China now ranks 85th on the Human Development Index, compared
with the 105th position it held in 1990.
This is revealed in the 2005 Human Development Report
published worldwide by the UN Development Program (UNDP).
However, the report warns that China's economic advancement has
outpaced social progress, meaning the country faces the challenge
of ensuring that income growth is converted into sustained progress
in non-income dimensions of human development.
The report also recognizes China's achievements in poverty
relief over the last 30 years, saying that if China's
achievements were not recorded, the world would have actually
regressed in its progress toward poverty alleviation.
"China has been the world's fastest growing economy over the
past two decades, with per capita incomes rising threefold. The
country has 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 further points to the scale of regional inequality
within China.
Presented to heads of state and government one week before they
meet in New York for a crucial UN summit to review progress made
toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the report is a
reminder to world leaders to fulfill the commitments they made to
the world's poor five years ago.
Published every year since 1990, the report provides an update
on development problems and recommendations for their solutions,
each time with a new theme. This year's report focuses on
inequalities and the three pillars of international cooperation --
aid, trade and security, arguing that swift and dramatic changes in
international cooperation are vital for attainment of the MDGs.
"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.
These rules deny 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 participation.
(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2005)