Kathmandu, June 29: Human Development Report 2000 (HDR 2000), commissioned by United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP), reveals that Nepal’s human development situation is bleak. Although the country has achieved a slight improvement in its Human Development Index (HDI) value, calculated on basis of people’s access to health, education and life expectancy, it retains its previous position at 144 out of 174 countries studied by the report.

Nepal’s achievements in human development sector lags behind even in comparison to other South Asian neighbours. According to the HDR 2000, Nepal has the lowest life expectancy in the region. Life expectancy at birth in Nepal is 57.8 years in average, which is 4.2 years lower than the average for South Asian Countries.

The report observes glaring disparities in the life expectancy between advantaged and disadvantaged communities. The report calculates the life expectancy at birth for people from disadvantaged groups and castes to stand at 46 years that is 15 years less than that of “upper castes”.

Nepal’s Human Poverty Index (HPI) stands at 51.3 per cent, making it one of the only eight countries in the world where more than half of the population suffers from human poverty. When measured by HPI Nepal ranks 80 out of 85 countries for which data is available. The government also recognises poverty as a “major obstacle” in enjoying human rights in the country. It claims that 42 per cent of the citizen are under the absolute poverty line, and classifies 17 per cent of them as ultra poor.

Income inequalities are also vast in Nepal. HDR 2000 observes that the poorest 20 per cent of population earn less than 8 per cent of national income, while the richest 20 per cent earn nearly 50 per cent. The income disparities have badly affected the average income of Nepalese. Nepal’s GDP per capita income is lowest in the South Asian region. Yet, the planner and policy makers seem to overlook the necessity to increase life chances for the poor section of the population. Almost 50 per cent of the spending on education is directed to the richest 20 per cent while a little over 10 per cent goes to the bottom 20 per cent.

Gender discrimination is also observed in Nepal. Presently Nepali is the single country in the world where life expectancy of women is less than that of their male counterparts. Life expectancy for female is calculated to be 57.6 years as against 58.1 years for male. Deprivation from care benefits and low social status is blamed for low life expectancy for women. Biologically, females are expected to live longer than males. Gender based discrimination has also limited human development chances for women. Only 28 per cent of women were literate in Nepal in 1999, which is world’s one of the lowest female literacy rate.

In the recent years, the report observes, attempts have been made towards restructuring of nation’s annual budget to provide non-discriminatory expenditures. Social sector as a percentage of public spending increased from 15.8 per cent in 1985/86 to 29.2 per cent in 1996/97. Although public spending as percentage of GDP fell by 3.2 per cent between the same years, social sector spending allocated to primary health and education, water supply and local development increased towards the international standard. However, the report points out the areas where more improvements are required in budgetary structure. The international benchmark for spending on priority social sector is 5 per cent of the GNP, whereas Nepal spends only 3.4 per cent of GNP in priority social sector.

HRD 2000 proposes bold new approaches to political and economic governance for social justice. It advocates for stronger international action for disadvantaged peoples and countries and to offset global inequalities. At the national level, it calls for inclusive democracy that protects minorities and extension of the state-centred model of accountability to include non-state actors.