Research on Displacement Indicators

Within the General Indicators of the Inclusiveness Index 2019, there are two factors representing displaced persons: refugees per 100,000 people and internally displaced people due to conflict per 100,000 people. While similar, the difference between these two groups is based on where the individual seeks refuge. Refugees are displaced people forced to leave their country in order to escape violence, persecution, or natural disaster. Internally displaced people, however, are those that are forced to leave their home for similar reasons, but who remain withing their country’s borders. The visualizations below chart these populations for each country in 2019 and specifically highlights countries with high numbers of internally displaced people.

Analysis of Displacement Indicators

Of the countries in our analysis, only 41 countries had more than zero internally displaced people per 100,000 population. Of those countries, the Central African Republic has the highest number of internally displaced persons per 100,000 in 2019, at 10,929 given the unrest the country has been experiencing over the last few years. Syria had the second highest at 9,754 internally displaced people due to conflict per 100,000 in 2019, as Syria has been experiencing a civil war for the last decades. Similarly, Lebanon had the highest number of refugees per 100,000 people in 2019 than any other country, likely given its proximity to Syria. Whereas only a few countries had internally displaced people due to conflict, most countries in 2019 had at least some refugees. Countries with zero refugees are mostly small island nations, such as Vanuatu, which is possibly because refugees are leaving the country due to climate change factors rather than leaving countries to go there for refuge.

Research on Incarceration Indicators

A nation’s use of criminal law enforcement and differential rates of incarceration are often the most dramatically evident indicator of a group’s marginality. Criminal laws reflect the values of the dominant group and broadly reflect the institutional structures that prevent a fully inclusive society. For marginalized groups, criminal law is used as a form of social control that may result in high rates of incarceration as a result. In turn, a nation with low rates of incarceration can sometimes be reflective of a more inclusive society. While the women's incarceration rate is used to calculate the overall Gender Indicator in the Inclusiveness Index, for the purpose of this analysis, it is visualized below for comparison purposes to the overall incarceration rate of the country. The visualization below also examines the relationship between both incarceration rates for each country individually.

Analysis of Incarceration Indicators

It is clear to see from the visualizations above that the United States has both the highest incarceration rate as well as the highest incarceration rate for women of any country in the world. Given incarceration and other forms of punishment are often inflicted based on social biases against minority groups, this indicates that the United States could be disproportionately incarcerating people from minority groups as a tool of social control. The US also has the highest incarceration rate of women, followed closely behind by Thailand. The countries with incarceration rates of 0 overall and for women were small island nations, such as Clipperton Island and Saint Maarten. This could indicate that these nations have a more inclusive society overall since they have such low incarceration rates. Looking at the relationship between the incarceration rate per 100,000 people vs. the incarceration rate for women per 100,000 people, we see that the United States clearly has the highest rates overall. Despite this outlier, there is a strong linear relationship between these variables, wherein as countries see an increase in their overall incarceration rate, the country also sees an increase in the incarceration rate of women.