Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Per capita income of Nepalis doubled in 32 yrs: Report

KATHMANDU, April 17, 2013

The Human Development Report 2013 of United Nation Development Program (UNDP) has revealed that the gross national income (GNI) per capita of Nepalis went up by 101 percent between 1980 and 2012 to US$ 1,137 along with improvement in other indicators.

Despite the sharp increase in the GNI per capita, it is still far below the average GNI per capita of South Asian nations which stand at $3,343.

GNI per capita is the dollar value of a country´s final income in a year, divided by its population. The indicator reflects the average income of the country´s citizens in the given year.

The report launched on Tuesday reveals that most of the indicators such as life expectancy at birth, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, per capita income, and overall value of human development index have improved during the period.

According to the report, life expectancy of Nepalis at birth has increased by 20.9 years to 69.1 years between 1980 and 2012. Similarly, mean years of schooling has increased to 3.2 years from 2.6 years during the period.

The report that analyzes the human development in 40 developing countries further shows expected years of schooling has increased by 4.4 years to 8.9 years between 1980 and 2012.

According to the report, Nepal´s human development index (HDI) value 0.463 in 2012 is almost double compared to the value in 1980. However, the value is still below the average of 0.466 for countries in the low human development group and below the average of 0.558 for South Asian countries.

The HDI is an average measure of basic human development achievements in a country. In the report, Nepal has been ranked at 157th position out of 187 countries.

Highlighting the main findings of the report, Dr Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, economic advisor at UNDP, said Nepal should not delay on formulating policies and take further action for human development. "Inaction or procrastination will set the country back immensely," he said.

Source: Republica

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