– United Nations Development Programme

GUYANA remains in the ‘medium human development category’ with an increase in its Human Development Index (HDI), according to the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 statistical update.
The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human, development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living, the UNDP explained.

According to the recently published 2018 Statistical Update Report, Guyana’s HDI value for 2017 is 0.654— which puts the country in the medium human development category. It now ranks 125 out of 189 countries and territories – a position shared with Cabo Verde.
Between 1990 and 2017, Guyana’s HDI value increased from 0.538 to 0.654, an increase of 21.5 per cent.

“Between 1990 and 2017, Guyana’s life expectancy at birth increased by 3.5 years, mean years of schooling increased by 1.6 years and expected years of schooling increased by 1.3 years. Guyana’s GNI per capita increased by about 252.4 per cent between 1990 and 2017,” UNDP explained.

According to the report, Guyana’s 2017 HDI of 0.654 is above the average of 0.645 for countries in the medium human development group. However, it is below the average of 0.758 for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

From Latin America and the Caribbean, countries which are close to Guyana in 2017 HDI rank and to some extent in population size are Belize and Suriname, which have HDIs ranked 106 and 100 respectively.

“The HDI is an average measure of basic human development achievements in a country. Like all averages, the HDI masks inequality in the distribution of human development across the population at the country level. The 2010 HDR introduced the IHDI, which takes into account inequality in all three dimensions of the HDI by ‘discounting’ each dimension’s average value according to its level of inequality. The IHDI is basically the HDI discounted for inequalities,” the UNDP explained.

In the case of Guyana, while the country’s HDI for 2017 is 0.654 when the value is discounted for inequality, the HDI falls to 0.532, a loss of 18.6 per cent due to inequality in the distribution of the HDI dimension indices. It was pointed out that Belize and Suriname show losses due to inequality of 22.3 per cent and 22.6 per cent respectively. The average loss due to inequality for medium HDI countries is 25.1 per cent and for Latin America and the Caribbean it is 21.8 per cent. The human inequality coefficient for Guyana is equal to 18.4 per cent.

Latin America and the Caribbean enjoy high levels of human development, second only to Europe and Central Asia, UNDP noted in giving an overview of the Region.

UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION
However, it said when adjusted for inequality, the Region’s HDI drops by 21.8 per cent due to the unequal distribution of human development, particularly in income. “The Region has the narrowest gap between men and women in HDI at two per cent, below the global average of six per cent. However, it has the second highest adolescent birth rate and the labour force participation rate for women is significantly lower than for men (51.6 vs 77.5 per cent),” it further explained.

Overall, it said “wide inequalities in people’s well-being cast a shadow on sustained human development progress,” pointing out that according to the HDI, people living in the very high human development countries can expect to live 19 years longer, and spend seven more years in school, than those living in the group of low human development countries.

Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany lead the ranking of 189 countries and territories in the latest HDI, while Niger, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi have the lowest scores in the HDI measurement of national achievements in health, education and income, UNDP disclosed.

“The overall trend globally is toward continued human development improvements, with many countries moving up through the human development categories: out of the 189 countries for which the HDI is calculated, 59 countries are today in the very high human development group and only 38 countries fall in the low HDI group. Just eight years ago in 2010, the figures were 46 and 49 countries respectively,” it explained.

Movements in the HDI are driven by changes in health, education and income. Health has improved considerably as shown by life expectancy at birth which has increased by almost seven years globally, with Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia showing the greatest progress, each experiencing increases of about 11 years since 1990.

However, it noted that disparities between and within countries continue to stifle progress.
“On average, a child born today in a country with low human development can expect to live just over 60 years, while a child born in a country with very high human development can expect to live to almost 80. Similarly, children in low human development countries can expect to be in school seven years less than children in very high human development countries,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator. “While these statistics present a stark picture in themselves, they also speak to the tragedy of millions of individuals whose lives are affected by inequity and lost opportunities, neither of which are inevitable.”

UNDP said a closer look at the HDI components sheds light on the unequal distribution of outcomes in education, life expectancy and income within countries.