Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor bin Jassim al-Thani, president, Qatar Statistics Authority.
By Salman Siddiqui /Staff Reporter
Qatar can top the UN Human Development Index as it continues to make strides in its economic, social and human development programmes, experts and senior officials attending a programme organised to celebrate the country’s 2012 ranking said.
Qatar’s first ranking in the Arab world in UNDP’s HDI was celebrated at a dinner party on April 28 hosted by the Qatar Statistics Authority.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor bin Jassim al-Thani, president, Qatar Statistics Authority, said that the number one ranking in the Arab world and 36 world over reflected the true growth and development of the country.
HH the Emir has always paid attention to human development, which is clearly reflected in the Qatar National Vision 2030. “Education and health constitute one of the highest priorities of the state; and many national programmes have been initiated over the years to improve the current levels in the country,” the QSA president said in a speech.
The senior official said the country had already implemented a number of projects that had been planned for 2016. The standard of living was greatly improved in Qatar over the years which was also reflected in the high per capita income.
He also said that QSA would continue to produce data of the highest standards in co-ordination with leading institutions in the country, including the Supreme Education Council and Qatar Central Bank.
UNDP’s Paolo Limbu praised Qatar’s astronomical progress and said the country’s achievements were not only because of its economical growth.
“The success of Qatar has been the success of its political leadership in combining progress in economy with social and human development.”
He praised Qatar for becoming more open about receiving feedback from the public and highlighted the role of involving people in social development. He commended QSA for its part in initiating this process. “The more development is participatory, the more it becomes sustainable.”
He added that Qatar had already demonstrated to the world that it was capable of promoting regional stability.
Dr Hassan Ibrahim al-Mohannadi, director of Diplomatic Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said there was no reason why Qatar couldn’t be ranked number one in the entire world in the future in UNDP’s HDI.
“Many countries that have been ranked above Qatar had the advantage of being in existence many years ahead of us.”
He highlighted that Qatar still needed its expat workforce to maintain its high growth. The average expected age at birth has increased only due to better health services in the country. He predicted that soon Qatar will reach a stage where illiteracy would become zero.
He observed that while it was encouraging that there was a huge increase in local women pursuing higher education, it was also a cause of concern that in comparison men were lagging behind.
He also noted that the Qatari men need to play catch up soon else social problems might arise if, e.g., the wife had a master’s degree while the husband only did a high school degree. He also said that some young girls felt that if they married early, they wouldn’t be able to get higher education.
Dr Hassan Ibrahim also said Qatar’s CO2 emission was high because of its massive industrial activity, but with the investments in green technologies, the country could improve on this score as well.