Republic of Moldova ranks 107 out of 188 in Human Development Index

Republic of Moldova ranks 107 out of 188 countries and territories in Human Development Index (HDI). The value of 0.699 puts the country in the top of medium human development category. From Europe and Central Asia, countries which are close to Moldova in 2016 HDI rank and to some extent in population size are Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which have HDIs ranked 111 and 105 respectively.

The 2016 Human Development Report, was released today at in Stockholm, by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Between 1990 and 2015, Moldova’s HDI value increased from 0.652 to 0.699, an increase of 7.2 percent. During this period, life expectancy at birth increased by 4.1 years, mean years of schooling increased by 3.9 years and expected years of schooling decreased by 0.2 years. Moldova’s GNI per capita decreased by about 23.8 percent between 1990 and 2015.

The Human Development Report also measure inequalities. The Human Inequality coefficient for Moldova is equal to 10.1 percent, while the average in the region of Europe and Central Asia is of 12.7 percent.

The multidimensional poverty index for Moldova is of 0.004. Latest data made publicly available in 2012 indicated 44,000 people (1.2% of the population) are multidimensionally poor, while 90,000 people (2.5% of the population) live near multidimensional poverty. Analyzed data also indicate to a potential increase of fuel poverty, giving the fact the prices for energy are increasing, which puts pressure on households’ budgets.

“Poverty is a complex phenomenon and cannot be measured by sole reference to expenses of the households. Therefore, it is important to analyze poverty by considering the overlapping deprivations in 3 dimensions: education, living standards and health”, said Dumitru Vasilescu, project manager at UNDP Moldova and contributor to Human Development Report.

Consequently, the country needs, besides policies targeting increase of incomes and thus of expenses, improved access and services in the field education, health and social protection.

The ratio of the female to the male Human Development Index for Moldova is of 1.010: 0.702 for women in contrast with 0.695 for men. This value places Republic of Moldova into Group 1, which includes countries with high equality in human development achievements between women and men.

The report also measures gender based inequalities in 3 dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and economic activity. The Gender Inequality Index – loss in human development due to inequality between female and male achievements in the three GII dimensions – for Moldova is of 0.232.

The report highlights that a participatory model to improve local development in Moldova has worked so well that 70 towns and communities have adopted it, and 350,000 Moldovans are involved in improving local development. More than 10,000 local officials— 80 percent of the national total – were trained in how to engage with community members and better manage public services.

The 2016 Human Development Report urges reforms of global markets and institutions to make them more equitable and representative. In particular, to tackle corruption and illicit financial flows that severely compromise the region’s fiscal health, the report recommends greater global cooperation against tax evasion through better exchange of information and other efforts to monitor global finance.