PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Gambia: HDI ranks Gambia 175th in the world
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Human Development Index (HDI) launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has ranked Gambia 175 out of 188 countries.
Ms. Ade Mamonyane Lekoretje, UNDP Resident Coordinator, said Gambia's score for 2015 is 0.441.
Speaking at the launch on Wednesday in Banjul, Ms Lekoretje noted that Gambia's score had increased from 0.330 to 0.441 over the last 25 years. This is an increase of 33.5 per cent or an average annual increase of about 1.21 per cent.
She said that using the most recent survey data, the Demography Health Survey 2013, 57.2 per cent of the country’s population (over one million) is multi-dimensionally poor while an additional 394,000, accounting 21.3 per cent, live near multi-dimensional poverty.
Adult literacy rate is as low at 52 per cent posing significant challenge for the economy to transform to a high value production path. In addition, over 19.2 per cent of children 5-14 years old are working.
Ms Lekoretje said that close to 56.0 per cent of total employed people were classified as the working poor during 2003-2012 while only 10.8 per cent of the statutory pension ages are recipient of old age pension.
Abdou Jobe, Minister of Trade and Employment, who launched the report said: “The report argues that societies urgently need institutional reforms and access to care services to address these major imbalances in paid and unpaid work."
-0- PANA MSS/MA 13Jan2016
Ms. Ade Mamonyane Lekoretje, UNDP Resident Coordinator, said Gambia's score for 2015 is 0.441.
Speaking at the launch on Wednesday in Banjul, Ms Lekoretje noted that Gambia's score had increased from 0.330 to 0.441 over the last 25 years. This is an increase of 33.5 per cent or an average annual increase of about 1.21 per cent.
She said that using the most recent survey data, the Demography Health Survey 2013, 57.2 per cent of the country’s population (over one million) is multi-dimensionally poor while an additional 394,000, accounting 21.3 per cent, live near multi-dimensional poverty.
Adult literacy rate is as low at 52 per cent posing significant challenge for the economy to transform to a high value production path. In addition, over 19.2 per cent of children 5-14 years old are working.
Ms Lekoretje said that close to 56.0 per cent of total employed people were classified as the working poor during 2003-2012 while only 10.8 per cent of the statutory pension ages are recipient of old age pension.
Abdou Jobe, Minister of Trade and Employment, who launched the report said: “The report argues that societies urgently need institutional reforms and access to care services to address these major imbalances in paid and unpaid work."
-0- PANA MSS/MA 13Jan2016
