Bangladesh advanced three steps, thus, jointly ranking 139th with Ghana and Zambia out of 188 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), according to the Human Development Report (HDR) 2016. Categorised as a “medium human development” country for the 13th consecutive year, Bangladesh’s average annual growth of HDI was 1.64%, between 1990 and 2015, which is higher than that of many other South Asian countries, the report adds. The annual report was unveiled by the UNDP at a programme which it jointly organised with the Planning Commission in Dhaka on Wednesday, less than two weeks after the report’s global launch in Stockholm, Sweden. Addressing as chief guest, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal termed Bangladesh’s progress in human development over the last two decades significant, saying the average annual HDI growth is better than many other South Asian countries. Devised and launched in 1990, HDI is a measure to assess progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and access to decent standard living.

Source: Dhaka Tribune April 05, 2017 19:22 UTC