Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh’s position in the Human Development Index (HDI) remained unchanged in 2014, reflecting little improvement in the living standard of its people, says the Human Development Report (HDR) 2015 of the UNDP.
The HDI value of Bangladesh for 2014 is 0.570, which means that the country is in the medium human development category and has secured the 142nd position out of 188 countries and territories.
The UNDP has formally launched the HDR 2015 at a ceremony on Sunday in the city’s Agargaon NEC conference room of the Planning Commission.
The HDI is an average measure of basic human development achievements.
It is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development. These are: A long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
Although Bangladesh’s performance has remained almost static compared with the previous year, and in the medium human development category, the report reflects long-term progress, especially from 1980 to 2014. Between 1980 and 2014, Bangladesh’s HDI value increased from 0.338 to 0.570, an increase of 68.7 per cent or an average annual increase of about 1.55 per cent.
Bangladesh progresses in each of the HDI indicators. Between 1980 and 2014, Bangladesh’s life expectancy increased by 18.1 years, years of schooling increased by 3.1 years and expected years of schooling increased by 5.1 years.
Bangladesh’s per capita GNI (gross national income) increased by about 178.0 per cent between 1980 and 2014.
In the South Asia, Sri Lanka has been put in the 73rd position, Bhutan 132nd, India 135th, Nepal 145th, Pakistan 147th and Afghanistan 171st. According to the report, despite extremely rapid technological adoption in recent years, as of 2014, 2.5 billion people in Asia and the Pacific did not have access to the internet (1.4 billion people in South Asia).
Haoliang Xu, Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific said, “In order to ensure that the workforce is capable of adapting to rapidly changing demands, the governments need to make strategic investments into education and health care,” The index was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
Wahiduddin Mahmud, Professor of Economics of University of Dhaka said, the country has huge manpower to utilize.
He said, “We have vast manpower, but not skill manpower. But now we have no second option than creating skillful manpower.”
He said, the country has shortage of vocational training facilities also. But we know that vocational training is mandatory to improve skills.
Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Senior Secretary of Economic Relations Division said, the country’s position is better than many countries of Asia . He said, “We hope the situation will further improve.”
Bangladesh’s position in the Human Development Index (HDI) remained unchanged in 2014, reflecting little improvement in the living standard of its people, says the Human Development Report (HDR) 2015 of the UNDP.
The HDI value of Bangladesh for 2014 is 0.570, which means that the country is in the medium human development category and has secured the 142nd position out of 188 countries and territories.
The UNDP has formally launched the HDR 2015 at a ceremony on Sunday in the city’s Agargaon NEC conference room of the Planning Commission.
The HDI is an average measure of basic human development achievements.
It is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development. These are: A long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
Although Bangladesh’s performance has remained almost static compared with the previous year, and in the medium human development category, the report reflects long-term progress, especially from 1980 to 2014. Between 1980 and 2014, Bangladesh’s HDI value increased from 0.338 to 0.570, an increase of 68.7 per cent or an average annual increase of about 1.55 per cent.
Bangladesh progresses in each of the HDI indicators. Between 1980 and 2014, Bangladesh’s life expectancy increased by 18.1 years, years of schooling increased by 3.1 years and expected years of schooling increased by 5.1 years.
Bangladesh’s per capita GNI (gross national income) increased by about 178.0 per cent between 1980 and 2014.
In the South Asia, Sri Lanka has been put in the 73rd position, Bhutan 132nd, India 135th, Nepal 145th, Pakistan 147th and Afghanistan 171st. According to the report, despite extremely rapid technological adoption in recent years, as of 2014, 2.5 billion people in Asia and the Pacific did not have access to the internet (1.4 billion people in South Asia).
Haoliang Xu, Assistant Administrator and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific said, “In order to ensure that the workforce is capable of adapting to rapidly changing demands, the governments need to make strategic investments into education and health care,” The index was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
Wahiduddin Mahmud, Professor of Economics of University of Dhaka said, the country has huge manpower to utilize.
He said, “We have vast manpower, but not skill manpower. But now we have no second option than creating skillful manpower.”
He said, the country has shortage of vocational training facilities also. But we know that vocational training is mandatory to improve skills.
Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Senior Secretary of Economic Relations Division said, the country’s position is better than many countries of Asia . He said, “We hope the situation will further improve.”
