Jamaica falls in Human Development Index
Published:Tuesday | December 15, 2020 | 12:49 PM
Jamaica has fallen five places on the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI) which examines factors including education, life expectancy and income, among others.
The country is currently ranked at 101. In 2018, the country placed 96th out of 189 countries and territories.
Jamaica’s HDI value for 2019 is 0.734, which puts the country in the high human development category.
Jamaica has maintained the same HDI value since 2017.
Jamaica’s current HDI is below the average of 0.753 for countries in the high human development group and below the average of 0.766 for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The 2020 Human Development Report released this morning explained that between 1990 and 2019, Jamaica’s HDI value increased from 0.645 to 0.734, an increase of 13.8 per cent.
In the same period, Jamaica’s life expectancy at birth increased by 1.3 years, mean years of schooling increased by 3.8 years and expected years of schooling increased by 1.9 years.
At least seven Caribbean countries placed ahead of Jamaica – Barbados (58), Trinidad and Tobago (67), Cuba (70), Saint Kitts and Nevis (74), St Lucia (86), Dominica (94), and St Vincent and the Grenadines (97).
Belize, Guyana and Haiti ranked behind Jamaica at 110, 122 and 170, respectively.
The Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI), introduced in 2010, takes into account the imbalance in income, education levels and life expectancy in a population.
When Jamaica’s HDI value is discounted for inequality, it falls to 0.612, a loss of 16.6 per cent.
The report noted that the average loss due to inequality for high HDI countries is 17.9 per cent and 22.2 per cent for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Gender Development Index (GDI) measures gender inequality across the three basic dimensions of human development.
The 2019 female HDI value for Jamaica is 0.730 in contrast with 0.735 for males, resulting in a GDI value of 0.994.
The Gender Inequality Index (GII) can be interpreted as the loss in human development due to inequality between female and male in the areas of reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity.
With women holding 19 per cent of parliamentary seats and 70 per cent of women attaining at least a secondary level of education compared to 62.4 per cent of their male counterparts, Jamaica has a GII value of 0.396, ranking it 88 out of 162 countries in the 2019 index.
Meanwhile, female participation in the labour market is 59.8 per cent compared to 72.5 for men.
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