IRELAND HAS been ranked by the United Nations as the seventh most developed country in the world despite the economic downturn.
The latest human development index of 187 countries, compiled by the UN Development Programme, sees Ireland drop two places from last year. However, it remains in the top 10 ahead of Liechtenstein, Germany and Sweden.
When adjusted for equality, Ireland’s ranking rises to sixth place – ahead of the US, which drops in the rankings from fourth to 23rd when so adjusted.
The list is led by Norway, Australia and the Netherlands, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger and Burundi bring up the rear in terms of national achievement in health, education and average income.
Other countries which moved up the 2011 index due to greater relative equalities in health, education and income are Sweden (jumping from 10th to fifth place), Denmark (from 16th to 12th) and Slovenia (from 21st to 14th).
“The inequality-adjusted Human Development Index helps us assess better the levels of development for all segments of society, rather than for just the mythical ‘average’ person,” said UN statistician Milorad Kovacevic.
“We consider health and education distribution to be just as important in this equation as income and the data shows great inequities in many countries.”
Accelerating environmental destruction put a “double burden of deprivation” on the poorest.
Supplemented by a multi-dimensional poverty index and a gender inequality index, the UN’s Human Development Index is based on national averages in schooling, life expectancy and per capita income.
The gender inequality index shows that Sweden leads the world, as measured by women’s reproductive health, years of schooling, parliamentary representation and participation in the labour market.
Yemen ranks as the least equitable of the 146 countries on this index, followed by Chad, Niger, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Central African Republic and Sierra Leone.
Some 1.7 billion people in 109 countries live in “multi-dimensional” poverty, says the report, which also provides an insight into environmental problems, including indoor air pollution and disease from contaminated water.
It warns that progress in the world’s poorest countries could be halted or even reversed by 2050 unless “bold steps” are taken now to slow climate change. It endorses calls for an international levy on financial transactions to fund the fight against climate change and extreme poverty, estimating that even at a rate of just 0.005 per cent such a tax could raise $40 billion (€29 billion) yearly or more, significantly boosting aid flows to poor countries.
The report was launched in Copenhagen by UN Development Programme administrator Helen Clark with Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, whose new government has pledged to reduce Denmark’s carbon emissions by an ambitious 40 per cent over the next 10 years.