Norway best country to live in

Niger Worst Place, No Change In India’s Ranking Of 134: HDR


The extremes are chilling. A child born in Norway will likely live 30 years longer than a child born in Niger, in Africa. The average income in Norway is 85 times the average income in Niger. The global divide between rich and poor countries continues to be shockingly wide, according to latest data on key measures of 182 countries, released on Monday as part of the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR).
The report ranks countries according to the Human Development Index (HDI), a summary measure of well-being based on life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and GDP per capita. Published annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), this year’s HDR is based on data till 2007, before the current global downturn. It provides comparisons between rankings since 1980.
Norway, followed by Australia and Iceland are this year’s top three ranked countries. The bottom three ranked countries are: Niger, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. India is ranked at 134, the same as last year’s updated rankings. Between 1980 and 2007, India’s HDI increased by about 1.3% every year. Many African countries show even higher growth rates in HDI, reflecting the very low levels they were at in 1980. Most high income countries show growth rates between 0.25 to 0.5 % per year over this period. “Despite significant improvements over time, progress has been uneven,” says the Report’s lead author Jeni Klugman. “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,” Klugman adds, since the most recent internationally comparable data is for 2007. Five countries rose three or more places, compared with 2006: China, Colombia, France, Peru and Venezuela. These were largely driven by increases in incomes and life expectancy and, in the cases of China, Colombia and Venezuela, were also due to improvements in education. China showed the maximum improvement, jumping 7 places to rank 92. Longer-term trends in the HDI since 1980 show significant advances in human development, with an average improvement of 15% in countries’ HDI scores. The strongest gainers have been China, Iran and Nepal. Yet, progress has been much more significant in education and health than on the income front. “While the closing of the gaps in many health and education indicators is good news, the persistent inequality in the distribution of world incomes should continue to be a source of concern for policy makers and international institutions,” says Klugman.

TIMES INSIGHT GROUP