May the 3rd, 2024 – Croatian quality of life has dropped overall, but the country has still firmly remained among those which offer the highest.
As Josipa Ban/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to the Human Development Index (HDI), published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Croatia is in the category of countries with a very high human development index.
This UNDP measurement has been being carried out since 1990. It carefully assesses the quality of life of an individual country, not only GDP is used, but the gross national income (GNI) per inhabitant and two other components – life expectancy and education. Croatian quality of life has ranked at an enviable 39 out of 193 observed countries.
According to the HDI, the GNI per inhabitant in Croatia is 34.3 thousand US dollars, the life expectancy is 79.2 years, and people here undergo education for an average of 12.3 years. However, compared to the last calculation (2021), Croatian quality of life actually fell by two positions.
croatian quality of life aside, switzerland still reigns strong
Switzerland, on the other hand, retained the first place with a GNP per inhabitant of 69.4 thousand US dollars, a life expectancy of 84.3 years and an average education of 13.9 years. According to the Human Development Index, Somalia performed the worst, where the gross national income is only 1,072 US dollars, people receive an average of only 1.9 years of education, and life expectancy is a shocking 56.1 years.
Seven European countries have been unsurprisingly ranked among the top ten countries where the standard of living measured by the human development index is the best. The other three are Hong Kong (4th), Singapore (9th) and Australia (10th). The USA, the country with the world’s highest GDP, ranks 20th according to this index.
However, the recently published UNDP index has highlighted some very alarming trends. According to the report, rich countries have maintained a record level of human development, while half of the poorest countries have regressed. “The HDI is expected to reach record levels in 2023 after a sharp decline in 2020 and 2021. However, this progress is extremely uneven,” the report revealed.
Inequalities at the global level are the result of large economic concentrations. For example, says the HDI report, almost half of world trade in goods is concentrated in three or even fewer countries. In addition, the market capitalisation of each of the three largest technology companies back in 2021 was greater than the GDP of more than 90 percent of countries. Apple’s market capitalisation in 2021 was greater than the GDP of Brazil, Italy, Russia, and even Canada.
“The widening gap in human development shows that the trend of continuously reduced inequality between rich and poor nations, which lasted for two decades, has now been reversed,” warns Achim Steiner, head of UNDP.
the democracy paradox
The report cites deglobalisation and political polarisation as growing challenges in today’s world. One of these trends contribute to the reduction of inequality and the growth of living standards. Deglobalisation, as noted by the authors of the report, is neither achievable nor remotely realistic.
“No region is anywhere even close to self-sufficiency. They all depend on imports from other regions, at least 25% of one or more important products and services,” warned the authors. The head of the UNDP added to this that the refusal to invest in other countries represents an enormous danger to our overall level of well-being and security.
The report also cited research indicating that countries with populist governments experience lower GDP growth. However, we’re also facing the “paradox of democracy”. While 9 out of 10 people support it, half of the world’s population expresses support for leaders who underestimate democracy.
