North Macedonia, which marked the 31st anniversary of its independence on Thursday, is ranked as one of the least developed countries in the region.

According to the latest Human Development Index 2021/2022, published by the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, North Macedonia is in 78th place among 191 countries in the world and at the bottom among the countries of the region.

Despite the stagnation, the publication notes that RSM has improved the observed indicators by 14 percent in the last two decades, compared to the situation two decades ago.

Thus, the life expectancy of those born in 2019 is two and a half years higher compared to those born in 2000, the average time spent in the educational process has increased and the average income has increased by a fifth.

But this is not enough.

If in 1994 the human development index of Macedonia was 0.642, it increased slowly until 2000 and reached 0.677.

The highest was in 2019 when it reached 0.784.

Then RMV was in 82nd place, but still 9 positions behind B and H and 13 behind Albania.

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In 2020, the first decline begins when the index is 0.774, and after the second decline – the index for 2021 is 0.770.

RSM is ranked among the "highly developed" countries, which is one category below the "very high" where some of the surrounding countries were.

Of the countries in the region, the best is Slovenia, which is in 23rd place, and among the very high countries are Croatia (40), Montenegro (49), Hungary (46), Romania (53) and Serbia in 63rd place.

Albania (67), Bulgaria, which ranks 68th bottom among EU countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina (74) and North Macedonia in 78th place are in a lower category.

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For the first time in the 32 years that UNDP calculates the Human Development Index, this index is falling globally.

"Insecurity and polarization feed off each other, preventing the solidarity needed to find solutions.

Human development has returned to 2016 levels, reversing much of the world's progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (…) This decline is universal, with almost 90 percent of countries seeing a decrease in the Index value in in 2020 or 2021. More than 40 percent have had a decline in the last two years, which signals the deepening of the crisis", says the UNDP report.

It calls on countries around the world to make a "sharp change of course" to prevent further deprivation and injustice.

According to one of the authors of the report, Achim Steiner,

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The report recommends implementing policies that focus on investments – from renewable energy to pandemic preparedness and insurance, including social protection – to prepare societies for the ups and downs of an uncertain world.

The outlook for 2022 is not optimistic, considering that more than 80 countries have problems with paying off their national debt.

The first three countries ranked with the highest human development index are Switzerland, Norway and Iceland and the lowest – Nigeria, Chad and South Sudan.

However, there are few countries that have made progress over the past year.

According to the report for this ranking, which has been published since 1990 on the basis of several indicators - Gross Domestic Product (GDP), life expectancy and education,

the reason for the decline or stagnation is various uncertainties, crises, the COVID pandemic.

(koha.mk)

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