BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Brunei Darussalam is the fifth highest in the East and South-East Asian region in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) but dropped two spots overall to 55th place out of 193 countries in the latest report.
The index measures a country’s health, education and standard of living. The Sultanate scored down to 0.823 in 2022 from 0.83 in 2021. Human development levels were “very high” in Hong Kong (fourth), Singapore (ninth), South Korea (19th), Japan (24th) and Brunei (55th).
“Life expectancy at birth is at 74.6 years in the Sultanate,” according to the Index. The expected years of schooling for Bruneians is 13.7 while the mean years of school is 9.2.
For comparison, life expectancy in Singapore is 84.1, with 16.9 expected years of schooling and 11.9 mean years of school.
The Sultanate’s gross national income (GNI) per capita is about USD59,246 compared to Singapore’s USD88,761.
The Human Development Report (HDR) 2023/2024 titled Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world, revealed a troubling trend: the rebound in the global HDI – a summary measure reflecting a country’s GNI per capita, education, and life expectancy – has been partial, incomplete, and unequal.
The HDI is projected to reach record highs in 2023 after steep declines during 2020 and 2021. The progress is deeply uneven.
Rich countries are experiencing record-high levels of human development while half of the world’s poorest countries remain below their pre-crisis level of progress.
Uneven development progress is leaving the poorest behind, exacerbating inequality, and stoking political polarisation on a global scale. The result is a dangerous gridlock that must be urgently tackled through collective action, the report said.
Global inequalities are compounded by substantial economic concentration.
According to the report, almost 40 per cent of global trade in goods is concentrated in three or fewer countries; and in 2021 the market capitalisation of each of the three largest tech companies in the world surpassed the gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 90 per cent of countries that year.
The widening human development gap revealed by the report shows that the two-decade trend of steadily reducing inequalities between wealthy and poor nations is now in reverse.
“Despite our deeply interconnected global societies, we are falling short. We must leverage our interdependence as well as our capacities to address our shared and existential challenges and ensure people’s aspirations are met,” said UNDP head Achim Steiner.
“This gridlock carries a significant human toll. The failure of collective action to advance action on climate change, digitalisation or poverty and inequality not only hinders human development but also worsens polarisation and further erodes trust in people and institutions worldwide.”
The report argues that advancing international collective action is hindered by an emerging ‘democracy paradox’: while nine in 10 people worldwide endorse democracy, over half of global survey respondents express support for leaders that may undermine it by bypassing fundamental rules of the democratic process, as per data analysed in the report.
Half of the people surveyed worldwide report having no or limited control over their lives, and over two-thirds believe they have little influence on their government’s decisions.
In 2023, all 38 countries who are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) achieved higher HDI scores compared to their levels in 2019.
Among the 35 least developed countries (LDCs) that experienced a decline in their HDI in 2020 and/or 2021, 18 have not yet recovered to their human development levels of 2019.
All developing regions have not met their anticipated HDI levels based on the trend before 2019 appearing to have shifted to a lower HDI trajectory, indicating potential permanent setbacks in future human development progress.
The impact of human development losses is in sharp focus in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Afghanistan’s HDI has been knocked back by a staggering 10 years while Ukraine’s HDI dropped to its lowest level since 2004.
The report cites research indicating that countries with populist governments have lower GDP growth rates. Fifteen years after a populist government assumes office, the GDP per capita is found to be 10 per cent lower than it might under a non-populist government scenario. – Borneo Bulletin/ANN
