Paul Mwijagye

KAMPALA, UGANDA - The 2010 Human Development Index (HDI), composite national measure of health, education and income for 169 countries released recently in the 20th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report shows Burundi as the only East African country in the bottom 10 countries in the 2010 HDI achievement.

The other nine African countries in the bottom 10 include Mali, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Chad, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.

Others are Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe which are at the bottom of the annual rankings.

The report shows Norway, Australia and New Zealand leading the world in HDI achievement. The next seven among the top 10 countries in the 2010 HDI include the United States, Ireland, Lichtenstein, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Germany.

Gross National Income per capita replaces Gross Domestic Product per capita, to include income from remittances and international development assistance, for example. The upper 'cap' on income for index weighting purposes was removed to give countries that had surpassed the previous US$40,000 limit an HDI, better reflecting real incomes levels.

In education, expected years schooling for school-age children replaces gross enrolment, and average years of schooling in the adult population replaces adult literacy rates, to provide a fuller picture of education levels. Life expectancy remains the main indicator for health.

"This year's HDI should not be compared to the HDI that appeared in previous editions of the Human Development Report due to the use of different indicators and calculations,” noted the report.