Ghana stagnates while world gets richer

... Norway ranked as best country to live
... Ghana is 136th
Nov 10, 2006 - Ghana ranks as the 136th best country to live in the world according to a United Nation report released yesterday. It moves two places up in regard to the 2005 report, but still eight places down from her high of 128 in 2003 and 1995. (read)

The report painted a very bleak picture for sub-Saharan Africa in general; Human development has stagnated while progress in other parts of the world has accelerated, widening the gap between the world's richest and poorest countries, warns this year's United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), which finds life expectancy in the region lower today than 30 years ago mainly because of the ravages of HIV/AIDS

Despite remaining a beacon of democracy and stability in the sub region, the quality of life in Ghana has not seen much improvement.

In the ranking done annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ghana’s HDI value improved from 0.520 to 0.532 - a fall from the highest rate of 0.556 in 2000 and equal to the 1995 value of 0.531

Norway, Iceland, Australia, Ireland and Sweden rank as the best five countries to live in but Africa's quality of life has plummeted because of AIDS. The five countries with the lowest scores were Guinea-Bissau in 173rd place, Burkina Faso as 174, Mali as 175, Sierra Leone as 176, and Niger 177. The report was unable to rank 17 countries, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, because there was insufficient data.

This year’s HDI, which refers to 2004, highlights the very large gaps in well-being and life chances that continue to divide our increasingly interconnected world. By looking at some of the most fundamental aspects of people’s lives and opportunities it provides a much more complete picture of a country’s development than other indicators, such as GDP per capita.

Selected Data for Ghana

• Life expectancy at birth = 57
• Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) = 57.9
• Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (%) =47.2
• GDP per capita (PPP US$) =2,240
• Adult illiteracy rate (%ages 15 and older) 42.2
• People without access to an improved water source (%) = 25
• URL Ghana Fact Sheet

Human development index trends for Ghana

The HDI focuses on three measurable dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life, being educated and having a decent standard of living. Thus it combines measures of life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and income to allow a broader view of a country?s development than does income alone.