11 December 2019 02:01 am
Sri Lanka has been ranked 71st among 189 countries in the 2019 Human Development Report which was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bogota, Colombia on Monday.
Sri Lanka’s Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2018 is 0.780 which helped the country to position itself in the High Human Development category of the index.
The four main categories of the Index are Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development and Low Human Development.
The neighbouring Maldives ranked 104th in the index while India ranked 129, Bhutan 134, Bangladesh 135, Nepal 147, Pakistan 152 and Afghanistan 170. China was ranked 85.
Norway topped the index with an HDI value of 0.954 and was followed by Switzerland and Ireland. Germany and Hong Kong, China ranked at fourth place simultaneously while Australia and Iceland both came in sixth place.
Niger ranked at the bottom of the list with an HDI value of 0.377 and was followed by Central African Republic, Chad, South Sudan and Burundi.
The first official copy of the report titled, ‘Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st Century’ was presented to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa by UNDP Resident Representative of Sri Lanka, Robert Juhkam in the presence of UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer.
The UN Office in Colombo said discussions were held on UNDP’s important role as the SDG integrator in supporting the development agenda and the focus on human development to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Ms. Singer further reiterated the UN’s continued support to the Government of Sri Lanka in taking this agenda forward.
Meanwhile, the Premier’s Office said Prime Minister Rajapaksa expressed his pleasure regarding Sri Lanka’s achievements in human development as it ranks in the ‘high’ human development category. (Lahiru Pothmulla)