SURPRISE!!: Zimbabwe tops Africa in new United Nations Quality of Life ranking 2015

Just when you thought you had it all figured out, new Human Development Report throws up a few surprises.

The 2015 Human Development Report released Monday also confirmed that Zimbabwe - seen largely as a basket case in recent years - had the highest change on the Human Development Index (HDI) ranking on the continent, a 12-place jump, ahead of the Seychelles, Cameroon and Mauritius, data from the report showed.

In its similar index last year, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had showed that Zimbabwe, which has been beset by political divisions that have hurt its economy, had made some notable gains.

With regards to Zimbabwe, the UNDP among other factors highlighted a significant rise in life expectancy, at almost four times the sub-Saharan Africa average, and an increase in the expected years of schooling.

It also said the country’s gross national income per capital increased four percentage points faster than the sub-Saharan African average, from $1,442 to $1,662, or a 12% jump. While the body concedes the country’s HDI is below the continental average, it says it did grow at double the pace of the continent.

The Republic of the Congo, which has been in the headlines this year over a third term bid by its leader, also ranks in the top five, propped up by its oil resources, but the least improved country over the period was another oil-rich nation that has had a long-time leader, Equatorial Guinea, highlighting further that development conditions are country-specific.

Sierra Leone, despite its battle with Ebola, also ranks in the top five, as does Burkina Faso, which is only now looking to steady its ship following a year of political upheaval that included a short-lived coup. Another country that was ravaged by the fever, Liberia, also performs better than many African countries in changing the living conditions of its people.

Also surprising is the ranking of Eritrea higher than Botswana, Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia.

The UNDP says some two billion people have been lifted out of low human development in the last 25 years, and urges governments to focus on work to build on that progress.

Some 830 million people live on under $2 a day and are classified as working poor, while over 200 million, including some 74 million youth, are without work, it said.

[UNDP-HDR]