Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 28 March (BelTA) – Belarus has accomplished the task of becoming one of the 50 countries with the top human development index. The task was set by the Belarus government’s action program for 2011-2015. The information was released by Mr Yuri Yaroshevich, Head of the Economic Cooperation and Sustainable Development Office of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, at the press conference held on 28 March to highlight this year’s UNDP report on human development, BelTA has learned.

The recently published human development report (HDR) of the United Nations Development Program reflects the fact that Belarus’ HDI has increased by 15 points since 2011 and now stands at 50 among 187 countries.

“We cannot but rejoice at the result because it means that the task of becoming a top 50 HDI country set by the government’s action program for 2011-2015 has been accomplished,” underlined the Foreign Ministry representative.

He explained that the HDI of a country can be very high (positions from 1 to 47), high (48-94), average (95-141), and low (142-186). “Positioned at 50, Belarus virtually leads the group of countries with a high HDI. By the way, apart from Belarus the CIS states that managed to improve their ranking in 2012 include only Russia and Azerbaijan,” said Yuri Yaroshevich.

The Human Development Index is an integral indicator calculated every year to compare countries and measure living standards, literacy, education, and life longevity as the main characteristics of the examined territory. HDI is the standard instrument to compare the overall living standards between different countries and regions.