Norway takes the number one spot in the annual United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) released on 5 October, 2009, but China has made the biggest strides in improving the well-being of its citizens. The index compiled by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) ranks 182 countries based on such criteria as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita.
Norway, Australia and Iceland took the first three spots while Niger ranks at the very bottom, just below Afghanistan. China moved up seven places on the list to rank as the 92nd most developed country due to improvements in education as well as income levels and life expectancy.
Colombia and Peru rose five spaces to rank 77th and 78th while France — which was not part of the top 10 last year — returns to the upper echelons by moving up three places to number 8.
Declining India's Position
India continues to cut a sorry figure, slipping six points (from the last compilation) in the latest HDI. Overall, however, India made progress on HDI, improving its value from 0.556 in 2000 to 0.612 in 2007.
As against a standing of 128 in the previous year’s UN Human Development Report, India has been ranked 134th among the 182 nations surveyed in the latest report.
Despite progress in the last 25 years, disparities in people’s well-being in rich and poor countries continue to be unacceptably wide. The report was introduced here by Patrice Coeur-Bizot, resident representative of the UNDP.
This year’s report represents the most extensive coverage ever of 182 countries. As for rankings, the top three ranked countries in the HDI are - Norway, Australia and Iceland. France rejoined the top 10 countries after dropping down for one year, while Luxembourg fell from the top 10.
India’s static ranking comes despite the fact that the government over last five years has increased its social sector spending manifold.
Rich-Poor Countries Disparities
The UNDP said the index highlights the grave disparities between rich and poor countries. A child born in Niger can expect to live to just over 50, which is 30 years less than a child born in Norway. For every dollar a person earns in Niger, 85 dollars are earned in Norway.
The 2009 index was based on data from 2007 and does not take into account the impact of the global economic crisis. Many countries have experienced setbacks over recent decades, in the face of economic downturns, conflict-related crises and the HIV and AIDS epidemic. And this was even before the impact of the current global financial crisis was felt.
Afghanistan, which returns to the list for the first time since 1996, is the only Asian country among the bottom 10 which also include Sierra Leone in the 180th spot, just below the Central African Republic.
Sri Lanka tops the ranking among the South Asian countries at 102nd position, while Bhutan maintained higher ranking than India at 132nd in the overall ranking. Other three neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, are also not far behind than India as they stood at 141, 146 and 144 respectively.
Life Expectancy and Adult Literacy
The UNDP report lists Japan at the top in terms of average life expectancy of 82.7 years, while Afghanistan is at the bottom with just 43.6 years. India has an average life expectancy of 63.4 years.
In adult literacy, Gerogia tops the list with 100 per cent and Mali at the bottom with only 26.2 per cent, while India is better of with 66 per cent.
Further, Liechtenstein tops the list as per the GDP per capita in United States dollar with 85,382, whereas Congo is at the bottom with only 298 and India has 2,753.
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