Africa bottom of 'life' log

2003-07-08 13:42

New York - Norway leads other industrialised countries atop a chart measuring human well-being in terms of longevity, education and living standards while about 25 African countries are at the bottom, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said on Tuesday.

Norway leads the Human Development Index while Sierra Leone is last.

The index is published annually by the UNDP to help governments realise the goals of meeting the needs of their populations.

It tracks progress in human development by measuring key social and economic indicators in each country.

UNDP administrator March Malloch Brown said the world was facing an "acute development crisis" with poor nations having continuing social and economic decline.

"Reversals in the index are highly unusual, as these indicators generally tend to edge up slowly over time," he said.

"The fact that over the course of the 1990s, 21 countries experienced a decline - in some cases a drastic drop - signifies an urgent call for action to address health and education as well as income levels in these countries."

50 "low" human development countries

The index measures three dimensions in human development: living a long and healthy life, education and living standards. The three elements define the wellbeing of individuals under the UNDP index.

Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Finland, Luxembourg, Austria, France, Germany, Spain and New Zealand are the top 20 countries in the index.

They belong to the 55 "high" human development countries, which include also Cuba and several Caribbean countries.

There are 50 "low" human development countries, with the bottom 20 in descending order: Senegal, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burundi, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone.

In between the two extremes are a large group of "medium" countries, including China and India, the world's most-populous countries that together account for more than one third of the world's 6.2 billion people.

UNDP says that sub-Saharan countries have had a decline in human development because of the devastation of the HIV/Aids pandemic, which shortens life expectancy.

Aids plays major role in status

South Africa fell 28 spots in the index from 1990 to 2003 because more of its people were dying younger of Aids-related diseases.

Botswana, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe fell in the index, also due to Aids-related factors.

Meanwhile, many developing countries have improved their medium rankings, including Bangladesh, China, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand.

Brazil made a big jump in the index, due mainly to efforts to boost education.

Bolivia and Peru have moved ahead in the index because of their social reforms since the early 1990s. - Sapa-DPA

- SAPA