Please visit http://thegdp.org/demometrics/ and review the Framework essay for background. Haruna. Salone leaps 1 place forward Sierra Leone has been ranked 158 out of 169 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) that was released yesterday and this represents an improvement of one place over 2009. The 2010 rankings are based on new methodology that differs from what has been employed up to 2009. This year’s Report introduces three new composite indices on an experimental basis Inequality-adjusted HDI, the Gender Inequality Index, and the Multidimensional Poverty. To allow for assessments of progress in HDIs, the 2010 Report includes recalculated HDIs from 1980 to 2010 for as many countries as data allow and further noted that Sierra Leone has been improving on its HDI scores since the end of the war, albeit very slowly According to the Report, Sierra Leone’s 2010 HDI of 0.317 is below the average of 0.389 for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is also below the average of 0.393 for low human development countries. Between 1980 and 2010, Sierra Leone’s life expectancy at birth increased by over 6 years, while its GNI per capita decreased by 2% during the same period. On Gender Inequality Index (GII) the result valued Sierra Leone at 0.756 ranking it 125 out of 138 countries based on 2008 data. Furthermore the HDI indicates that in Sierra Leone, 13% of Parliamentary seats are held by women, and 10% of adult women have a secondary or higher level of education compared to 20% of their male counterparts. For every 100,000 live births, 2100 women die from pregnancy related causes and the adolescent fertility rate is 126 births per 1000 live births. Female participation in the labour market is 67% compared to 68% for men the report mentioned. The 2010 Report, The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development, examines progress in health, education and income over the past 40 years, as measured by the HDI, for the 135 countries for which comparable data is available. Ethiopia was 11th in HDI improvement since 1970, with Botswana (14), Benin (18) and Burkina Faso (21) also among the world’s 25 “top movers.” “Sub-Saharan Africa still faces many challenges but many countries have made significant, and sometimes overlooked, progress, most notably in education, despite severe economic and political adversities,” said Jeni Klugman, the Report’s lead author. Average life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is now 52 years, up from 44 years in 1970 but still the lowest of any region in the world and far behind the average of nearly 70 years for the 135 countries in the HDI trends analysis. In 2010, Lesotho had sub-Saharan Africa’s lowest life expectancy, at 46 years, while the Comoros Islands lead the region at 66 years. In six countries life expectancy has fallen since 1970: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe countries where AIDS prevalence rates still exceed 15%. The majority of African nations have made major HDI gains in the past 40 year. Yet the region presents the three countries in the global study with a lower HDI today than in 1970: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