The United Nations has listed Bangladesh as one of the 18 countries in the world that have made rapid progress in human development in the last three decades, though occupying a rather low position.
The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) “2013 Human Development Report”, released on Friday in Dhaka as elsewhere in the world, measured national achievements in health, education and income to rank countries in the Human Development Index (HDI).
With Bangladesh’s 69.2 years of life expectancy at birth, 8.1 expected years of schooling, 4.8 average years of schooling and $1,785 per capita income, the country has been ranked 146th, carrying 0.515 weightage in the index, among the 187 countries.
The Bangladesh’s position, which cannot be compared with the previous report as the UNDP says methodologies have been changed, is equal to Pakistan, despite the fact that Bangladesh’s health and education sector have seen substantial progressed.
“It is because of income level. Pakistan’s per capita income is $2,566,” said UNDP Bangladesh’s Assistant Country Director KAM Morshed while presenting the report.
He said Pakistan was ‘in better position’ than Bangladesh in 1980 from where they started to see the progress trend.
Bangladesh was ranked 147th in the 2012 report.
The 2013 report — The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World — tells the story of over 40 developing countries that have made ‘striking human development gains’ in recent years.
The report attributes their achievements to strong national commitment to better public health and education services, innovative poverty eradication programmes and strategic engagement with the world economy.
“The South as a whole is driving global economic growth and social change for the first time in centuries,” writes Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, in the foreword.
Source: Bd News24
