UNDP report highlights China's marked progress in human development

China has registered some of the most rapid advances in human development in history as its Human Development Index Ranking now ranks the 85th, compared with the 105th in 1990.

This is revealed by "2005 Human Development Report," which has been simultaneously published worldwide by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

However, the Report warns that China's economic advance has outpaced social progress, therefore the country faces the challenge to ensure that remarkable income growth is converted into sustained progress in non-income dimensions of human development.

The Report recognizes China's massive achievements in poverty relief in the past 30 years, saying that if China's achievements were not recorded, the world would have actually regressed in its progress towards poverty alleviation.

"China is the world's fastest growing economy over the past two decades, with per capita incomes rising threefold. The country climbed 20 places in the Human Development Index ranking to 85th since 1990," said Khalid Malik, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in China, at Thursday's ceremony to launch the report in Beijing.

The Report points to the scale of regional inequality within China. For example, says the Report, if Guizhou (a southwestern province in China) were a country, it would rank just above Namibia, while Shanghai (in east China) would rank alongside Portugal on the Human Development Index.

Presented to heads of state and government one week before they meet in New York for a crucial UN summit to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Report is a reminder to the world leaders in their upcoming largest-ever gathering to fulfill the commitments they made to the world's poor when they gathered at the UN five years ago.

Released each year since 1990, the Human Development Reports provide an update on development problems and recommendations for their solutions, each time with a new theme. This year's report focuses on inequalities and three pillars of international cooperation -- aid, trade and security, arguing that swift and dramatic changes in international cooperation are vital for attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

"The world has the knowledge, resources and technology to end extreme poverty, but time is running out," said UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis.

The Report examines the links between global aid, trade and security policies to lift the poorest out of extreme poverty. "The world's highest trade barriers are erected against some of its poorest countries," says the publication.

It asserts that donor countries have failed to act on their commitment to a development agenda at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The status quo for international trade regulation therefore must be changed.

Through these rules the world is denying the poorest countries access to this proven and essential development path, said Malik. "China, for example, is perhaps the world's greatest development success story in the recent decades. Under current WTO trade rules, however, China's ascent would have never been possible and over 200 million people would still have been languishing in extreme poverty," he added.

The Report concludes that international cooperation must be reshaped in the three areas: aid, trade and security. Increased aid without fairer trade rules will not be enough. More effective rules in international trade will count little in countries where violent conflict blocks opportunities to participate.

Source: Xinhua