Promoting and advancing economic growth and independence.
Average per capita incomes in developing countries rose 2.7% a year between 1950 and 1990. This represents the highest sustained rate if increase in history. At the regional level, Asian countries grew at an average rate of 5.2% a year in the 1970s and 7.3% in the 1980s, while growth in non-Asian developing countries decelerated from 5.6% in the 1970s to 2.8% in the 1980s. Asia was the only developing region to achieve sustained per capita income growth during the 1980s. Per capita income in developing countries fell on average in 1990 and 1991, after rising every year the previous 25 years, as a result of the fall of communism and recession in high-income countries. The most rapid economic growth rates are expected in East Asia.
Economic policies conducive to sustained growth are among the most important measures governments can take to improve their citizens' health.