Report on HDI of Maldives

Submitted to: Prof. Anil Kanungo

Submitted by: Group 4

Anadi Goel (139)
Abhishek Agrawal (141)
Akarsh Sasanapuri (142)
Ankit Bajpai (143)
Anmol Grover (144)
Palak Mehra (176)

Human Development Index (HDI)

The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate
criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can
also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same
level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These
contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key
dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a
decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of
the three dimensions.
The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth component of the HDI is
calculated using a minimum value of 20 years and maximum value of 85 years. The
education component of the HDI is measured by mean of years of schooling for adults aged
25 years and expected years of schooling for children of school entering age. Mean years of
schooling is estimated by UNESCO Institute for Statistics based on educational attainment
data from censuses and surveys available in its database. Expected years of schooling
estimates are based on enrolment by age at all levels of education. This indicator is produced
by UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Expected years of schooling is capped at 18 years. The
indicators are normalized using a minimum value of zero and maximum aspirational values
of 15 and 18 years respectively. The two indices are combined into an education index using
arithmetic mean.
The standard of living dimension is measured by gross national income per capita. The
goalpost for minimum income is $100 (PPP) and the maximum is $75,000 (PPP). The
minimum value for GNI per capita, set at $100, is justified by the considerable amount of
unmeasured subsistence and nonmarket production in economies close to the minimum that is
not captured in the official data. The HDI uses the logarithm of income, to reflect the
diminishing importance of income with increasing GNI. The scores for the three HDI
dimension indices are then aggregated into a composite index using geometric mean. Refer to
Technical notes for more details.
The HDI does not reflect on inequalities, poverty, human security, empowerment, etc. The
HDRO offers the other composite indices as broader proxy on some of the key issues of
human development, inequality, gender disparity and human poverty.
Maldives- Snapshot
The Republic of Maldives consists of 1,190 coral islands formed around 26 natural ring-like
atolls in the Indian Ocean. Of these islands, 188 islands are inhabited by local people and
close to a 100 islands have been developed as tourist resorts. The earliest settlers on these
islands are believed to have included travellers and traders from India, South East Asia and
Arabia. Culturally and ethnically the Maldivians are considered homogenous and speak the
language Dhivehi, which derives from Sinhala and has influences of Arabic. The people are
Muslims (they follow Sunni Islam); having converted to Islam in 1153, from Buddhism. The
total population of these islands is 330,652 people. Close to a third of the population lives in
the capital Mal, in an area that is less than two square kilometres. The country itself is
spread over 90,000 square kilometres, of which 99 percent is made up of the sea; the land
area in the Maldives is less than 300 square kilometres. This makes it the smallest country in
Asia, both in terms of land area and population. With an average ground level elevation of 1.5
metres (4 feet, 11 inches) above sea-level, it is the planets lowest country.

