Breve comparativo do sistema econômico e de indicadores de saúde e educação entre Brasil e Cuba

Abstract

The study of socioeconomic dynamics between different countries can provide valuable insights into the impacts of economic model choices and how these affect people's lives. This paper aims to comparatively analyze the economic systems and health and education indicators of Brazil and Cuba in 1960 and 1980, seeking to understand how economic systems and their political orientations impacted life expectancy, health, and education indices. The research uses a qualitative approach based on the analysis of social indicators from secondary sources, such as the 1983 World Bank report, complemented by Pereira's (1989) analysis of education data in Cuba. The results show that Cuba, despite being classified as a lower-middle-income country, achieved significant progress in 7 of the 9 compared indicators, such as reducing infant mortality and increasing life expectancy, outperforming Brazil, a country classified as upper-middle-income. The socioeconomic policies implemented in Cuba after the 1959 Revolution, such as the universalization of health and education, had a positive impact on the population's quality of life, while Brazil, with a more exclusionary health and education system, showed more modest progress. The research concluded that economic systems and adopted social policies directly influence the quality of life of populations.