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[Graphic News] S. Korea places 20th in UN quality of life ranking

Korea Herald

4 days ago

Politics
Korea Herald

[Graphic News] S. Korea places 20th in UN quality of life ranking

South Korea ranked 20th out of 193 countries in the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index, which evaluates the quality of life in each country. According to the UNDP's 2025 Human Development Report, South Korea achieved an HDI score of 0.937 for 2023, up from 0.928 the previous year. Despite the increase, the country slipped one spot in the global ranking, from 19th to 20th. Iceland topped the list, followed by Norway, Switzerland and Denmark. Among neighboring countries, Japan rose one place to 23rd, while China fell three spots to 78th. The HDI is a composite index that quantifies a country's quality of life by factoring in life expectancy, expected years of schooling, average years of schooling and gross national income per capita.

Business Recorder

12-05-2025

Business
Business Recorder

Down there with the worst

EDITORIAL: Pakistan's descent to 168th out of 193 countries in the latest Human Development Index (HDI) ranking is an indictment of decades of governance that prioritised short-term economic indicators over long-term investment in people. As of the UNDP's 2025 Human Development Report, Pakistan now ranks among the world's 26 lowest-scoring countries — a category overwhelmingly composed of war-torn or desperately poor Sub-Saharan African states, and only one other South Asian country: Afghanistan. This new classification is not merely embarrassing; it is revealing. Pakistan's policymakers have long pointed to growth spurts, booming construction, rising remittances, or even stock market rallies as signs of progress. But these celebrations never masked the ground reality for most Pakistanis. Even in years when GDP growth neared 6 or 7 percent, Pakistan's HDI score remained stubbornly low. The economy grew, but people did not prosper. Development, in the human sense, never took root. The HDI, unlike GDP, captures a more complete picture of life. It measures not just income, but life expectancy and education — the very foundations of a functional society. For Pakistan to rank this low in 2025, despite decades of rhetoric about reform and digital revolutions, is to admit failure where it matters most. Literacy, maternal and child health, nutrition, and access to clean water remain chronic deficits. The education system is broken at the base, while public health infrastructure is perpetually under-resourced and overstretched. This is not a problem that began yesterday. It has been hardwired into the country's development priorities for generations. Instead of building institutions, governments outsourced education and health to underfunded provinces or private entities. Instead of investing in people, the state spent on prestige projects — highways, metro lines, power plants — without laying the social groundwork to make them count. And when debt-fuelled growth faltered, there was no social safety net to fall back on. The masses were left to fend for themselves. The UNDP report underlines that global human development is stalling, but it also shows that Pakistan is falling behind even within the group of low-income countries. The gap between nations with 'very high' and 'low' HDI scores — once slowly narrowing — has now begun to widen again. In this divergence, Pakistan is firmly on the wrong side. And it has reached this point not just because of global headwinds like conflict, Covid-19, or climate shocks — which have affected everyone — but because of its own refusal to confront structural rot. It is also telling that this year's Human Development Report focuses heavily on artificial intelligence and the possibilities it opens for countries willing to invest in the future. The implication is clear: countries that modernise, reform, and reimagine their systems with technology at the centre can leap ahead, even from low baselines. Pakistan, however, remains caught between two worlds — reluctant to reform, yet eager to declare itself open for business in the digital age. The contradiction is glaring. The country continues to produce tens of thousands of unemployed graduates each year with little digital fluency. It continues to run schools where basic arithmetic and literacy are not guaranteed. And it continues to invest more political capital in regulating dissent or controlling narratives than in improving what matters to people's lives — access to doctors, teachers, jobs, clean air, or safe drinking water. Pakistan's chronic underdevelopment is not simply a result of poverty. It is also a result of misplaced priorities, weak institutions, elite capture, and the persistent failure of successive governments — military and civilian — to put human capital at the centre of national planning. GDP figures can be manipulated by temporary inflows or accounting tricks. HDI figures cannot. They expose not just how a country is doing today, but what future it is building — or failing to build. With the 2030 sustainable development targets slipping further out of reach, and even basic development indicators going into reverse, the choices ahead are stark. Either the state undertakes a radical rethinking of its development paradigm — one that centres the citizen, not just the economy — or Pakistan will remain locked in a cycle of borrowed growth and deepening inequality. The warning signs are all there. And now, so is the global label: one of the least developed nations in the world. The longer that is accepted as normal, the harder it will be to escape. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025

