Indonesia Ranks 124 In UNDP Human Development Index

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, Indonesia, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- Indonesia has been ranked 124 in the Human Development Index (HDI) out of 187 countries surveyed, according to the 2011 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Among the 10-member countries of Asean, the republic fared better than Vietnam (128th), Laos (138th), Cambodia (139th) and Myanmar (149th) but was behind the four other founding member countries. Leading the list of Asean countries is Singapore, which is ranked 26th, followed by Brunei (33rd), Malaysia (61st), Thailand (103rd) and the Philippines (112th). HDI considered economic development and the quality of human resources, which are directly related to quality education and healthcare. Among Asean’s founding member countries, also known as the Asean-5, Singapore recorded the fastest economic growth, between 1989 and 2009 (6.73 per cent), followed by Malaysia (6.15 per cent), Indonesia (5.16 per cent), Thailand (5.02 per cent) and the Philippines (3.79 per cent). Last year, Indonesia was one of the 10 countries noted for the most progress over the previous 20-year period by the HDI survey. Indonesia’s HDI increased by 54 per cent between 1980 and 2010 as a result of a leap in life expectancy from 54 to 71 years and the per capita income rose 180 per cent to US$3,957. -- BERNAMA Malaysia