 was 78%. From 1995-2005, the average annual growth of the regional HOI for access to electricity was 0.9 percentage points. El Salvador (1.6), Guatemala (1.6), Jamaica (1.8), and Paraguay (1.4) had the largest annual changes in percentage points.