Pakistan worst performer in South Asia: Human development report
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Dec 15: A child born in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhuttan, Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries has better chances of living a good quality life in terms of human development than the average compatriot in Pakistan
, says the UN Human Development Report 2004.
The report categorises Pakistan as the "worst performer in South Asia" in terms of human development index. Ranked 142nd, Pakistan is even behind Bangladesh, which has a ranking of 138.
The Human Development Index (HDI) focuses on three measurable dimensions of human development: living of a long and healthy life, being educated and having a decent standard of living.
The HDI combines measures of life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and income to allow a broader view of a country's development than does income alone. The report ranks Pakistan with an HDI value of just 0.497 whereas Maldives tops the list in South Asia with a value of 0.75.
In terms of life expectancy, Pakistan is ranked 127th with an average age of 60.8 years. For combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, it ranks 161st. In terms of GDP per capita, it has a ranking of 134.
Pakistan is also on the lower rung of human poverty index (HPI) with a ranking of 71 amongst the 95 developing countries. Pakistan with an HPI-1 value of 41.9 per cent is slightly better than Bangladesh which is placed at number 72 with an HPI-1 value of 42.2 per cent.
The Gender Development Index (GDI), measuring inequalities between men and women along with HDI indicators, ranks Pakistan 120th among 144 countries. In terms of GDI, the report ranks Pakistan "worst performer" in South Asia while Sri Lanka tops the regional list of GDI as the best performer.
The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) shows that Pakistan ranks 139th in terms of ratio of female earned income to that of the males. However, the overall GEM value for Pakistan places it at number 64. Women hold 20.8 per cent of parliamentary seats and make up 26 per cent of professional and technical workers. Only nine per cent of administrators and managers are women.
