The Human Development Index and the Caribbean (Party Time?)
On March 14 2024 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released the 2023/2024 edition of its annual Global Human Development Report (HDR). The report which has been published since 1990 provides insights into the performance of 193 countries in terms of access to health care, education and the general standard of living. In reviewing the current report, I take a five-year perspective and compare the performance of countries relative to the 2018/2019 report.
One of the key outputs of the HDR is the Human Development Index (HDI) which places countries into one of four categories, (1) Countries with Very High Level of Human Development, (2) countries with High Human Development, (3) countries with Medium Human Development, countries with Low Human Development. The 2023/2024 edition of the HDI classifies sixty-nine countries of the 193 countries ranked as having achieved a Very High Level of Human Development, up from sixty-two in the 2018/2019 report. Switzerland is ranked number one in the world in terms of human development, replacing Norway which was ranked number one in 2018/2019.
A striking feature of the HDI over the years is that the world’s richest and most powerful nations are rarely, if ever, in the top ten on this index. For example, the USA, Japan and China, the three largest economies in the world, are ranked at numbers 20, 24 and 75 respectively, while the three richest countries in the world based on Gross Domestic Product Per Capita, Qatar, Luxembourg and Brunei are ranked at numbers 40, 20 and 55 respectively. The HDI rankings have consistently suggested that while a strong and relatively prosperous economy is necessary to support a Very High Level of Human Development it is not sufficient. Alongside a strong economy, the critical element in the level of human development attained by a nation appears to be the philosophical approach to the degree of access citizens and residents are to be provided to social services such as health care and education. The HDI rankings are dominated by countries with strong economies which provides the financial means to support a high level of human development, and who are governed by a philosophy of providing citizens and residents whatever their economic means with universal or widespread access to a certain level of education and healthcare among other social services. The pursuit of Social Democratic ideals along with a strong economy appear to be the critical ingredients for a nation to achieve a very high level of human development.
In the 2018/2019 edition of the HDI, two Caribbean nations, Barbados and The Bahamas were classified as enjoying a Very High Level of Human Development. I find it a cause for celebration that in the 2023/2024 edition of this report, three Caribbean nations countries, St.
Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda and Trinidad & Tobago joined Barbados and The Bahamas in being classified in the Very High Level of Human Development category. In fact, these three nations surpassed their Caribbean neighbors. St. Kitts and Nevis is the number one ranked Caribbean country in terms of human development, ranked at number 51 in world from among 193 countries, up from number 73 in 2018/2019. Antigua and Barbuda surged to be the number 2 ranked Caribbean country in terms of human development, at number 54 in the world up from number 74 in 2018/2019, while Trinidad and Tobago is number 3 in the Caribbean, ranked at
number 60 in the world, up from number 63 in 2018/2019. It is also noteworthy and pride worthy that with the exception of Haiti all other CARICOM member nations are classified as achieving High Human Development, with Guyana which was previously classified as having Medium Human Development moving into the High Human Development category (see table 1 for a full Caribbean ranking).
In the discussion of the 2018/2019 After 20 years of progress UNDP states, “for the first time on record, inequalities in Human Development Index (HDI) values—which measure a country’s health, education and standard of living—are growing between countries at the bottom and countries at the top of the index. Following the 2020 and 2021 declines in the global HDI value, the world had the opportunity to build forward better. Instead, this Human Development Report shows that our global community is falling short.” In the face of the growing inequality highlighted by UNDP and a “world on fire” as stated by my colleagues Prof. Don Marshall, it is a stupendous and extraordinary achievement for five Caribbean nations to be in the elite category on this global ranking, as some of the smallest and most vulnerable nations in the world and their limited resources and horrible legacy of slavery and colonialism. The significant leaps made by the tiny nations of St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua & Barbuda are an immense source of pride.
Caribbean nations should not rest on laurels but should recommit to Social Democratic principles and creating societies where universal access to health care and education are seen as national imperatives alongside growing their economies and improving the material standard of living.
Prof. C. Justin Robinson
Principal UWI Five Islands Campus &
Pro Vice Chancellor Planning & Academic Industry Partnerships
Table 1. Caribbean Countries in The Human Development Index: A Five-Year Comparison
| Country | Rank 2023/2024
(Out of 193 Countries) |
Rank 2018/2019
(Out of 188 Countries) |
2023/2024 Classification | 2018/2019 Classification |
| St. Kitts & Nevis | 51 | 73 | Very High Level of Human Development | High Human Development |
| Antigua & Barbuda | 54 | 74 | Very High Level of Human Development | High Human Development |
| Bahamas | 57 | 60 | Very High Level of Human Development | Very High Level of Human Development |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 60 | 63 | Very High Level of Human Development | High Human Development |
| Barbados | 62 | 56 | Very High Level of Human Development | Very High Level of Human Development |
| Grenada | 73 | 78 | High Human Development | High Human Development |
| Saint Vincent & The Grenadines | 81 | 94 | High Human Development | High Human Development |
| Guyana | 95 | 123 | High Human Development | Medium Human Development |
| Dominica | 97 | 98 | High Human Development | High Human Development |
| Saint Lucia | 108 | 89 | High Human Development | High Human Development |
| Jamaica | 115 | 96 | High Human Development | High Human Development |
| Belize | 118 | 103 | High Human Development | High Human Development |
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You know I think this article is written much to intellectual for the UPP cronies to understand that really the sky is not falling down and that Antigua and Barbuda is doing very well. But what the heck. They will continue to close their eyes and shut their ears and screaming, “The Sky is Falling”. They don’t want to believe that our economic growth is the fasted and highest in the region safe from Guyana’s. But then again, no one can beat Guyana with it new found riches. Not about any economic policies. And look at this. They are the fasted growing economy, but yet the government and the teachers are at loggerheads not wanting to pay the teachers a decent wage. While here in Antigua and Barbuda teachers got what they demanded from the government. Antigua and Barbuda is working towards a vision set by our leader. To be an Economic Powerhouse in the Caribbean. And some people cannot see nor believe in the vision and they keep making a mockery out of us who believe and work towards this vision. But we will be the last one laughing. Cause without a vision the people perish. The same happens to a company where the management has not set a vision for the staff to work to. The business will be going nowhere. Lets us look forward to climbing this ladder every year untill we reach to the very top.
Only a matter of before both countries are taken over by the very same non nationals who purchase passport. This jump is because those individuals from high HDR countries holders of our respective passports were added to the list. It also indicates the high number of our passports sold to foreigners 😏The rating is not a reflection of the average Antiguan and kittitian. People know better.. Nothing else has changed between 2019 and 2024.
Giving Cross Over UPP candidates preferential treatment over diehard ALP/ABLP members will be the downfall of the Gaston Browne administration. Regis is a diehard ALP member. worshipped in the same congregation as our late Father of the Nation. PAPA BIRD. he grew up admiring this ALP great. He has been a people’s man for ever since and his entire DNA is about service to the people of his constituency. The ABLP executive would do best not to alienate these young people over those that are just coming from the other side, claiming they have seen the light and are now laborites. I know a leopard never loses it’s spots. Be weary of this Mr. PM. These are the same people who will in the end turn on you. History has many lessons of persons such as these. They are not BORN Laborites. The are opportunists. And yes they will say and do anything to be recognized and get what they want. But once you give them what they want, sorry for you.
Only a matter of before both countries are taken over by the very same non nationals who purchase passport. This jump is because those individuals from high HDR countries holders of our respective passports were added to the list. It also indicates the high number of our passports sold to foreigners 😏The rating is not a reflection of the average Antiguan and kittitian. People know better.. Nothing else has changed between 2019 and 2024.
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