Malta ranked 32nd in human development

Malta has slipped down one place to 32nd among 175 countries in this year's Human Development Index compiled by the United Nations Development Programme.

The HDI measures a country's achievements in terms of three dimensions of human development:

¤ a long and healthy life as measured by life expectancy at birth;

¤ knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary schools; and

¤ a decent standard of living, as measured by the gross domestic product per capita.

This year's index refers to the situation in 2003. It is made up of 175 UN member countries as well as Hong Kong and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Malta had placed 31st in last year's index. Its position this year is 19th among the 25 European Union members, behind all the EU15 and fourth among the 10 new member states behind Slovenia (26th), Cyprus (29th) and the Czech Republic (31st).

All EU members are in the first 57 positions, which represent high human development. Positions 58 to 145 represent medium human development while 146 to 177 represent low human development.

The top EU country is Luxembourg, which is in fourth place, followed by Sweden (sixth) and Ireland (eighth). The EU country furthest behind is Latvia (48th).

Norway has retained the top position in this year's index but Sweden has lost the second placing it enjoyed last year.

Iceland is in this year's second place, up from seventh last year. Australia has retained the third placing.

At the bottom of this year's index is Niger, which moved down one placing from 176 last year, swapping positions with Sierra Leone.