Deccan Herald

09-05-2025

Business
Deccan Herald

Human development: Gaps delay goals

India has made a slight improvement in its ranking on the latest Human Development Index (HDI), but the report also shows that the country has much more to achieve. It has recorded a three-place rise from its 2022 rank of 133 to 130, out of 193 countries, but the fact remains that India is still in the bottom one-third of the world. According to the Human Development Report, 'A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI', India has registered an HDI value increase to 0.685 in 2023 from 0.676 in 2022. Considering that the pandemic years badly set the country back, just as much as the rest of the world, India's performance is credit-worthy in three areas. These are 'a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living'. India's life expectancy improved from 56.6 years in 1990 to 72 years in 2023. Children's tenure in school increased from 8.2 years to 13 years and the per capita income from $2,167.22 to $9046.76 during the period. Initiatives such as MGNREGS and RTE have a role in India also faces serious challenges in other areas – there is a high level of income inequality that has reduced the country's HDI by as much as 30%. While inequality in health and education has lessened, it remains high in terms of gender and income. Female labour force participation has improved but remains low. Political representation of women is also low and the constitutional amendment to improve this is yet to come into force. Much of India's neighbourhood mirrors these shortcomings, except Pakistan and Afghanistan – both have reported poorer performance. China and Sri Lanka have secured higher positions in the DBRS upgrades India's sovereign credit the report shows that human development has stalled to a 35-year low because of various factors including the Covid pandemic and the economic slowdown in most parts of the world. The annual HDI increase was the lowest in 2023 since 1990. A positive takeaway from the report is the widespread hope that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will boost human development. It is expected that AI will improve productivity, create jobs, and show results in areas such as education and health. The report says India has been able to retain 20% of its AI researchers. The country needs to use AI in diverse areas such as agriculture, healthcare, and public service delivery. At the same time, adoption needs to be backed by strong policies and safeguards to prevent AI from exacerbating inequalities.

Iraq Business

08-05-2025

Business
Iraq Business

Iraq Ranks "Medium" in Human Development

By John Lee. The UN's latest Human Development Report ranks Iraq in 126th place (jointly with Eswatini) out of 170 countries, based on data from 2023: Human Development Index (HDI) Global Rank: Joint-126th HDI Score: 0.695 Category: Medium Human Development Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI): 0.534 HDI Loss due to Inequality: 23.2% Health & Income Life Expectancy at Birth: 72.3 years Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (PPP): $12,654 Education Expected Years of Schooling: 12.4 years Mean Years of Schooling: 6.8 years Education Disparity Index: 29.7% (highest among human development indicators) Gender Disparity in Education: Girls: 13.7 expected years Boys: 12.6 expected years Adult Women (mean years): 5.2 years Adult Men (mean years): 6.3 years Income Distribution Top 10% Income Share: 27.3% Bottom 40% Income Share: 20.5% Top 1% Income Share: 15.7% Gini Coefficient: 29.5 Average Income by Gender: Women: $10,750 Men: $16,531 Women's Earnings as % of Men's: 65% Gender Development Gender Development Index (GDI): 0.964 (Group 2: low gender disparity) Female HDI: 0.682 Male HDI: 0.708 Female Life Expectancy Advantage: +3.7 years (Source: UNDP)

A step up: on India and the 2025 Human Development Report

The Hindu

07-05-2025

Business
The Hindu

A step up: on India and the 2025 Human Development Report

Amid a disturbing rate of deceleration in global development and a growing divide between the rich and the poor, India has inched up on the Human Development Index. In the 2025 Human Development Report, 'A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI', released on Tuesday, India ranks 130 out of 193 countries, from 133 in 2022. It registered an HDI value increase to 0.685 in 2023 from 0.676 in 2022. Coming on the back of two debilitating pandemic years, it can be said that India's recovery has been strong in the three fields HDI measures: 'a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living'. India's life expectancy, at 72 years in 2023, is the highest level it has reached since the inception of the index in 1990 (58.6 years). Children, the report noted, are expected to stay in school for 13 years on average, up from 8.2 years in 1990; and Gross National Income per capita has risen from $2,167.22 in 1990 to $9046.76 in 2023. It gave a shout out to programmes such as MGNREGA, the Right to Education Act, the National Rural Health Mission and other initiatives for the improved status, but also sounded a word of caution about rising inequality, particularly significant income and gender disparities. The female labour participation rate may have risen to 41.7% in 2023-24, as the Economic Survey of 2024-25 pointed out, but a stronger ecosystem needs to be built to ensure women join the workforce and are able to retain their jobs. There is a lag in political representation of women as well with no indication yet when the constitutional amendments reserving one-third of legislative seats for women will come into force. Underprivileged girls and boys still struggle to get an education, and until this anomaly is corrected, India's HDI value will not rise. Though the report highlights that 13.5 crore (of India's population of 144 crore) 'escaped multidimensional poverty' between 2015-16 and 2019-21, income and gender inequalities have pulled down India's HDI by 30.7%, 'one of the highest losses in the region.' The thrust of the HDR this year was on AI and how human beings may benefit from it on development parameters. India, it said, has been able to retain 20% of AI researchers, up from nearly zero in 2019. Going forward, India must leverage AI to deliver on many fronts from agriculture to health care, education to public service delivery. But it is imperative that proper policy and safeguards are in place to thwart the risk that AI may deepen existing inequalities.