UNDP releases 'real wealth' report
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The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched the 2010 Human Development Report on Thursday, the twentieth successive annual report since 1990.
"The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development," documents wide inequalities within and among countries, disparities between genders on a wide range of development indicators and the prevalence of extreme multidimensional poverty in South Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa.
The report reveals a detailed analysis of long-term Human Development Index (HDI) trends, which questions purely economic measures of national achievement and helps lay the conceptual foundation for the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
In the report, China ranks second after Oman in the "Top 10 Movers" among the 135 that improved most in HDI over the past 40 years and is the only country on the list due solely to income performance. The main drivers of HDI achievement were in health and education. Meanwhile, Nepal, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia have also shown strong growth.
Norway leads the 2010 HDI ranking, followed by New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Lichtenstein and the Netherlands in the first array of the list with "Very High Human Development."
China sits at 89th on the list – categorizing itself as a country with "Medium Human Development." African countries Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger are at the bottom of the list.
"The Human Development Reports have changed the way we see the world," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "We have learned that while economic growth is very important, what ultimately matters is using national income to give all people a chance at a longer, healthier and more productive life."
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