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No one gets left behind: Indonesia rises from lower rung in human development index

Source
Jakarta Globe - April 15, 2019

Dion Bisara, Jakarta – Indonesia's human development index – a composite measurement for a long and healthy life, good education and decent standard of living – rose to 71.39 in 2018, up from 70.81 a year earlier, data from the Central Statistics Agency, or BPS, showed on Monday (15/04).

Residents of a country with an HDI reading of 100 will have an average life expectancy of 85 years, have at least a master's degree and earn $75,000 in annual income.

On the other end of the scale, a reading of 0 means most of the population in the country will have a life expectancy of 20 years, cannot even afford to go to school and earn a measly $100 annually.

Indonesia has come a long way since the index first was first introduced in 1990. At that time, average life expectancy in the country was measured at 63.3 years. Most people then spent only 10 years in formal schooling.

Babies born in 2018 now have a life expectancy of 71.2 years, or 0.14 years (51 days) longer than those born in the previous year.

A seven-year-old in 2018 would likely stay in school for 12.91 years, 0.06 years longer than children of the same age in 2017.

Meanwhile, those aged 25 years and over in 2018 would have spent at least 8.17 years in school on average, 0.07 years longer than in the previous year.

Average spending reached Rp 11.06 million ($782) per capita per year in 2018 – a proxy for income levels in the annual BPS survey – up 5.7 percent from Rp 10.46 million a year earlier.

Papua, one of Indonesia's poorest provinces, managed to increase its HDI to 60.06 from 59.09 in 2017, catapulting it to the "moderate" band in the index. Papuan's HDI is now on par with the likes of Congo, Bangladesh and Vanuatu.

This also means that no province in Indonesia now has a "low"-band HDI (anything under 60, according to BPS benchmark). "The [HDI] gaps between provinces have been narrowing," BPS head Suhariyanto said.

A total of eight provinces rose to a higher band in the index or scored a higher HDI.

Aside from Papua, Jambi, Bengkulu, Bangka Belitung, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, North Kalimantan and Southeast Sulawesi also moved up the ranks from moderate in 2017 to "high" in 2018.

Jakarta is the only province in the "very high" band, with an HDI of 80.47, on par with Malaysia.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/context/no-one-gets-left-behind-indonesia-rises-from-lower-rung-in-human-development-index

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