UN Report Ranks Seychelles Among ‘Very High Human Development Countries’
The new UNDP Human Development Report which has been launched today, has ranked Seychelles 46th among 186 countries in the world- classifying Seychelles amongst those countries assessed as having ‘very high human development’.
While changes in methodology make it difficult to compare one report to another in terms of ranking, Seychelles’ steady progression in terms of the HDI index has led to this rise in its classification.
The report has identified three core components for success- or three main ‘drivers for development’:
1) A proactive developmental state
2) Tapping of global markets and infrastructure
3) Determined social policy
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jean-Paul Adam remarked at the launching of the report that Seychelles has adopted these strategies as part of its focus on ‘human centred development’.
He noted also that the report flags that ‘there is a clear positive correlation between past public investment in social and physical infrastructure and progress in HDI’ and that this was certainly the case in relation to Seychelles’ development.
The report focuses on ‘The Rise of the South’ and thus the way in which individual developing countries as well as partnerships among developing countries could create great developmental experiences.
Minister Adam noted that Seychelles had maximized the use of such partnerships, and further urged for more partnerships among island nations. He also noted that SIDS could become development innovators:
“SIDS can be the blueprints of innovative development structures. The ongoing discussion on the ‘blue economy’ for example is being spearheaded by SIDS and was included on the RIO+20 agenda because of the determination of SIDS to find new ways of solving the challenges we face.”
Minister Adam also noted that efforts needed to be made to continually improve the data sets available for such reports and the government would continue to work with UNDP to achieve this.
