New York
Pakistan was ranked 154th among 189 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) 2020 rankings.
The HDI rankings are measured by combining indicators of health, education, and standards of living but this year included two more elements: a nation’s carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint that put enormous strain on the planet.
“With its new, experimental Planetary pressures–adjusted Human Development Index, we hope to open a new conversation on the path ahead for each country—a path yet unexploreed,” Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Achim Steiner said as he launched the Human Development Report (HDR) 2020, a flagship study which the programme produces annually.
“Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before. In the wake of COVID-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden,” he stated.
The report is 30th in a series which began in 1990. The first UNDP Human Development Report (HDR) was prepared and launched under the leadership of the late Dr Mahbubul Haq, a former Pakistan finance minister.
In other South Asian countries, India ranked at 131 on the Planetary pressures-adjusted HD index; Bangladesh: 133; Sri Lanka: 72; Maldives: 95; Nepal: 142, and Bhutan 129.
Oil-rich Norway, Ireland, Hong Kong (China), Iceland/Iceland, Germany led the rankings, while Niger, the Central African Republic, Chad, South Sudan and Burundi have the lowest scores in the HDI measurements.
The United States is placed at 17th position. This year’s Human Development Report, which reviews the performance of the countries in the year 2019, is titled: “The New Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene.”—AFP