The second NHDR for the Maldives has been prepared 13 years after the first Maldives
NHDR was published, in 2001. The first national HDR took stock of the progress recorded
by the country and highlighted that people living in the Maldives are vulnerable to many
external factors including small size of population and land area, physical vulnerability,
scarcity of land based resources, geo-physical constraints, population dispersion and
governance. The report recommended expanding assistance beyond the capital, Mal to the
islands, investing in children, given that children and youth account for 44 per cent of the
population and enlarging employment possibilities that meet the aspirations of the growing
youth. Other focus areas that were identified were managing the environment and natural
resources and establishing responsive governance in the Maldives including an efficient
administrative system, greater peoples participation and improved access to justice.
Since the publication of the first NHDR more than a decade ago, the Maldives has recorded
major gains and progress in human development indicators including in education, health and
economic opportunities. Particularly impressive have been the gains in universal
immunization and primary schooling. This period witnessed a major overhaul of the
countrys governance structure with the initiation of democratic transition in 2008. The
decade witnessed major shocks to the country including the Tsunami in December 2004,
which highlighted the countrys physical and economic vulnerability to natural disasters. The
global economic downturn in 2009 further demonstrated the countrys economic vulnerability
to external shocks, given its dependence on a narrow base of tourism. The country has seen
major social change over this period with urbanization, explosion of youth population and
unemployment, for instance, contributing to increasing drug use, crime and violence.
The national-level Human Development Index (HDI) for 2012, shows that the Maldives
ranks in the medium human development category, with a value of 0.688. From 2000 to
2012, Maldives experienced an average annual increase of 1.26 points in the HDI, positioning
the country at number 104 out of 187 countries (for which the HDI is calculated). This value
puts the Maldives above the average value of 0.64 for countries in the medium human
development group and above the average value of 0.558 for countries in South Asia. While
the overall gains in human development at the national level are impressive, they mask
various underlying inequalities.
A Decade of Transformation
During the 2001 - 2010 period, the GDP increased substantially from US$ 0.80 billion to US$
2.2 billion with an impressive average per capita GDP growth rate of 7.3 percent4. The gross
national income (GNI) per capita almost doubled and now stands at US$ 7,690. This
performance comes despite two major external shocks to the economy, which includes the
tsunami that struck on 26 December 2004 and the global financial crisis that began in 2008.
Both these events resulted in negative growth for the Maldives in the years that followed, in
2005 and 2009 respectively. The tourism-dependent economy demonstrated resilience in the
aftermath of these events and growth was restored within a year. However, in recent years,
the Maldives has been struggling with critical macroeconomic imbalances resulting from
expansionary fiscal policies and fast growing debt levels while growth rates have slowed
down from 7 percent in the preceding two years to 3.4 percent during 2012.

Social indicators in the Maldives have shown significant improvements in the last decade.
The Maldives has met five of the eight Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets ahead
of the agreed timeline of 2015 and has been labelled as a MDG plus country, showing
potential to go beyond the agreed MDG targets. The Maldives lags behind on MDG 3 Promoting Gender Equality and Empower Women, MDG 7 Ensuring Environmental
Sustainability and MDG 8 Global Partnership for Development. During the ten-year period
2001 to 2011, life expectancy at birth increased from 70.2 years to 72.8 years for men and
from 70.7 to 74.8 years for women7. Child survival has improved significantly with the
Infant mortality rate (IMR) falling from 17 per 1,000 live births in 2001 to 9 per 1,000 live
births in 20118. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) has come down from 143 per 100,000
births in 2001 to 56 per 100,000 births in 2011, owing to better obstetric care and antenatal
care at the atoll level.
The Maldives achieved a major milestone in the education sector when in 2000, the goal of
universal primary education was realized. Every child has access to a primary school in all
the inhabited islands of the country. Between 2001 and 2011, enrolment of both boys and
girls has been maintained close to universal level at the primary stage and has increased
substantially at the secondary level as well. Girls enrolment at the lower secondary level
exceeded that of boys throughout this period.
The country has witnessed a major overhaul of its governance structure in recent times. The
turning point came in August 2008, with the ratification of the current Constitution, when the
Government system allowed separation of powers (of the executive, judiciary, and
legislature), multi-party elections, decentralized governance and a comprehensive Bill of
Rights and freedoms for its citizens. The Constitution led to the establishment of a series of
independent institutions such as the Elections Commission, the Human Rights Commission,
the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Prosecutor Generals Office for the very first time.
In November 2008, the first democratically elected President of the Maldives was sworn into
office after a multi-party election under the 2008 Constitution, ending a 30-year rule by the
erstwhile President.
The Maldivian people saw some unprecedented events during this period. The tsunami in
December 2004, which washed away 62 percent of the GDP in a matter of minutes,
demonstrated the countrys vulnerability to natural disasters and to climate change related
calamities. The global economic downturn that began in 2008 highlighted the countrys
vulnerability to external economic shocks.
The public sector consists of the Government and fully and partially State Owned Enterprises
(SOEs). It plays a significant and visible role in the Maldives. Public consumption accounts

for more than half of the total consumption. Public servants represent one-third of the
domestic labour force. The fiscal accounts of the Government of the Maldives have until
recently been characterized by tax revenue that is largely limited to import duties, tourist bednight tax and a bank profit tax. Non-tax revenues have been dominated by profit transfers
from SOEs, and by resort lease rent.

