July 11, 2001	atimes.com

Oceania Norway edges Australia as world No 1 in UN survey By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS - Norway ranks No 1 among the 162 nations surveyed in this year's Human Development Index (HDI), released on Tuesday by the UN Development Program. Taking pride of place for the first time since the HDI was launched in 1990, Norway displaced Canada, which has held the top spot for the past six years after toppling Japan, which had ranked first since 1990. The HDI appears as part of the UN agency's Human Development Report 2001. It rates countries on a composite scale that includes life expectancy, per capita income, educational enrolment and adult literacy. Ranking behind Norway in the top 10 - as the country with the world's highest standard of living - were Australia, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, the United States, Iceland, the Netherlands, Japan and Finland. The 28 countries with the lowest standards of living were all from Africa and included Sierra Leone, Niger, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Chad. Norway also is among the world's top donors in terms of the proportion of national income earmarked for aid and Norwegian Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg says his country will continue to maintain this reputation. "Norway is and will continue to be one of the world's largest contributors per capita to international development efforts," he adds. Last month, a panel of UN experts on development financing argued that if donor nations met their aid target of 0.7 percent of national income, total development assistance would increase by about US$100 billion per year. The current annual average is only about $50 billion. So far, only five of the world's 23 donor nations have met the target set by the UN General Assembly nearly 30 years ago. In addition to Norway, they are Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Norway doles out more than $285 in development aid per capita, compared to less than $30 by the United States. Stoltenberg says the elimination of poverty is not only a moral responsibility but also a matter of increasing self-interest. "If we fail to make sufficient headway in reducing inequality, it will lead to growing conflicts, refugee movements, environmental degradation, disease and natural disasters," he says. Norway, he adds, will also continue to make "formidable contributions" to UN budgets, programs and peacekeeping efforts, as well as conflict prevention and resolution. The United States fell to sixth place in this year's HDI, from third place, although it ranks second only to Luxembourg in per capita income. It is 12th in educational enrolment and 24th in life expectancy. Japan is the only country in the world where the average child born today can expect to live more than 80 years. Sierra Leone, where a child born today will probably die before reaching the age of 39, and where only 32 percent of adults can read, ranks last on the HDI. Most countries have seen their HDI scores rise, even if their place in the ranking has remained unchanged. Egypt, Indonesia, South Korea and Portugal have achieved particularly large increases. But in 20 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, scores have fallen. Costa Rica and South Korea have made similar human development gains, but Costa Rica has done so with only half the income of South Korea. Pakistan and Vietnam have similar incomes, but Vietnam has done much more in translating that income into human development. "So, with the right policies, countries can advance faster in human development than in economic growth," the study argues. "And if they ensure that growth favors the poor, they can do much more with that growth to promote human development." Disaggregating a country's HDI by region and population group can spotlight stark disparities, the study says, and in many countries the results have sparked national debate and helped policy-makers assess differences in human development between rural and urban areas and among regions and ethnic and income groups. Besides the HDI, the study also has a human poverty index, a gender-related development index and a gender empowerment index. In 27 countries, including Honduras, Mozambique and Russia, the proportion of girls attending secondary school has fallen. The study points out that there is much to improve in women's economic and political opportunities. Women's share of paid employment in industry and services has increased in most countries, yet in 1997 women working in these sectors typically earned 78 percent of what men earned. In only eight countries do women hold 30 percent or more of the seats in parliament. And in only four - Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden - have there been simultaneous improvements in the female secondary enrolment ratio (to 95 percent or more), in women's share of paid employment in industry and services (to around 50 percent), and in their share of parliamentary seats (to at least 30 percent). (Inter Press Service)

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