Addis Ababa, 26 July 2014 (WIC) – Ethiopia has achieved the fastest growth in human development between 2000 and 2013 from among Sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNDP’s 2014 Human Development Report (HDR).
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2014 HDR Report was launched on Thursday, July 24, 2014 at Hilton Addis.
According to the report, in the years between 2000 and 2013 Ethiopia’s Human Development Index (HDI) value increased by over fifty percent and the country progressed in all the three dimensions of (HDI), namely education, life expectancy and income.
The life expectancy of the country at birth increased by nearly 20 years and expected years of schooling increased by 5.3 years between 1980 and 2013 and its Gross National Income (GNI) per capital grew by over 100 percent between 1990 and 2013, the report added.
The report also pointed out challenges with which it said practitioners in Ethiopia would be familiar. These relate to inequalities, high rate of multi-dimensional poverty and gender equality.
“This year, Ethiopia ranks 173 out of 187 countries. But, as all of us who work here do know, this rank does not tell the full picture of the tremendous human development gains which the country has recorded over the last 15 years,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Eugene Owusu said.
Minister of Environment and Forestry, Belete Tafere, on his part said Ethiopia has been doing tremendous efforts to eliminate the vulnerabilities of human development by formulating its
Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGT) and the country is implementing development plans emanating from it to protect it from the adverse effects of climate change.
He also indicated that “Ethiopia is geographically situated in Horn of Africa, a region that experiences severe weather-related shocks such as droughts, foods and other forms of weather variability that keep intensifying with climate change. The region also suffers from violent conflicts, which may not be related to climate change… The theme of the 2014 Human
Development Report is thus relevant to us because it responds to the need to minimize the vulnerabilities that are often felt in our part of Africa.”
The theme of this year’s report is “Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building resilience.”
The government of Ethiopia has been proactively engaged in disaster prevention and preparedness program like Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) would enable to building resilience to various shocks and reducing vulnerabilities, he stated.
The report, according to minister, will contribute to policy discourse in Ethiopia and across the African region as well as throughout the rest of the developing world. (ENA)