Steps Taken by Government

Noticeable improvements have been seen in reducing Infant Mortality Rates, Maternal
Mortality Rates and increased life expectancy. On the disease front, most of the
communicable diseases have been either eradicated or controlled. There have been no
indigenous case of malaria since 1984 and vaccine preventable diseases have been controlled
to such an extent that diseases like polio, neonatal tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria
are non-existent in the country. Leprosy and Filaria have reached to zero transmission levels
and elimination targets. Tuberculosis and HIV prevalence have been maintained at very low
levels. However, there is a potential public health threat due to the debilitating situation of
drug abuse and the high risk behaviors of the key affected populations. Emerging zoonotic
diseases with possible links to environmental and climate change causes significant morbidity
in the community. Diseases such as dengue fever, seasonal influenza and diarrheal diseases
have emerged as the major causes of morbidity among the different sections of the
population.
Increased and improved access to good quality healthcare based on primary health care
approach, high priority on protective and promotional health, the high levels of literacy and
improvements in the socio economic situation of the people have contributed to the
achievements gained over the past few decades.
Maldives has made significant progression reducing child and infant mortality. The MDG
target of reducing child mortality has already been achieved. Under-Five Mortality Rate stood
at 48 per 1000 live births in 1990 while IMR stood at 34 per 1000 live births. The MDG
target for Maldives is to reduce Under Five Mortality to 16 per 1000 live births by the end of
2015. Infant and Child Mortality Rates fell steeply during the 1980s and 1990s. As of 2012,
under 5 mortality rate is 11 per 1000 live births and infant mortality rate is 9 per 1000 live
births.

A greater challenge for further reduction in infant mortality now lies with reducing neonatal
death rate. In 2012, neonatal deaths accounted for 66% of infant deaths. More importantly in
2012, 75% of the neonatal deaths took place within the first week of life. It has to be noted
that a good number of these are premature births and babies born with congenital anomalies
including congenital heart defects and neural tube defects. Chances of survival of some of
these premature infants may not be possible if an appropriate neonatal intensive care or
resuscitation measures are not available in most of the health facilities. IV drug use among
mothers is among one factor that attribute to preterm births and sepsis among neonates. The
government is currently working on improving the neonatal care at the regional/atoll
hospitals and health center with establishment of Neonatal Intensive Care Units and Neonatal
Care facilities and training staff on providing these services. Level III NICU facilities have
been established at the central referral hospital, IGMH, with additional services being
provided.
Improvements in maternal health are evident by the reduction in maternal mortality over the
years. Though the rate of decline in maternal mortality was not as fast as that of the child
mortality, maternal mortality ratio also steadily declined. In-depth review of maternal deaths
was initiated in the year 1997 to identify and focus interventions in reducing maternal deaths.
Emergency obstetric care (EmOC) at atoll level was strengthened. In order to provide
comprehensive EmOC in all the atolls, the atoll level health centres were upgraded to Atoll
Hospitals with comprehensive EmOC facilities. Institutional deliveries were encouraged and
the phasing-out of the services of the traditional birth attendants with little or no training were
seen to bring positive outcomes on reducing maternal mortality.
The MDG target of MMR to be reached by 2015 was 125 per 100,000 live births from the
high rate of 500 per 100,000 live births in the year 1990.The Health Master Plan targeted
MMR to fall to below 50 by 2015. MMR fell steadily since the beginning of the last decade.
Although an increasing trend was seen from 2007 to 2010, the MMR has fallen to the lowest
recorded rate of 13 per 100,000. It should be noted that fluctuations are prominent due to the
small population of the Maldives leading to a smaller denominator in calculating the MMR.
Develop competency of work force to tackle NCDs. Take an active role in regional
collaboration.