Dubai: The United Arab Emirates ranked 30 in the index of the just released UN Human Development Report and the top Arab country in the list of 187 countries around the world.
The index was part of the “Human Development Report 2011, Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All”. It comprises of several elements, including life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling , expected years of schooling and Gross National Income per capital.
Top countries in the index were Norway, Australia and Netherlands. The United States came the fourth and was followed by New Zealand.
Top Arab countries
The six Arab Gulf States were the top Arab countries. Qatar ranked 37, Bahrain 42, Saudi Arabia 56, Kuwait 63 and Oman 89.
UAE, Qatar and Bahrain were the only Arab countries to be categorized under the very high human development countries.
Tunisia came number 94 and was followed immediately followed by Jordan.
The 185-page report listed the main challenges of the 21st century, and is “showing how sustainability is inextricably linked to basic questions of equity—that is, of fairness and social justice and of greater access to a better quality of life,”.
“It is fundamentally about how we choose to live our lives, with an awareness that everything we do has consequences for the 7 billion of us here today, as well as for the billions more who will follow, for centuries to come,” the report noted.
The report comes nearly 8 months before the upcoming Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which will aim to agree on a future plan of action to safeguard the planet and the right of future generations to live healthy and fulfilling lives, the UN said in a statement ahead of launching the report.
