RI's Human Development Index down

RI's Human Development Index down

Evelyn Leopold, Reuters/United Nations

Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands ranked as the best five countries to live in but Africa's quality of life plummeted because of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), said a United Nations report released on Thursday.

Indonesia ranked 111th out of 177 countries surveyed, below Thailand, the Philippines and three other Southeast Asian countries.

Last year, it ranked in 112th place from a list of 175 countries.

In Asia, Hong Kong was in 23rd place and Singapore in 25th, South Korea in 28th, Thailand, 76; the Philippines, 83; China, 94; India 127; Bangladesh 138 and Pakistan 142.

The United States was ranked in eighth place, a drop of one position from 2003 in the report that rates not only per-capita income but also educational levels, health care and life expectancy in measuring a nation's well-being.

The Human Development Index, prepared by the UN Development Program, is issued annually and includes every country for which statistics are available.

Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea and Liberia were among nations not included because of lack of data.

Norway has led the list for the past four years.

Aside from the overall index, the report produces indicators on women's equality, income inequality and consumption, poverty and other categories that countries use to measure development.

In Canada, for example, the index has been used in advertisements to attract business.

The industrialized nations as usual were in the top 20, their ratings close to one another. Belgium was in sixth place, followed by Iceland, the United States, Japan, Ireland, Switzerland, Britain, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, New Zealand, Germany and Spain.

At the bottom of the list for the seventh year was Sierra Leone, emerging from a decade of civil war. Right above it were Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Burundi.

The world's newest nation, East Timor, was included for the first time and ranked 158th out of 177 countries.

In Africa, the AIDS crisis reduced the average life expectancy in many countries to 40 years or less, making it the biggest factor in the decline of overall human development indicators, the report said. In comparison, the average life expectancy in Norway was 79 years.

At least 20 nations suffered development reversals since 1990, 13 of them in Africa, such as Angola, Central African Republic, Lesotho, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the report said.

"The AIDS crisis cripples states at all levels because the disease attacks people in their most productive years," said Mark Malloch Brown, head of UN Development Program.

In Latin American and Caribbean nations, Barbados again headed the list, in 29th place. Argentina ranked 34th, Chile, 43; Costa Rica, 45; Uruguay, 46; Bahamas, 51; Cuba, 52; Mexico, 53; Venezuela, 68. Surprisingly, Brazil dropped to 72nd place, one above Colombia, compared to last year when it ranked 65th.

In the Middle East, Israel led the list in 22nd place, followed by Cyprus in 30th place, Bahrain, 40; Kuwait, 44; Qatar, 47; United Arab Emirates, 49; Libya, 58; Oman 74; Saudi Arabia, 77; Lebanon, 80; Jordan, 90; Tunisia, 92; Palestinian territories 102; Syria, 106; Algeria, 108; Egypt, 120; Morocco, 125 and Yemen, 149.

The 285-page report can be found on the Web at http://hdr.undp.org.

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