Pakistan remains among the medium human development countries with its position falling from 151 to 152, according to the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Geo News reported

According to the details, the UNDP’s Human Development Report (HDR) –launched on Monday in Colombia — gave Pakistan a score of 0.560.

The score puts the country as the second last country among the Medium Human development countries. Solomon Islands is the only country behind Pakistan in the category.

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The HDI classifications are based on HDI fixed cutoff points. Countries which are below the cutoff points of less than 0.550 are categorised as low human development, while medium human development are categorised within the range of 0.550–0.699. Scores of 0.700–0.799 is for high human development and 0.800 or greater for very high human development.

As per data, Pakistan’s life expectancy stands at 67; while the expected years of schooling was at 8.5 years, with the mean years of schooling standing at 5.2 and the country’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita was $5,190.

When the report was first published in 1990, Pakistan scored 0.404. The latest report gave the country a score of 0.560 which shows an overall increase in the score by 1.17%.

However, the trend from 1990 till 2018 showed that Pakistan had steadily improved from being a low human development country to a medium development country.

Speaking on the release of the report, Resident Representative of UNDP Pakistan Ignacio Artaza has stated, “The HDR shows us that inequality is not ‘natural’ or inevitable. However, governments, civil societies, and ordinary citizens need to work together and translate words into concrete actions to ensure that people all over the world can live their lives to their fullest potential”.