These are the countries with the best standard of living – which have the worst
In the vortex of the Covid-19 pandemic-when hospitals around the world were overcrowded, schools and offices were closed and economies collapsed-many wondered when people would recover. Five years later, data on human development index shows that the background at the standard of living could last.
The Human Development Index (HDI), drawn up by the UN, is monitoring progress in life expectancy, education and income. After GDP, it is one of the most widely used growth indicators. The global score was reduced in 2020 and 2021 – the first reductions since the start of the index in 1990. It recovered somewhat in 2022. The latest report, published on May 6, shows that the rate of improvement in 2023 was the slowest recorded (see diagram).
Rich countries, as expected, do better. 97% of them have fully recovered or have surpassed their performance before the pandemic, Achim Steiner of the United Nations Development Program said. This is true for less than 60% of poor countries.
After two years at the top, Switzerland was undermined (marginally) by Iceland. Scandinavian countries have the highest positions in most rankings that measure quality of life. A baby born in Iceland today is expected to live for more than 82 years and receive more than 18 years of education. The average income per person is close to $ 70,000.
Greece occupies the 34th place in the world rankings with the HDI index standing at 0.908 behind Cyprus in 32nd place with HDI 0.913.
In our country, life expectancy is estimated at 81.9 years (in Cyprus in 81.6) the estimated years of attendance at 20.8 (16.2 in Cyprus) and GDP per capita at $ 35,761 ($ 45,394 in Cyprus).
Index of human development and poor countries
The index does not take into account inequality within the countries (the UN publishes separate indicators for it). The standard of living for rich and poor citizens can vary significantly. Rich Americans tend to live much longer than the poor.
But money is not everything. A study by researchers at Brown University, published in April, found that the richest people in America (ranked 17th in the Human Development Index) have a mortality rate similar to that of the poorest northern and western Europeans and that of most.
The bottom of the index is dominated by sub -Saharan Africa. Life expectancy at birth in southern Sudan, the country with the lowest rankings, is less than 58 years, average school attendance is less than six years and the per capita gross national income is just $ 688.
After decades of decline, the gap between countries at the top and bottom of the index has expanded for four consecutive years. The poorest countries in the world have also been stuck in other indicators. Extreme poverty has been slightly reduced since 2015.
Public health measures have been reduced by the Covid-19 pandemic. And since the mid -2010s, economic growth rates in poor economies have been on average slower than in the richest. Cuts in budgets of assistance from governments in America and Europe will exacerbate things for poor countries. According to the Human Resources Index (HDI), the countries of the Arab world and Latin America and the Caribbean had the slower recovery of the standard of living after the pandemic.
For decades it seemed that on average people would reach very high growth levels before 2030. If today’s slow progress continues, it could take decades more to achieve this milestone.
Source OT
