Foreign Affairs Minister receives 2013 Human Development Report from UNDP
The Human Development Report for 2013 was launched around the world today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with startling revelations about the progress made by developing nations and the impacts such developments can have with developed nations in the North.
UNDP’s Resident Representative Khadija Musa presented the 2013 report to Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues- Birkett at a simple launching ceremony today after reporting that Guyana’s Human Development Index (HDI) value increased by 24 percent between 1980 and 2012.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues -Birkett
receives the 2013 Human Development Report from
UNDP Resident Representative Khadija Musa
The HDI is the yardstick 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 187 countries and UN recognised territories that were ranked in this year’s report were grouped under four human development categories: Very High, High, Medium and Low.
With more than 40 developing countries recorded in the report as achieving greater human development gains in recent decades than would have been predicted, Barbados, Chile and Argentina were the three Latin America and the Caribbean countries that were in the Very High human development category.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues -Birkett
speaking at the launch of the 2013 Human Development
Report
Nineteen others were in the High human development group, ten including Guyana in the medium and Haiti, the only country in the category of low human development. Guyana ranked 118 out of 187 countries with a HDI value of 0.636.
It carried the theme ‘The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World’, reinforcing the message that the South is radically reshaping the world of the 21st century with developing nations driving economic growth, lifting hundreds of millions of people from poverty and propelling billions more into a new global middle class.
Musa quoted excerpts from the report which cited the rise of the South as unprecedented with dramatic changes in the living conditions and prospects of the inhabitants.
A section of the gathering at the launch of the 2013 Human
Development Report
It was regarded a welcoming sign by Minister Rodrigues-Birkett since “equality and equity as important as it is for our individual countries must also be seen when the global landscape is amalgamated.”
She alluded to aspects of the report which recognised the role of the state and the dedication to improving human development, arguing that it was in contrast to a previous report which cited these benchmarks as disadvantages.
“Some years ago, the homegrown policies which focused on the social sector were deemed to be bad for economic development. Indeed, I was advised that there was one report in which Guyana was marked down because of how much we spent on the social sector. I am pleased that in this report there is recognition that growth without human development is unsustainable and in fact dangerous,” Minister Rodrigues -Birkett said.
Guyana dedicates the bulk of its budget to the social sector, particularly health and education on an annual basis in the continued commitment to improve the quality of life for its citizens.
