UNDP’s 2007/2008 Human Development Report-Seychelles ranks high in human development |18 August 2008

It has an HDI of 0.843 compared to 0.968 for Iceland in first place and 0.336 for Sierra Leone, the world’s least humanly developed country out of the 177 for which data is available.

This also puts Seychelles first among African countries (including neighbouring Indian Ocean islands) on the HDI.

Of other African countries and our Indian Ocean neighbours, only Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (56th) and Mauritius (65th) are ranked in the high human development category.
This comes in the just-released 2007/2008 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Seychelles’ rating among the countries with high levels of human development testifies to the efforts made by the government over the past 30 years to achieve sustainable and equitable development.

It also shows that Seychelles is among the countries that have been better able to cope with the global impact that the rising cost of fuel and later of food and other commodities has had.

Indeed, the call by President James Michel for the entire Seychellois nation to be “realistic, resilient and responsible” in the face of the world’s challenges has gone a long way in helping the country to maintain its status as one with high human development.

First introduced in 1990, the UN Human Development Report uses such basic indicators as gross domestic product, access to education, health and housing, literacy, longevity and infant mortality rate.

According to the report Seychelles has a 91.8% adult literacy rate, GDP per capita of US $16,106 and a life expectancy of 72.7 years.

This year’s report is dedicated to Fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world.
 
According to the UNDP, climate change is a massive threat to human development and in some places is already undermining the international community’s efforts to reduce extreme poverty.

“We must see the fight against poverty and the fight against the effects of climate change as interrelated efforts,” said the report.

“Success will have to involve a great deal of adaptation, because climate change is still going to affect the poorest countries significantly, even if serious efforts to reduce emissions start immediately.

“Countries will need to develop their own adaptation plans, but the international community will need to assist them.”