Sri Lanka slips even in Human Development Index ranking

In what could be an eye opener, Sri Lanka has even slipped in the latest global Human Development Index (HDI) ranking released this week apart from the dip in global competitiveness strength and rise in corruption perception index as reported recently by The Bottom Line.
In the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) annual rankings, Sri Lanka was placed 102nd in the 2009 list whilst in the 2007/8 report, the country was placed higher at 99. In 2006, Sri Lanka was ranked higher at 93. This reflects a gradual erosion in the rankings. Though moving downwards, Sri Lanka has managed to remain within the second tier of the Human Development category i.e. Medium Human Development. Maldives remains the highest ranked South Asian country in the list at 95, up from 100 in the previous list.
This year’s HDI, which refers to 2007, highlights the very large gaps in well-being and life chances that continue to divide our increasingly interconnected world. The HDI for Sri Lanka is 0.759, which gives the country a rank of 102nd out of 182 countries with data.
Norway remains top in the rankings followed by Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.
The chapter on Sri Lanka refers to the challenge of the country having to go beyond income.
UNDP said between 1980 and 2007 Sri Lanka’s HDI rose by 0.58% annually from 0.649 to 0.759 today. HDI scores in all regions have increased progressively over the years although all have experienced periods of slower growth or even reversals.
By looking at some of the most fundamental aspects of people’s lives and opportunities the HDI provides a much more complete picture of a country’s development than other indicators, such as GDP per capita. As per UNDP report, countries on the same level of HDI can have very different levels of income or that countries with similar levels of income can have very different HDIs.
As per the Human Poverty Index (HPI-1), Sri Lanka, ranks 67th among 135 countries and out of the 155 countries with both HDI and GDI (gender-related development index) values, 35 countries have a better ratio than Sri Lanka’s. The country’s rank in GEM (gender empowerment measure) is 98th out of 109 countries.
This year’s report which focuses on challenges common migration misconceptions, said Sri Lanka has an emigration rate of 4.7%. The major continent of destination for migrants from Sri Lanka is Asia with 54.1% of emigrants living there.

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