Moldova 117th of 182 countries by Human Development Index

Moldova ranks 117th out of 182 countries in the Human Development Report 2009, which was presented on October 5 at regional level, simultaneously in Istanbul, Moscow and, for the first time, in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Human Development Index (HID) provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrollment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). Life expectancy in Moldova is 68.3 years, adult literacy (from 15 years) is 99.2%, while the gross enrollment in education is 71.6%. The Gross Domestic Product per capita is $2.551. Anatol Gremalschi, program director at the Public Policy Institute, said that the progress made in different areas is minor, Moldova taking the same position in the rankings during the last few years. “Moldova did not advance much, but other countries, including of the region, made considerable progress. Life expectancy is very low compared with that in the EU countries. Access to secondary education became more difficult, not speaking about the GDP per capita as the Human Development Report 2009 is based on the figures for 2007, while the situation now is worse owing to the crisis,” Gremalschi said . Boris Galca, expert in population development matters, considers that the authorities must pay special attention to the problems related to human development. “As regards life expectancy, national and UNDP experts helped draft the demographic security strategy, which was submitted to the Government. We consider that the new executive will approve the given strategy and it will be implemented,” the expert said. According to the Human Development Report 2009, Norway has the highest HID. It is followed by Australia, Iceland and Canada. Romania ranks 63rd, Russia – 71st, while Ukraine – 85th. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan take the 120th and, respectively, 127th positions. Afghanistan and Niger close the rankings.