Nepal features in low human development group, ranks 157 in HDI 2013

Almost half of Nepal's population is living under multidimensional poverty, according to a UNDP report released today globally.

The 2013 Human Development Index's (HDI) Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) — an alternative to income-based poverty estimates — revealed that some 44 per cent Nepalis are living under multidimensional poverty.

The UNDP today released its 2013 Human Development Index (HDI) along with report – that has ranked Nepal at 157^th position – that has ranked 186 countries in terms of economic and human development indicators. Nepal’s ranking has been unchanged since last report that was published in 2011.
"In South Asia, Sri Lanka is in the high human development group, three countries — Maldives, India and Bhutan — are in the medium and the remaining four — Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan — are in the low human development group," it revealed.

Although South Asia has reduced the proportion of the population living on less than $1.25 a day from 61 per cent in 1981 to 36 per cent in 2008, more than half a billion people there remained extremely poor, the report added. The multidimensional poverty is high throughout South Asia, with the highest rates in Bangladesh (58 per cent), India (54 per cent) and Pakistan (49 percent)," it added.

Nepal, however, has the biggest gap due to inequalities at 34.2 per cent in the region followed by Pakistan at 30.9 per cent. Similarly, Sri Lanka has the least gap of 15.1 per cent in the region.

"Likewise, child labour is relatively high in Nepal, where more than one-third of children of ages five to 14 years are economically active and the lowest is observed in India at 12 per cent," it stated.

The South Asia region’s average employment-to-population ratio stands at 61.2 per cent, below the world average of 65.8 per cent. But Nepal has 86.4 per cent employment-to-population ratio, said the Report — 'The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World' — that analyses more than 40 developing countries that have made striking human development gains in recent years. It attributes their achievements to some strong national commitments: better public health and education services, innovative poverty eradication programs and strategic engagement with the world economy.

"The rise of the South is unprecedented in its speed and scale. Never in history have the living conditions and prospects of so many people changed so dramatically and so fast,” said the report, which uses the term 'the South' to denote developing countries and 'the North' to denote developed countries. "By 2030, more than 80 per cent of the world’s middle class will live in the South and account for 70 per cent of total consumption expenditure. The Asia-Pacific region alone will host about two-thirds of that middle class."

The South as a whole is driving global economic growth and societal change for the first time in centuries,” according to UNDP administrator Helen Clark.

New ideas and entrepreneurship are coming from the South and will be the defining movers of the 21st century,” said UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific Ajay Chhibber. "In our changing world, solutions are moving across the South, not just from the North to the South."

The new middle class in the South is driving economic, social and political expectations. Increasingly, the most important engine of growth for developing countries is their domestic market. By 2025, annual consumption in emerging markets is estimated to rise to $30 trillion. By then, the South will account for three-fifths of the one billion households earning more than $20,000 a year, creating a new global middle class, the report added.

 

South Asian ranking
Sri Lanka – 92 (High Human Development)

Maldives – 104 (Medium Human development)
India – 136 (Medium Human development)

Bhutan – 140 (Medium Human development)

Bangladesh – 146 (Low Human Development)

Pakistan – 146 (Low Human Development)

Nepal – 157 (Low Human Development)

Afghanistan – 175 (Low Human Development)

(Human Development Index 2013)