United Nations annual report ranks Ukraine 91st in 'human development' (07/18/99)

United Nations annual report ranks Ukraine 91st in 'human development'

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's standing in the world in terms of "human development" has improved some in the last year, according to a rating of 174 countries by the United Nations. But, the country remains far down in the rankings from where it stood even five years ago.

The annual report, released on July 12 by the United Nations Development Program, puts Ukraine in the 91st slot this year, an improvement of nine positions over its 1998 rating of 102nd. However, it shows that the country is in far worse shape in the categories that the United Nations surveyed than in 1995, when Ukraine was rated 54th in human development.

Nina Karpachova, human rights representative for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said at a press conference at which the report was released that the improvement was no cause for celebration. She explained that for the most part the improvement Ukraine showed was due to changes in the information gathering methodology used by the UNDP this year.

"The 91st position does not encourage us. If we concentrated on a human rights index our rating would not be high at all," said Ms. Karpachova.

The UNDP report rates 174 countries of the world based chiefly on life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income.

The report, which gathered its information on Ukraine through the country's State Committee on Statistics, shows that Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has continued to fall since 1990, from $1,165 to $496 in 1997, and that currently 63 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

According to the report, Ukrainians have a life expectancy at birth of 68 years, compared to 77 years for citizens of Canada, which led this year's human development rating and 76.7 for those living in the United States, which came in third in the report.

Ukraine's infant mortality rate stands at 18 per 1,000, while Canada and the U.S., respectively, have rates of 6 per 1,000 and 7 per 1,000,

Ukraine's only strength was in the area of educational attainment, where the U.N. identified Ukraine's literacy rate at better than 99 percent.

For Ms. Karpachova the education rating was the only encouraging news in what for her was a dismal report. But even there she tempered her optimism.

"Education is probably the only thing that kept us from not placing further down the list," said the Verkhovna Rada human rights ombudsman. "But much of that effect is a remnant of the Soviet Union and our future possibilities are decreasing there as well."

Ukraine finds itself sandwiched below Sri Lanka and above Uzbekistan in the U.N. Human Development Report. It is rated as more developed than six of the 15 republics that once made up the Soviet Union and countries such as China, Egypt, India and South Africa. However, it is far down the line from its neighbors Poland (rated 44th), Russia (71st), Romania (61st) and most surprisingly of all Belarus, which was put in the 60th slot.

Mridula Ghosh, program advisor for the U.N. Development Program, said Ukraine's lower rating is chiefly due to an ever-worsening life expectancy rate and the country's inability to pay wages and pensions, which brings per capita income averages way down.

She explained that the big difference between Ukraine and Belarus is that the latter, with its much smaller population, can show a better GDP per capita income. She also said that Ukraine's position is skewed by the fact that Ukraine has often submitted inaccurate or incomplete information to the UNDP.

Mykola Tomenko, director of the Institute of Politics, who helped develop the report for Ukraine, had a more direct answer as to why Belarus, which from all indications seems to be sinking to the level of a Third World country, fared so much better than Ukraine in the human development report.

"There has long been an ongoing discussion within the UNDP on whether or not to establish indicators for free speech and level of democratization, but that has not yet been realized," said Mr. Tomenko. "That is why we see Belarus in 60th place."

Ms. Ghosh underscored that the rating is not the end-all in terms of how countries are developing, but merely a snapshot at a given moment which can utilize only the information that is available. "This should not be looked at in absolute terms, it is only a way of weighing and relating Ukraine to other countries. It is relative, and it is impossible to quantify everything," said Ms. Ghosh.

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