MALAYSIA RANKED 57TH OUT OF 169 ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- Malaysia ranked 57th out of 169 countries
in the high human development category of the Human Development Index (HDI),
well ahead of Thailand (ranked 92nd), Indonesia (108th) and Vietnam (113th).

UNDP Malaysia representative Kamal Malhotra said Malaysia's HDI value rose
from 0.541 to 0.744 between 1980 and 2010, an increase of 38 per cent or an
average annual increase of about 1.1 per cent.

"Malaysia is ranked 19th in terms of HDI improvement during this period,
behind China, South Korea, India and Indonesia but ahead of Thailand.

"Over the 40-year period from 1970 to 2010, Malaysia ranked 23rd in terms
of HDI performance, while its income performance ranked 5th and its non-income
performance at 66th, significantly down its overall rank," he said.

He was giving a media briefing after unveiling the United Nations
Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report 2010 entitled "The Real
Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development", marking the report's 20th
anniversary, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), here, Monday.

Also present were the director-general of the Economic Planning Unit
(EPU) under the Prime Minister's Department, Noriyah Ahmad, and chief
executive of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS)
Malaysia, Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin.

Malhotra said Malaysia's life expectancy at birth increased by eight years
between 1980 and 2010, meaning the years of schooling increased by about five
years and expected years of schooling increased by approximately three years.

Malaysia's Gross National Income (GNI) per capita increased by 173 per cent
during the same period and Malaysia saw life expectancy at birth increased from
73.7 years to 74.7 years between 2005 and 2010, while its Gross National Income
per capita increased from US$12,143 to US$13,927, he said.

"Malaysia will need to design and implement the right policy and
institutional mix, and ensure strong partnership between the government, civil
society and private sector in order to improve its position.

"This is because Malaysia will face difficult challenges to rank higher on
the HDI in future with many emerging economies doing well in different parts of
the world," he said.

Meanwhile, Noriyah said improving the education sector would take time and
the goverment was taking steps such as improving human capital and inviting
talents from abroad to Malaysia.

Asked whether Talent Corporation would contribute to Malaysia's human
capital development and to becoming a high-income nation, she said the goverment
had dedicated organisations to help bring investments to Malaysia such as the
Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).

"The goverment will also continue to bring back Malaysian talents abroad
as they will contribute to national development," she said.

Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd -- a government agency to attract local and
foreign talents to work in Malaysia -- takes off on Jan 1.

-- BERNAMA