The annual Human Development Report 2001, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, shows Norway taking the number one slot from Canada, the leader for the previous six years. Australia moves into second place, while the USA dropped from third to sixth. The bottom 28 countries – of a total of 162 – were all in Africa, with Sierra Leone once again last.

In most countries, the Human Development Index (HDI) has been on the rise over the last 25 years. Some, including Egypt, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and Portugal, have seen particularly large increases. Yet 20 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have seen falls.

The Report also looks at the role of information and communications technology (ICT) and biotechnology, and concludes that they can play a part in reducing poverty. New medical technologies have already increased life expectancy, with oral rehydration therapy and improved vaccines reducing the number of deaths from major childhood illnesses in developing countries by around three million in the last decade.

However, it says, many opportunities for poor people have been missed because of the lack of market demand and inadequate funding resulting from failure of governments in both developing and developed countries to provide the necessary support.

In addition, new initiatives are needed to ensure that the development goals set at the UN Millennium Summit can be achieved. Around 1.2 billion people worldwide still live on less than $1 a day, and, say the authors: “Without accelerated progress in addressing the needs of the world’s poorest people, these goals will not be achieved.” However, many developing countries have made progress in some areas, particularly moves towards universal primary education and gender equity in education.

hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2001/en/

Image © Heldur Netocny/Panos Pictures