Vietnam ranks 113^th for the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2010, the same as last year, according to the UNDP’s Human Development Report released on November 9.

 

The country remains in 113th place out of 169 countries in the report, which measures human development based on life expectancy, education level, and per capita income.

 

UNDP Vietnam Deputy Director Christopher Bahuet said that Vietnam’s HDI is at the average level and Vietnam needs to improve this index.

 

Vietnam’s per capita income has risen dramatically, increasing five-fold in the past four decades  making the country the eighth top mover in the world in terms of per capita GDP growth, helping lift millions of people out of poverty.

 

However, just like China, the income achievement has not positioned Vietnam as a top performer in terms of general human development improvement.

 

“One important finding from the Human Development Reports is that development progress cannot be measured simply by the level of national income. Economic growth alone does not automatically improve the quality of life of citizens,” John Hendra, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, said.

 

In Vietnam, the average years of schooling increased by 1.5 years between 1990 and 2010 and expected years of schooling by almost three years. However, progress in education has slowed down since the early 2000s.

 

In the past five years the expected years of schooling have only increased marginally, rising from 10.3 years to 10.4 years. Furthermore, Vietnam does relatively worse on this account than most other countries in the region, with the average Vietnamese student expected to stay at school three years less than their peers in Thailand and two years less than in Malaysia.

 

Vietnam’s life expectancy has increased from 49 years in 1970 to 75 years in 2010.

 

Continued investment is needed in Vietnam to maintain progress and address areas where women continue to lag behind - such as their health and education status in remote and ethnic minority communities, the gender wage gap, participation in local level decision-making, and gender-based violence.

 

Alex Warren-Rodriquez, the chief UNDP economist in Vietnam, also said that if in the 1990s, Vietnam was seen as the model for underdeveloped countries in terms of HDI, its HDI in recent years has not changed?. Vietnam needs to exert more effort to raise its growth.

 

Vietnam ranks higher than India, which is in 119th place and Cambodia (124th), but lower than Thailand (92nd) and the Philippines (97th).

 

China, Indonesia, and Laos are among the nations with the strongest HDI performance since 1970. Due to income levels, which have increased 21-fold in the last four decades, China ranks in the top 10.

 

Norway tops the world for the HDI. In East Asia-Pacific, South Korea ranks the first and it ranks 12^th in the world.

 

Linh Thu