Brasília – Brazil’s placement on the global human development ranking improved in 2013. According to information released this Thursday (24th) by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the country ranked 79th in the Human Development Index (HDI) last year, up one position from 2012. Despite the improvement, Brazil remains below other Latin American countries like Chile, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay.
Brazil’s HDI score, 0.744, is the same as Georgia’s (a republic in the Caucasus region) and Granada’s (in the Caribbean). As per the United Nations’ methodology, Brazil boasts a high level of human development, since its score is higher than 0.7. The HDI ranges from 0 to 1, the latter being equivalent to the highest possible development level. In 2013, the indicator covered 187 countries.
Norway had the highest HDI score last year, at 0.944, followed by Australia (0.933), Switzerland (0.917) and Holland (0.915). In Latin America, the best ranked countries were Chile (41st with a 0.822 score), Cuba (44th with 0.815) and Argentina (49th with 0.808), considered as having very high human development levels, with scores above 0.8.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, Uruguay (50th in the ranking with a 0.790 score), Barbados (59th with 0.776), Antigua and Barbuda (61stwith 0.774), Trinidad and Tobago (64th with 0.766), Panama (65th with 0.765), Venezuela (67th with 0.764), Costa Rica (68th with 0.763), Mexico (71st with 0.756) and Saint Christopher and Nevis (73rd with 0.750) also had higher HDI scores than Brazil.
Among the Brics, the group composed of the world’s five leading emerging economies, Brazil had the second highest HDI, the first being Russia (57th with 0.778). China placed 91st with a 0.719 grade. South Africa ranked 118th (0.658); and India ranked 135th (0.586).
Despite the improvement from 2012 to 2013, Brazil has lost four positions since 2008, when it ranked 75th. However, according to the UNDP, Brazil’s actual HDI has improved throughout these years. Still, four countries – Iran, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka and Turkey – had higher rates of improvement in HDI during the period, hence the positions lost.
Established in 1980, the HDI ranking measures human development based on three components: life expectancy, education and income. In 2013 in Brazil, life expectancy averaged at 73.9 years, years of schooling averaged at 7.2 years, expected years of schooling averaged at 15.2 (for children currently entering school), and gross national income per capita was US$ 14.275, purchasing power- adjusted.
Brazil’s HDI was up 36.4% in 2013 from 1980. In 1980, life expectancy was 62.7 years, mean years of schooling was 2.6, expected years of schooling was 9.9 and gross national income per capita was US$ 9,154. “Brazil is one of the countries whose human development has improved the most over the past 30 years,” said the UNDP resident representative in Brazil, Jorge Chediek. He noted that the changes are structural and took place during all administrations.
Due to changes in methodology, HDI record-keeping has been revised. As per the former criteria, Brazil had placed 85th in 2012. Based on the new calculations, the country ranked 80th.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
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