IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i6p178-d1680922.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Classification of Latin American and Caribbean Countries Based on Multidimensional Development Indicators: A Multivariate Empirical Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Adel Mendoza-Mendoza

    (Industrial Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad del Atlántico, Barranquilla 080001, Colombia)

  • Delimiro Visbal-Cadavid

    (Industrial Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad del Magdalena, Santa Marta 470004, Colombia)

  • Enrique De La Hoz-Domínguez

    (Statistical and Quantitative Methods Research Group (GEMC), Universidad del Magdalena, Santa Marta 470004, Colombia)

Abstract

This study develops a multidimensional classification of Latin American and Caribbean countries based on a multidimensional set of economic, social, technological, and environmental indicators. This study develops a multidimensional assessment of the performance of Latin American and Caribbean countries, taking into account the following indicators for the period 2017–2022: education expenditure (% of GDP), health expenditure (% of GDP), GDP per capita (constant USD), CO 2 emissions per capita (metric tons), energy consumption per capita (kWh), internet users (% of population), mobile phone subscriptions (per 100 inhabitants), and the Global Innovation Index (GII). Initially, through the application of principal component analysis (PCA), the objective was to reduce the complexity of the data set and reveal the main structural dimensions. Subsequently, cluster analysis was used to classify countries according to shared development patterns. To achieve this, the average of the indicators for the 2017–2022 period was used as a basis, which enabled the reduction in short-term distortions and the capture of structural trends. The results reveal the existence of distinct groups, with countries with higher levels of digital connectivity, investment in human capital, and economic dynamism experiencing more favorable development conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Adel Mendoza-Mendoza & Delimiro Visbal-Cadavid & Enrique De La Hoz-Domínguez, 2025. "Classification of Latin American and Caribbean Countries Based on Multidimensional Development Indicators: A Multivariate Empirical Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:6:p:178-:d:1680922
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/6/178/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/6/178/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Korir, Evans Kiptoo, 2024. "Comparative clustering and visualization of socioeconomic and health indicators: A case of Kenya," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Pablo González & Kirsten Sehnbruch & Mauricio Apablaza & Rocío Méndez Pineda & Veronica Arriagada, 2021. "A Multidimensional Approach to Measuring Quality of Employment (QoE) Deprivation in Six Central American Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 107-141, November.
    3. Ana Lorena Jiménez-Preciado & Salvador Cruz-Aké & Francisco Venegas-Martínez, 2024. "Identification of Patterns in CO 2 Emissions among 208 Countries: K-Means Clustering Combined with PCA and Non-Linear t -SNE Visualization," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Knar Khachatryan & Aleksandr Grigoryan, 2024. "Multidimensional Deprivation from Labor Market Opportunities in Armenia: Evidence from 2018 and 2020," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(1), pages 126-165, March.
    2. Shi, Zheng, 2023. "The impact of regional ICT development on job quality of the employee in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6).
    3. Hovhannisyan,Shoghik & Montalva Talledo,Veronica Sonia & Remick,Tyler & Rodriguez Castelan,Carlos & Stamm,Kersten Kevin, 2022. "Global Job Quality : Evidence from Wage Employment across Developing Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10134, The World Bank.
    4. Francis Green & Sangwoo Lee, 2024. "‘Bad Jobs’ in Europe: Derivation and Analysis of a Wellbeing-Related Job Quality Threshold," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(6), pages 3305-3334, December.
    5. Mauricio Apablaza & Kirsten Sehnbruch & Pablo González & Rocío Méndez, 2023. "Regional inequality in multidimensional quality of employment: insights from Chile, 1996–2017," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(3), pages 416-433, March.
    6. Adrien Frontenaud, 2023. "The Quality of Employment in MENA Countries: The Place and Dynamics of the Middle Class," Post-Print halshs-04203129, HAL.
    7. Malena Dolcet & Natalia Porto & Joaquín Zarrilli, 2024. "Youth Employment in Tourism: A Multidimensional Approach of Job Quality in Latin America," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0341, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    8. Thomas C. Stephens, 2025. "What has Happened to Job Quality in Britain? The Effect of Different Weighting Methods on Labour Market Inequalities and Changes Using a UK Quality of Work (QoW) Index, 2012–2021," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 833-861, March.
    9. Alexander Opoku & Jacob Nunoo & Raymond Elikplim Kofinti, 2024. "Working but hungry: precarious employment and household food insecurity in Ghana," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 71(4), pages 875-916, December.
    10. Bin Xiong & Baocheng Yu, 2024. "The Impact of Internet Development on Youth’s Job Quality in the Digital Economy Era: Transmission Mechanism and Empirical Test," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 269-294, October.
    11. Laurence Cannings & Craig Hutton & Kristine Nilsen & Alessandro Sorichetta, 2025. "“Where and Whom You Collect Weightings from Matters…” Capturing Wellbeing Priorities Within a Vulnerable Context: A Case Study of Volta Delta, Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 863-908, March.
    12. Sehnbruch, Kirsten & Apablaza, Mauricio & Foster, James, 2024. "Poor-quality employment: who is deprived in our labour markets?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122222, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Evans Kiptoo Korir & Zsolt Vizi, 2025. "Decoding Financial Health in Kenyas' Medical Insurance Sector: A Data-Driven Cluster Analysis," Papers 2502.17072, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2025.
    14. Stephens, Thomas, 2025. "What has happened to job quality in Britain? The effect of different weighting methods on labour market inequalities and changes using a UK Quality of Work (QoW) index, 2012–2021," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 127213, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. repec:ehl:lserod:117192 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Apablaza, Mauricio & Sehnbruch, Kirsten & González, Pablo & Mendez Pineda, Rocio, 2021. "Regional inequality in multidimensional quality of employment (QoE): insights from Chile, 1996-2017," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109819, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Raymond Elikplim Kofinti & Damiano Kulundu Manda & Martine Odhiambo Oleche & Germano Mwabu, 2025. "The Nexus Between Consumption Inequality and Multidimensional Poverty in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 176(2), pages 695-732, January.
    18. Koomson, Isaac & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2022. "Employment precarity and energy poverty in post-apartheid South Africa: Exploring the racial and ethnic dimensions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    19. Fernando Flores Tavares & Gianni Betti, 2024. "Gender Differences in Multidimensional Poverty in Brazil: A Fuzzy Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 175(2), pages 385-422, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:6:p:178-:d:1680922. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.