TIRANA, March 21 – Albania gained 10 spots in the 2016 human development index published by the UNDP, ranking 75th out of 188 countries and outperforming some of its regional peers.
The Human Development Index (HDI), a composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development including a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living, shows Albania continues remaining among high human development countries and overtook Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina among its regional EU aspirant competitors.
“Albania’s 2015 HDI of 0.764 is above the average of 0.746 for countries in the high human development group and above the average of 0.756 for countries in Europe and Central Asia. However, when the value is discounted for inequality, the HDI falls to 0.661, a loss of 13.5 percent due to inequality in the distribution of the HDI dimension indices of inequalities in human coefficient, life expectancy at birth, education and income,” says the report.
The report shows Albania has a life expectancy of 78 years, 14.2 years of expected schooling and a gross national income of $10,252.
Data shows Albania’s Human Development Index value increased by 20 percent to 0.764 during the past 25 years of the country’s transition to a market economy and democracy. Life expectancy since 1990 when the country’s communist regime collapsed has also increased by an average of 6.2 years, the mean years of schooling has risen by 2.2 years and the GNI per capita by 143 percent.
The report finds that although average human development improved significantly across all regions from 1990 to 2015, one in three people worldwide continue to live in low levels of human development, as measured by the Human Development Index.
“A quarter-century of impressive human development progress continues to leave many people behind, with systemic, often unmeasured, barriers to catching up. A stronger focus on those excluded and on actions to dismantle these barriers is urgently needed to ensure sustainable human development for all,” says the United National Development Programme.
