Sri Lanka ranks high in human development at 73 among 188 countries

 Addis Ababa: Sri Lanka maintained its rank in the ‘high human development category’ at 73rd place according to a report released on Monday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on the human development of 188 countries.

The 2015 Report, Work for Human Development, was officially launched in the Ethiopian capital of Adis Ababa on Monday.

According to the Human Development Index (HDI) monitored annually by the Human Development Report (HDR), Sri Lanka gradually improved in human development reaching 0.757 in the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2014 from 0.679 in 2000. The world average in 2014 is 0.711 and South Asia averaged at 0.607.

Noting the positive relationship between work and human development, the Human Development Report (HDR) said In Sri Lanka most workers in the formal sector retire in their 60s, and a relatively small fraction are employed part- or full-time. But casual workers and self-employed workers tend to keep their full-time jobs for many more years.

Sri Lanka has integrated human resources and employment strategies in its National Human Resources and Employment Strategy, which began in 2014, to reduce unemployment and create more work opportunities. In Sri Lanka annual job growth is 12%.

Sri Lanka’s nearest neighbor, India is ranked at 130th in the index, among the ‘medium development’ countries along with Bhutan at 132 while Maldives is ranked at 104 in the High development category. Bangladesh, ranked at 142, Pakistan at 47, Nepal at 145 and Afghanistan at 174 are in the ‘low development’ category.

Norway was the most developed country and  Australia, Switzerland, Denmark and Netherlands, rounded up the top in rank order with no changes from 2014.

The bottom five countries in rank order of HDI are: Niger, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Chad, and Burundi.