United Nations, Nov 09: India has marginally improved its position to 126th place, one point higher than the last year, on United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) which measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.
Pakistan too moves up one point but is still nine points below India at 135 in the flagship study produced annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
In the South Asian region, Bangladesh moved up by two points to 137, Sri Lanka maintained its position at 93, Maldives lost ground by two point to go down to 98, Nepal was down by two points to 138 and Bhutan occupied 135 compared with 134 a year ago. China is at 81st position while Honk Kong occupies 22nd position.
The top five positions are occupied by Norway, Iceland, Australia, Ireland and Sweden among 177 countries evaluated by UNDP. On the other end of the scale are Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sierra Leone and Niger.
The Index, which is based on analyses of 2004 data, does not include 17 UN member States, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, citing lack of sufficient data.
Among developed nations, Japan occupies 7th position, the US 8th, France 16th, Britain 18th, Germany 21st and Russia at 65th position is listed among Medium Human Development Nations.
After a major setback in first half of 1990s, former Soviet Republics are looking up and have recovered. But the Sub Saharan Africa shows no sign of improving, principally because of the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS on life expectancy which currently is lower than three decades ago.
In 31 countries at the bottom of the chart, 28 of them in Sub Saharan Africa, a person can hope to live on an average only 46 years which is 32 years less than life expectancy in advanced nations with HIV/AIDS alone shaving off 20 years.
Referring to globalization, the report says when it comes to human development, the rising tide of global prosperity has lifted some boats faster than others "and some boats are sinking fast."
Enthusiasts who emphasize the positive aspects of globalization, the report says, sometimes get carried away.
"They increasingly use the language of the global village to describe the new order. But when viewed through the lens of human development, the global village appears deeply divided be tween the streets of have and those of have-nots," it adds.
For example, it says, the average person in Norway, which is at the top of the index, and countries such as Niger at the bottom of the table, "certainly live in different human development districts of global village."
People in Norway are 40 times wealthier than people in Niger, live almost twice as long and enjoy near universal education compared with an enrolment rate of 21 per cent in Niger.
Bureau Report