According to the United Nations, Africa is the worst place to live, when looking at their table ranking of countries on human development, publish on 27 November. While Sierra Leone was last on the list, it was not the lone African representative at the bottom of the table, as all the bottom 22 countries on th list are in sub-Saharan Africa.
“In 10 of these countries, two children in five will not reach the age of 40, said the compilers at the U.N. Development Program. Last year's report said HIV/AIDS had had a “catastrophic effect” on life expectancy in the region (Reuters).
These countries, all of which fall into the “low human development” category, where gaged on 2005 figures for life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income. The Human Development Report has published the human development index (HDI) since 1990, the report looks beyond GDP to form a broader definition of what is classified as well-being. “The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrollment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income).” While the report is not to be seen as a fully comprehensive measure of human development, it does not look at specific key indicators such as; gender, income inequality, human rights or political freedoms.
