New York, Nov 4 (DPA) ‘Substantial progress’ has been made by many countries, including India, in recent years in boosting health, education and income for their people, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said Thursday.
In a 2010 progress report released at the UN headquarters in New York, the UNDP said those achievements have been impressive. The report was based on a database of human development trends since the 1970s, covering 135 countries and 95 percent of the world population. The first report was launched in 1990.
India and China, the world’s most populous nations and emerging economic powers, played a major role in improving their peoples’ well-being, UNDP said.
The fastest progress has been in East Asia and the Pacific, followed by South Asia and Arab states, said the report titled ‘The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathway to Human Development’.
The report’s Human Development Index (HDI) measures advances in health, education and income. There are 42 countries listed as very high in human development. The 10 top achievers are Norway, Australia, New Zealand, the US, Ireland, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Germany.
At the bottom of the human development list are the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.
