Bahrain second in Arab world on UNDP's HDI ranking

TDT | Manama           

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain has improved its position on the recently released Human Development Index for 2021-22 by the United Nations Development Programme. The ranking of 191 nations sees Kingdom at 35th position globally and 2nd regionally. Bahrain advanced by seven ranks from the 2020 version of the index to its current position. The HDI measures the average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development — a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living.

It uses four indicators — life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and the Gross National Income per capita. Bahrain’s HDI score of 0.875 places it in the very high human development category, higher than its value of 0.852 in 2018, indicating progress. Kingdom performed strongly in education, where the expected years of schooling is 16.3 and the mean years of schooling is 11 years. Bahrain, thus, ranks first in the GCC in terms of academic achievement, where girls outperformed boys.

“These honourable results reflect the results of the economic reforms that the Kingdom of Bahrain embarked on during the prosperous era of His Majesty King Ham- ad bin Isa Al Khalifa,” said Dr Shaikha Abdullah Mafeez, Director of the Strategic Planning Department at the Ministry of Education and National Coordinator.Saudi Arabia shares 35th rank with Bahrain.

The United Arab Emirates is the only country ahead of Bahrain on the ranking in GCC that has Switzerland (0.962) on top and South Sudan at the bottom. Norway (0.961) and Iceland (0.959) enjoy second and third positions. Following Bahrain from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council is Qatar at 42nd, Kuwait at 50th, and Oman at 54th ranks. For the first time on record, UNDP also said the index has dropped for two years in a row taking the world back to just after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.

This has happened for the first time in 32 years of HDI calculations. The report, titled ‘Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World’, also stated that more than 90% of countries saw a decline in their HDI score in either 2020 or 2021, while over 40% of nations declined in both the years.The study identified the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war as the two primary reasons behind this fall.