Nigeria’s HDI rises, UN reports

A new report by 
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has shown Nigeria’s Human
Development Index rising by 2 points and life expectancy also rising by
eight years.

 

The HDI report measured national achievements in Human Development Index in 
health, education and income/standard of living in 189 countries.

 

The report 
showed that Nigeria’s HDI value for 2017 was 0.532; it was 0.530 in
2016, and it has shown a consistent increase since the measurement began
in 2003.

 

From that base year, when the HDI was
estimated at 0.443, it has now increased to 0.532 in 2017, marking a
14.4 per cent over the period.

 

The country’s life expectancy at birth
was also put at 53.9 years while between 1990 and 2017, Nigeria’s life
expectancy at birth has increased by 8.0 years, the report showed.

 

But overall, Nigeria’s 
ranking was put at  157 among the 189 countries sampled while the ranking was 156 in the previous year.

 

The other good news in the report showed
that years of schooling increased by one year and expected years of
schooling increased by 3.3 years.

 

Nigeria’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita increased by about 87.4 percent between 1990 and 2017, the UNDP report showed.

 

The report put Nigeria’s population at 190.1 million in 2017 while the country’s projected population in 2030 is 264.1 million

 

Norway, which has topped the HDI chart
every year since 2001 – with the exceptions of 2007 and 2008 – ranked 1
(0.953) followed by Switzerland, 2 (0.944), Australia, 3 (0.939),
Ireland, 4 (0.939) and Germany, 5 (0.936).

 

However, the 20 countries with the lowest
HDI – from 189 to 170 – are all African countries except Yemen, 178,
while Niger, as it has for several years, ranked lowest at 189 (0.354).

 

With Nigeria, Central African Republic,
188 (0.367) South Sudan, 187 (0.388), Chad, 186 (0.404) and Burundi, 185
(0.417) have the lowest scores in the HDI’s measurement of national
achievements in health, education and income.

 

A child born today in Norway could expect
to live beyond 82 years old and spend almost 18 years in school while a
child born in Niger could expect only to live to 60 and spend just five
years in school.

 

The HDI criteria are designed to be broad
enough to be inclusive of countries’ social, political and economic
diversity while being indicative of a country’s quality of life.

 

Key regional development trends, as shown
by the HDI and other human development indices, showed that Sub-Saharan
Africa region has seen a 35 per cent growth in HDI since 1990.

 

Four countries in Africa are now ranked
in the “high human development” group namely; Seychelles, 0.797 (62),
Mauritius, 0.790 (65) Botswana, 0.717 (101), 
Libya, 0.706 (108) and Gabon, 0.702 (110)

 

Twelve countries in the region are now in
the “medium human development” group – South Africa, 113 (0.699),
Egypt, 115 (0.696), Morocco, 123 (0.667), Cabo Verde, 125 (0.654),
Namibia, 129 (0.647), Congo, 137 (0.606).

 

Others are Ghana, 140 (0.592), Equatorial
Guinea, 141 (0.591), Kenya, 142 (0.590), Sao Tome and Principe, 143
(0.589), Kingdom of Eswatini, 144 (0.588), Zambia, 144 (0.588), Angola,
147 (0.581), and Cameroon, 151 (0.556).

 

In the “low human development” group,
countries that ranked higher than Nigeria are: United Republic of
Tanzania, 154 (0.538) and Zimbabwe, 156 (0.535), while Nigeria followed
at 157 (0.532).

 

Rwanda ranked highest country in the world with most women in parliament. The country has held the top spot  
since 2008 with the women holding more than half the seats in the parliament.

 

At 101 per 1,000 live births, Sub-Saharan
Africa’s adolescent birth rate is more than twice the world average of
44 per 1,000 live births.

 

While Sub-Saharan Africa’s maternal
mortality ratio is 549 deaths per 100,000 live births, some countries in
the region such as Cabo Verde have achieved a much lower rate 
of 42 deaths per 100,000 live births.