Brunei (CU)_ The United Nations (UN) has ranked Brunei Darussalam at 51st out of 191 nations on its Human Development Index (HDI) for 2021/2022, which is two places behind compared to the previous index published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). HDI examines three indicators of human development, namely health, knowledge, and standard of life.
The Sultanate earned a score of 0.829 on the index, with an average life expectancy of 74.6 years and an expected level of education of 14 years. It also falls within the very high development category, which requires a score of 0.8 or above to qualify. Among the ASEAN countries, Singapore had a score of 0.939, followed by Brunei Darussalam with 0.829, Malaysia with 0.803, Thailand with 0.8, Indonesia with 0.705, Vietnam with 0.703, the Philippines with 0.699, Laos with 0.607, Cambodia with 0.593, and Myanmar with 0.585.
UNDP’s most recent Human Development Report, Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping Our Future in a Transforming World, argues that layers of uncertainty are accumulating and combining in new ways to disrupt life. The last two years have been disastrous for billions of people across the globe, as catastrophes such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have occurred simultaneously, along with huge social and economic transformations, severe planetary changes, and significant increases in polarization.
According to the report, for the first time in the 32 years that UNDP has calculated it, the HDI has dropped worldwide for two consecutive years. Human growth has reverted to its 2016 levels, undoing a significant portion of the progress made toward the sustainable development objectives. More than 90% of nations had a fall in their HDI score in either 2020 or 2021, and over 40% of countries experienced a decline in both years, indicating that the crisis is still growing for many.
According to UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, “The world is scrambling to respond to back-to-back crises. We have seen with the cost of living and energy crises that, while it is tempting to focus on quick fixes like subsidizing fossil fuels, immediate relief tactics are delaying the long-term systemic changes we must make”. He added, “We are collectively paralysed in making these changes. In a world defined by uncertainty, we need a renewed sense of global solidarity to tackle our interconnected, common challenges”.
