Not something very positive for Pakistan in 2024
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Wasting Potential
Contradictions abound in a country of weak institutions and strong individuals, of economic growth without human development, of private greed and lack of social compassion, of election rituals without real democracy.” These words by the late Dr Mahbubul Haq from the 1997 book Human Development in South Asia sum up Pakistan’s challenges, which have continued since the country’s inception in periods of high growth and stagnation.
The recent years of recurring political crises, large-scale natural disasters and climate change events, and deteriorating global geopolitical and economic conditions have only exacerbated the life for 230 million citizens of the country and human development indicators, with worsening nutritional, health and educational outcomes as the poor continue to slip into even greater poverty.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the country was placed in the ‘low human development’ category by the latest United Nations (UN) Human Development Report released last month, ranking 164 out of 193 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI).
The new HDI ranking reflects a decline from the previous Index, when Pakistan was ranked 161, due to its insufficient education, health, and income indicators.
Pakistan’s new 161 HDI ranking reflects its silent, deep human capital crises, due to historic disregard of human development investments
The Index shows that some South Asian countries are making great strides in human development, others less so. But Pakistan isn’t at all, as it now trails far behind other regional countries. It is the only South Asian economy, along with Afghanistan, placed in the low human development category.
Sri Lanka — despite defaulting on its debt payments amid a large-scale economic and financial crisis — and the Maldives are placed in the high human development category and on top in South Asia. Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal have all been categorised in the medium human development category. Only Afghanistan — at 182 on the HDI ranking — is a little worse off than Pakistan in the South Asian region.
Source: Dawn News