Sri Lanka makes progress despite war, UN says

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – A new report by the United Nations says that Sri Lanka is doing well according to human development indicators despite the disruption and suffering caused by a long-running ethnic war. The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report for 2007 indicates that Sri Lanka is making steady progress in human development as a result of increased incomes and an improvement in life expectancy at birth.

The progress is measured by changes in the Human Development Index (HDI) - which measures country achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income, according to the report, launched in Brazil Tuesday.

The Human Development Index for Sri Lanka rose in 2007 by 0.004 to 0.743 in 2007 from 0.739 in 2006.

The country’s GDP per capita at purchasing power parity was calculated at 4,595 dollars in 2007 as against 4,400 dollars in 2006. "Similarly, life expectancy at birth showed a slight improvement to 71.6 years in 2007 from 71.3 years in 2006," the report said.

Other indicators of the global Index such as adult literacy rate and enrolment ratio for education remained constant at 90.7 percent and 62.7 percent.

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