BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, July 30th 2014 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis is ranked 73 out of 187 countries in the 2014 Human Development Index.
Among the CARICOM nations, St. Kitts and Nevis is ranked fifth and second among the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Among the 187 countries, Cuba, which is not a member of CARICOM, is ranked 44.
In the CARICOM group of countries, The Bahamas is ranked 51; Barbados, 59; Antigua and Barbuda, 61; Trinidad and Tobago, 64; St. Kitts and Nevis, 73; Grenada, 79; Belize, 84; St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 91; Dominica, 93; Jamaica, 96; St. Lucia, 97; Suriname, 100 and Guyana, 121.
According to the UN document, St. Kitts and Nevis HDI value for 2013 is 0.750— which is in the high human development category — positioning the country at 73 out of 187 countries and territories.
Between 2010 and 2013, St. Kitts and Nevis HDI value increased from 0.747 to 0.750, an increase of 0.36 percent or an average annual increase of about 0.12 percent. The rank is shared with Sri Lanka.
Table A reviews St. Kitts and Nevis progress in each of the HDI indicators. Between 1980 and 2013, St. Kitts and Nevis life expectancy at birth increased by 8.6 years, mean years of schooling stayed the same and expected years of schooling increased by 1.1 years.
St. Kitts and Nevis GNI per capita increased by about 262.0 percent between 1980 and 2013.
UN data indicates that in 1980, life expectancy at birth for St. Kitts and Nevis was 65 years and increased to 68.6 years in 1995, up 3.5 years and to 73.6 years in 2013, up 4.8 years between 1995 and 2013, and up 8.5 years between 1980 and 2013.
The UN body pointed out that the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is expressed in constant 2011 international dollars converted using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates, stating that long-term progress can be usefully compared to other countries.
For instance, during the period between 2010 and 2013 St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Grenada experienced different degrees of progress toward increasing their HDIs. (Figure1).
St. Kitts and Nevis 2013 HDI of 0.750 is above the average of 0.735 for countries in the high human development group and above the average of 0.740 for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
From Latin America and the Caribbean, countries which are close to St. Kitts and Nevis in 2013 HDI rank and to some extent in population size are Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, which have HDIs ranked 61 and 94 respectively.
The Gross National Income (GNI) per capita expressed in constant 2011 international dollars converted using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates, stood at US$5,566 in 1980 and increased to US$11,940 in 1995 and to US$20,150 in 2013. (Table B)
St. Kitts and Nevis also leads Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Latin America and the Caribbean in selected countries and groups.
In this PPP category, St. Kitts and Nevis stood at US$20,150 while Antigua and Barbuda was US$18,800, Dominica, US$9,235 and Latin America and the Caribbean wasUS$13,767.
The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
Just as in the 2013 HDR, a long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy. Access to knowledge is measured by: i) mean years of education among the adult population, which is the average number of years of education received in a life-time by people aged 25 years and older; and ii) expected years of schooling for children of school-entry age, which is the total number of years of schooling a child of school-entry age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates stay the same throughout the child's life. Standard of living is measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita expressed in constant 2011 international dollars converted using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates.
To ensure as much cross-country comparability as possible, the HDI is based primarily on international data from the United Nations Population Division, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural.
The UN pointed out that it is misleading to compare values and rankings with those of previously published reports, because of revisions and updates of the underlying data and adjustments to goalposts. Small changes in values should be interpreted with caution as they may not be statistically significant due to sampling variation. Generally speaking, changes at the level of the third decimal place in any of the composite indices are considered insignificant.
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