UNDP ranks Nigeria 152nd in 2016 Human Development Index

-Sub Saharan Africa loses $95 billion annually over gender inequalities

Nigeria has again  ranked the 152nd in its 2016 report on African Human Development Index (HDI) as released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on Sunday, in Nairobi, Kenya.

With the ranking, Nigeria occupy its 2014 position as there was no change in the present ranking.

UNDP announced its report on African Human Development Index during a press conference at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD held in Nairobi

According to UNDP report, Nigeria’s HDI value for 2014 was 0.514 which put the country in the low human development category, having been ranked in the 152nd position among 188 countries and territories.

However, between 2005 and 2014, Nigeria’s HDI value increased from 0.467 to 0.514, an increase of 10.1 percent or an average annual increase of about 1.07 percent.

Similarly, in the latest ranking, values and trends, Nigeria was still placed on Low Human Development, LHD, category outside High Human Development, HHD, Medium Human Development, MHD which featured 53 countries in Africa.

On the HHD table of the UNDP, Mauritius was placed at the highest 63 position while Tunisia took the last position of 96 on the average rating table.

Bostawa was top of the MHD table appearing on 106 position while São Tomé and Príncipe came last at 143 position.

In the case of Kenya, it was  placed at 145 position on the list of countries ranked low with Niger Republic taking the last position at 188.

It was observed that Kenya’s average annual HDI between 2010 and 2014 was 0.92 percent, outperforming Nigeria whose annual HDI within the same period was placed at 1.06.

The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and health life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

Also in its report, UNDP disclosed that sub-Saharan Africa was losing an average of $95 billion a year due to gender inequality.

According to UNDP, the situation escalated in 2014 when the region lost $105 billion or six percent of the region’s GDP.