(KPL) The Lao PDR’s Human Development Index (HDI) value of 0.620 for 2022 puts the country in the medium human development category, ranking it 139 out of 193 countries and territories (the country ranked 140 in 2021).

Despite a recovery in human development performance, with an HDI value slightly above the 0.617 pre-pandemic score of 2019, there has been a permanent loss in human development performance, as for most countries and for the globe, according to the Global Human Development Report 2023-24.

But the loss in the Lao PDR is not only due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Martine Thérer, UNDP Resident Representative in the Lao PDR explained that since 2014, the Lao PDR’s human development performance has significantly slowed down, resulting in a loss that cannot be recovered.

UNDP also calculates measures related to Human Development Performance. The inequality adjusted HDI calculates the ‘loss’ in human development due to inequality in life expectancy, schooling, and per capita income across the population. The Lao PDR’s loss due to inequality is 24.8 per cent, which lowers the HDI to 0.466 in 2022.

While there has been an improvement in reducing the gender gap, coming from an increase in women’s participation in the workforce, the Lao PDR’s Gender Inequality Index (GII) value of 0.467 is below the levels of 2020, ranking the country 116 out of 166 countries in 2022.

The Lao PDR’s HDI adjusted for planetary pressures (carbon dioxide emissions per person -production-based-, and material footprint per capita), showed an improvement for 2022 due to marginal decreases in material footprint. However, the current material footprint (12.2 ton per capita) is still much higher than 2014 levels during when the country experienced higher growth with lesser material footprint.

Uneven development progress is leaving the poorest behind, exacerbating inequality, and stoking political polarization on a global scale.

The result is a dangerous gridlock that must be urgently tackled through collective action, according to 2023-24 Human Development Report (HDR), titled “Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world", which was launched in Vientiane last week  by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Development Research Institute of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The report reveals a troubling trend: the rebound in the global Human Development Index (HDI) – a summary measure reflecting a country’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, education, and life expectancy – has been partial, incomplete, and unequal.

The HDI is projected to reach record highs in 2023 after steep declines during 2020 and 2021. But this progress is deeply uneven. Rich countries are experiencing record-high levels of human development while half of the world’s poorest countries remain below their pre-crisis level of progress.

“The Human Development Report has highlighted several areas of importance, especially our development journey where we take full ownership of our future to ensure self-reliance following the LDC graduation. Human development should be at the centre of our development strategy, particularly focusing on youth empowerment to ensure we maximize our demographic dividend” Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Sthabandith Insisienmay noted.

Mr. Christophe Bahuet, UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, noted that the widening human development gap revealed by the report shows that the two-decade trend of steadily reducing inequalities between wealthy and poor nations is now in reverse.

KPL