Armenia included in HDR High Human Development category

PanARMENIAN.Net - The real wealth of a nation is its people, the beneficiaries and the drivers of human development, and expansion of their freedoms, with the main focus on empowerment, equity and sustainability, is the cornerstone of the basic concept of human development, reaffirms the 2010 Human Development Report (HDR) – 20th anniversary edition entitled The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development.

The main objective of 2010 HDR edition, that was presented November 23 at the UN Office in Armenia with participation of Dirk Boberg, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Armenia, and Ara Petrosyan, Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Economy, is to provide a retrospective systematic assessment of trends in key components of human development – life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and income - over the past 40 years.

The Report highlights that there has been significant overall progress since 1970. An analysis of 135 developing and developed countries shows dramatic progress: average life expectancy rose from 59 to 70 years, school enrolment grew from 55 to 70 percent, and per capita incomes doubled to more than $10,000.

The five frontrunners in the 2010 Human Development Index (HDI) are Norway, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and Ireland. At the bottom of the HDI rankings of 169 countries are in order: Mozambique, Burundi, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe.

Armenia is placed in “High Human Development” category with an HDI value of 0.695, which gives the country a rank of 76th out of 169 countries. Russia is ranked 65th, while Azerbaijan, Iran and Georgia, three of our immediate neighbors, are positioned 67th, 70th and 74th respectively. Turkey holds 83rd place in the HDI ranking.

Data on Armenia in key components of human development, such as life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and GDP per capita is, with slight differences, similar to the ones in neighboring countries. In terms of life expectancy, Armenia is ahead of the countries in the South Caucasus. The data on school enrolment level in Armenia is close to the ones in Georgia and Azerbaijan, however, we are substantially ahead of Iran and Turkey. Armenia is behind the neighbors, except Georgia, with the data on well-being of its citizens. For comparison, if the GDP per capita in Armenia and Georgia is respectively USD 5495 and USD 4902, then in Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey these figures are the following: USD 8747, USD 11764 and USD 13359.