Despite being listed among countries that showed “high human development,” Turkey still placed behind all European Union member countries and other EU candidates in a UN rating released on Thursday.
Despite being listed among countries that showed “high human development,” Turkey still placed behind all European Union member countries and other EU candidates in a UN rating released on Thursday.
The assessment came in the Human Development Index (HDI), an annual measure of well-being that has been published by the UN Development Program (UNDP) for the past 20 years, which combines individual economic prosperity with education levels and life expectancy.
The UNDP placed Norway, Australia and New Zealand at the top and Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe at the bottom, with Western countries again leading the list while sub-Saharan African nations trailing at the bottom.
According to the report, with a value of 0.679, Turkey is listed among countries in the “High Human Development” category, ranking 83rd out of 169 countries. Due to methodological refinements, the 2010 country rankings are not comparable to those from previous years.
Turkey’s ranking in the 2010 HDI puts the country behind all EU member states as well as other EU candidate countries, and places it below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average.
Countries like Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania, all of which have lower per capita gross national income levels compared to Turkey, ranked higher in the index as a result of better mean years of schooling and life expectancy rates. Turkey ranked lowest out of the current four EU candidate countries — Croatia, Macedonia and Iceland — all of whom are also OECD countries.
With a 112 percent increase in national income in the past 30 years, Turkey has made noteworthy gains in economic growth and this increase is also reflected in its gross national income. However, the calculation methodology of the HDI uses key data reflecting health and education levels in addition to the national incomes of countries.
Accordingly, the report shows that Turkey needs to focus its efforts in increasing the life expectancy at birth — to 72.2 years for 2010 — and the average of schooling years — to 6.5 years in 2010 — to achieve higher ranks in the HDI, which will bring the country closer to OECD and EU standards.
A gender inequality index within the report, meanwhile, reflected the disadvantage of women in reproductive health, empowerment and economic activity.
Turkey’s ranking in this index, 77th out of 138 countries, put the country behind its neighbors Armenia and Georgia.