Asymmetry between municipalities in Cape Verde increases slightly in 2023 – INE
The asymmetry between Cape Verdean municipalities has increased slightly this year, compared to the previous year, with the more developed ones distancing themselves from the less developed ones, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics to which Lusa had access today.
According to the Index results released this week by INE, the level of territorial cohesion between Cape Verde municipalities is low, standing at 0.404 points in 2023.
Also according to that Cape Verdean institute, comparing this result with that of 2022, which was 0.411 points, it is concluded that, in 2023, the asymmetry between municipalities is greater.
“The municipalities of Praia, São Vicente, Santa Catarina de Santiago, Boa Vista, Brava, Ribeira Brava and São Lourenço dos Órgãos are the ones that maintained the same positions achieved in 2022”, found INE.
And according to the same source, the municipalities of Ribeira Grande de Santo Antão, São Domingos and Ribeira Grande de Santiago improved in their position in the table.
INE highlighted the result achieved by the municipality of São Miguel, in Santiago, which now occupies the 13th position, and in 2022, it occupied the 21st position.
The municipality of Santa Catarina do Fogo was the one that dropped the most, now occupying the 18th position, when last year it was in 13th, followed by Porto Novo, in Santo Antão, which went from 17th to 1st. 21st position.
As in 2022, the municipality of Praia, the country's capital, continues to be the most developed, while in the opposite direction, Santa Cruz, also in Santiago, occupies the last position among the municipalities in the country.
Another note goes to Sal, the most tourist island/municipality in the country, which in 2022 occupied the 3rd position, but moved to the 5th place, moving away from Praia and São Vicente “considerably” and being overtaken by Ribeira Grande de Santo Antão and by Santa Catarina de Santiago.
The municipalities of Tarrafal de Santiago and Brava registered values above the national average, while last year they obtained values below the national average, according to INE.
Comparing the municipality index values with the national average value, eight municipalities have values above this value (Praia, São Vicente, Ribeira Grande, Santa Catarina, Sal, Boa Vista, Brava and Tarrafal), while the 14 remaining municipalities have values below the national average value.
In terms of dimensions, INE referred that the analyzes of the results show that in the social dimension there is some cohesion between the municipalities, while in the economic and territorial dimension, the situation points to a “high asymmetry” between the municipalities, which, when compared with the results of 2022, they got worse.
“From the analysis, it is concluded that the level of global asymmetry existing between municipalities is mainly influenced by the high asymmetry existing in the Economic and Territorial Dimensions”, found INE.
Despite the slight increase in overall asymmetry between municipalities in Cape Verde, INE also found that there was a group that converged with the group of municipalities with higher index values, reducing the asymmetry.
There was also a group of municipalities that distanced themselves from the group of municipalities with higher index values, increasing the asymmetry.
On Monday, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Territorial Coordination Council, the Minister of State, National Defense and Parliamentary Affairs, Janine Lélis, said that social policies have been yielding results in the country, but acknowledged that in terms of economic development there is a "great asymmetry" between some islands that needs to be corrected.
