UNITED NATIONS – Pakistan was ranked at 152nd position among 189 countriesin U.N.’s 2019 Human Development Index (HDI)’s annual rankings that ismeasured by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainmentand income.
The HDI forms part of the Human Development Report (HDR) 2019, a flagshipstudy produced annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),which was released Monday.
The report is 29th in a series which began in 1990. The first UNDP HumanDevelopment Report (HDR) was prepared and launched under the leadership ofthe late Dr. Mahbubul Haq, a former Pakistan finance minister.
In other South Asian countries, India ranked at 129 on the index;Bangladesh: 135; Sri Lanka: 71; Maldives: 104; Nepal: 147, and Bhutan 134.
During the period, Pakistan’s HDI value was 0.560; life expectancy 67.1years; average years of schooling 5.2 years and gross national income percapita $ 5,190.
Oil-rich Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany and Hong Kong (China) ledthe ranking, while Niger, the Central African Republic, Chad, South Sudanand Burundi have the lowest scores in the HDI’s measurement of nationalachievements in health, education and income.
This year’s Human Development Report, which reviews the performance of thecountries in the year 2018, is titled: “Beyond income, beyond averages,beyond today: Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century.”
Despite global progress in tackling poverty, hunger and disease, the reportsaid, a `new generation of inequalities’ indicates that many societies arenot working as they should.
It states that just as the gap in basic living standards is narrowing formillions of people, inequalities surrounding education, and aroundtechnology and climate change, have sparked demonstrations across the globe.
Left unchecked, they could trigger a `new great divergence’ in society ofthe kind not seen since the Industrial Revolution, according to the report.
“This Human Development Report sets out how systemic inequalities aredeeply damaging our society and why,” Achim Steiner, the UNDPAdministrator, said.
“Inequality is not just about how much someone earns compared to theirneighbour. It is about the unequal distribution of wealth and power: theentrenched social and political norms that are bringing people onto thestreets today, and the triggers that will do so in the future unlesssomething changes. Recognizing the real face of inequality is a first step;what happens next is a choice that each leader must make.”
Steiner added crucially that `inequality is not beyond solutions’.
The human development approach views `richness’ as going beyond the ideathat economic growth will automatically lead to development and wellbeing.It focuses on people, and their opportunities and choices.
UNDP said it’s research shows that in 2018, 20 per cent of humandevelopment progress was lost due to the unequal distribution of education,health and living standards.
“What used to be `nice-to-haves’, like going to university or access tobroadband, are increasingly important for success, but left only with thebasics, people find the rungs knocked out of their ladder to the future,”said Pedro Conceicao, Director of the HDR Office at UNDP.
The report recommends revamped policies in the areas of education,productivity and public spending.
As inequality begins even before birth and can accumulate throughadulthood, investing in young children’s learning, health and nutrition iskey. These investments must continue throughout life as they have an impacton earnings and productivity in the labour market.
UNDP said it observed that countries with a more productive workforcegenerally have a lower concentration of wealth at the top, which is enabledby policies that support stronger unions, the right to a minimum wage,social protection and which bring more women into the workplace.
The report further highlights the role of taxation, which cannot be lookedat on its own. Rather, fair taxation should lie behind policies thatinclude greater public spending on health, education and greener energyalternatives.
As the UNDP chief noted, `Different triggers are bringing people onto thestreets — the cost of a train ticket, the price of petrol, demands forpolitical freedoms, the pursuit of fairness and justice. This is the newface of inequality’.
Looking to the future, the report asks how inequality might be viewed yearsdown the line, especially in relation to “two seismic shifts” that willshape the next century.
Those are the climate crisis, and the progress of the technologicaltransformation that includes renewables and energy efficiency, digitalfinance and digital health solutions.
The report calls for opportunities to be “seized quickly and sharedbroadly”.