Bangladesh improves its Human Development Index ranking

Bangladesh improved its ranking in the Human Development Index (HDI) for the year 2021-22 as per the latest edition of the UNDP report unveiled on Thursday.

It ranked 129th out of 191 countries ranked on the index. Earlier, in its previous report published in 2020, Bangladesh had ranked 133 out of 189 countries. The HDI value of Bangladesh also improved to 0.661 from its earlier value of 0.655.

Bangladesh has achieved this improvement with life expectancy rising to 72.4 years, expected years of schooling 12.4 years and Gross National Income (GNI) calculated at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis of 2017 at USD 5472. Bangladesh now is in the ‘Medium Human Development’ Group. However, the report also points out growing income inequality in the country.

In the South Asian region, Sri Lanka has the highest ranking at 73rd position, Maldives at 90th, Bhutan 127th, India at 132nd, Nepal 143rd, Pakistan 161st and Afghanistan at 180th rank. Globally, Switzerland was at the top followed by Norway and Iceland. South Sudan, Chad and Niger were at the bottom of the scale on HDI.

The report reveals that over 90 percent of the countries showed a decline in the HDI score in either 2020 or 2021 while 40 percent of the countries showed decline in both the years.

The latest report named ‘Uncertain TImes, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World’ shows that the global HDI value has declined for two years in a row in the wake of covid pandemic. It points out growing insecurity among people, backsliding of democracy and polarisation as factors destabilising lives of people in complex ways.