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LATIN AMERICA |
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Brazil Ranks 75th In UN's Human Development
Index
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's Human Development
Index (HDI) rose from 0.808 in 2006 to 0.813
in 2007 and ranked 75th on the list released
by the UN Development Program (UNDP) on
Monday.
The HDI goes from zero to one. The higher
figures, the higher human development levels
of a nation. Since Brazil's HDI is between
0.8 and 0.9, Brazil was considered a country
with elevated human development levels.
Despite its rising HDI, Brazil is still
behind several other Latin American nations
such as Chile, which ranked 44th on the
list, Argentina, 49th, Cuba, 51st, and
Venezuela, 58th.
Meanwhile, Brazil is no longer the top BRIC
country on the list. It was surpassed by
Russia, which now ranks 71st. China ranks
92nd and India remains at the 134th place on
the list.
To determine a country's human development
levels, the UNDP takes into consideration
its per capita GDP, illiteracy, school
enrollment rates, and life expectancy
indicators. In 2007, the rise in Brazil's
HDI was mostly due to a GDP growth, since
the education and life expectancy figures
did not show significant change.
Despite its elevated HDI, Brazil is still a
country with many social inequalities,
ranking among the top 10 most unequal
countries in the world, along with countries
such as Namibia, Haiti, South Africa,
Bolivia and Honduras.
Norway ranked first on the list, with a HDI
of 0.971, followed by Australia, Iceland,
Canada and Ireland. With a HDI of 0.34,
Niger is the lowest among the 182 countries
included in the ranking. Sierra Leone and
Afghanistan also had very low HDIs of 0.352
and 0.365 respectively.
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