Tokyo- Pakistan retained its last year's position at number 146 in the category of 'low development countries' in the UN Human Development Report (HDR)  2014 'Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Enhancing Resilience' released at the UN University Headquarters today. The country's human development index (HDI), a measure derived from life expectancy, education levels and incomes, did not grow when compared with 2013. Pakistan, an atomic power and population of around 180 million, is thus ranked at bottom in the South Asian region as even small countries like
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal are ahead of it in human development. India is ranked at 135, among the 'medium development' countries like Egypt, South Africa, Mongolia, Philippines and Indonesia. Among other South Asian countries Bhutan and Bangladesh too figure in this category. Pakistan (ranked 146) and Nepal (145) are in the 'low development' category, while Sri Lanka (73) is in the 'high development' category. The HDR covers 187 countries across the world and is published annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In the current report, the
top five countries ranked in terms of the HDI are Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands and the US. The bottom five in this ranking are Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad and Sierra Leone. The HDR notes that over 200 million people are affected by natural disasters
and 45 million, the largest number in 18 years, were displaced by conflicts at the end of 2012. These factors also contributed to denting the improvement in human development.