Wake up Pakistan!: Where do we stand in the comity of nations?

[A.Rafay]

KARACHI:
The best way to figure out how the rest of the world sees us is to benchmark our performance with others and then rank ourselves accordingly. This process is a standard procedure followed by corporations and professional organisations for assessing regional and global standing, as well as by companies for their employees, which is called the Annual Performance Appraisal.

In each of these activities, feedback is gathered on an individual’s performance from peers, partners and stakeholders and is rated on a scale of ‘outstanding’ to ‘weak’. The same benchmarking activity can be carried out for countries based on economic, demographic, institutional and political performance.
Some of the best known global benchmarking studies are carried out by reputable organisations annually. Each of these studies reviews a different aspect of a country, its economy or its prosperity. Lets go through some:
Human Development Index (HDI)
The HDI is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices. It ranks countries into four tiers of human development: ‘low’, ‘medium’, ‘high’ or ‘very high’. It was created by renowned Pakistani economist Prof Dr Mahbubul Haq, and economist Amartya Sen in 1990, with an explicit purpose “to shift the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people-centred policies”. Pakistan ranks 145 out of a sample of 187 countries in this index, ie in the fourth or the ‘low’ human development tier.
Global Competitive Report (GCR)
The GCR integrates macroeconomic and micro/business aspects of competitiveness into a single index. The report assesses how productively a country uses its limited resources and its ability to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens. Pakistan ranks 124 out of 144 countries.
Democracy Index
The democracy index measures the state of democracy and is based on 60 indicators grouped in five different categories: ie, electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture. The countries are finally categorized into ‘full democracies’, ‘flawed democracies’, ‘hybrid regimes’ and ‘authoritarian regimes’. Pakistan is now rated as a hybrid regime, versus an authoritarian regime back in early 2000. Pakistan ranks 105 out of 167 countries.
Global Innovation Index (GII)
The GII is calculated as a simple average of seven pillars, of which the first five are ‘input’ pillars and the last two are ‘output’ pillars. The pillars are: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, scientific outputs, and creative outputs. Overall Pakistan ranks 105 out of 125 countries
Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI)
The LPI is an annual ranking of 110 countries and is based on a variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, personal well-being, and quality of life. It reviews 89 variables that are grouped into eight sub-indexes, each with an equal weight. The eight factors are: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, and social capital. Pakistan ranks at a poor 107 out of 110 countries.
As can be seen from the table, Pakistan has a long way to go, because in four out of the five studies, we are ranked at the bottom or fourth quartile (in red). In the Democracy Index, we have recently moved up from the fourth to the third quartile. In addition, when we compare ourselves with our three closest neighbours – ie India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – we are ranked last in each benchmarking study with the only exception being HDI, where Sri Lanka is ranked one position behind us.
One of the best ways to bring an improvement across the board is to focus on the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG), set by the United Nations in 1990 for the entire world. The MDG are made up of eight key goals ranging from: eradicating hunger (reducing poverty); providing universal primary education; providing gender equality and woman empowerment; reducing infant mortality (needs improved health care, sanitation and safe drinking water); improving maternal health; combating diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and, finally, global partnerships for development.
Our popularly-elected government will have to take extraordinary measures in order to achieve many of the targets set up for each of the MDG goals. This will only be possible if these targets are given the status of ‘no-miss’ goals to relevant ministries, with strong accountability and punitive measures accompanying them if no progress is made.
We can forget about competing with the rest of the globe if these measures are not taken, as there is much stronger commitment, planning and strategising to achieve these goals elsewhere. I have no doubt that we deliver a few of the MDG goals by 2015, if we as a nation focus single-mindedly in driving prosperity and improving the standards of living for the average Pakistani.

Wake up Pakistan!: Where do we stand in the comity of nations? – The Express Tribune

 

[RiazHaq]

Pakistan is one of the largest and most important countries in the world. With population exceeding 170 million, it is one of only eight nations armed with nuclear weapons. The nation ranks as sixth largest in population, seventh largest in its army size, 8th in number of mobile phone users, 10th in educated English speaking population, 10th in labor force size, 17th largest in number of Internet users, 26th in economy and 34th in land area.

Pakistan sits at the entrance to the oil rich Persian Gulf, and it shares borders with Afghanistan, Iran and the world's most populous nuclear states of China and India. Pakistan's Gwadar port is only 180 nautical miles from the exit of the Straits of Hormuz, considered extremely important for the flow of the bulk of world's demand for oil transportation from the Gulf nations. It provides convenient access to sea routes for many of the landlocked mineral-rich Central Asian states and Western China.

Pakistan has a 650-mile long coastline on the Arabian Sea, extending from India to Iran. In addition, some of the air and land routes between west and east pass through Pakistan because of its central location. Karachi and Gawadar have natural harbor ports serving as trading and re-fueling stop for ships.

Haq's Musings: Is Pakistan Too Big to Fail?

 

[BJP*]

Pakistan is one of the largest and most important countries in the world. With population exceeding 170 million, it is one of only eight nations armed with nuclear weapons. The nation ranks as sixth largest in population, seventh largest in its army size, 8th in number of mobile phone users, 10th in educated English speaking population, 10th in labor force size, 17th largest in number of Internet users, 26th in economy and 34th in land area.

Pakistan sits at the entrance to the oil rich Persian Gulf, and it shares borders with Afghanistan, Iran and the world's most populous nuclear states of China and India. Pakistan's Gwadar port is only 180 nautical miles from the exit of the Straits of Hormuz, considered extremely important for the flow of the bulk of world's demand for oil transportation from the Gulf nations. It provides convenient access to sea routes for many of the landlocked mineral-rich Central Asian states and Western China.

Pakistan has a 650-mile long coastline on the Arabian Sea, extending from India to Iran. In addition, some of the air and land routes between west and east pass through Pakistan because of its central location. Karachi and Gawadar have natural harbor ports serving as trading and re-fueling stop for ships.

Haq's Musings: Is Pakistan Too Big to Fail?

Lol you declares the positions or rank of your country which looks like 10, 17, 34, 26 etc!!!!
and you also feel proud of them

 

[Rusty]

Lol you declares the positions or rank of your country which looks like 10, 17, 34, 26 etc!!!!
and you also feel proud of them

what can we say, not everyone is a galactic supa dupa pawa like India who comes in at number 1 in starving population.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

what can we say, not everyone is a galactic supa dupa pawa like India who comes in at number 1 in starving population.

Source? and provide for 2012 or 2011 , not some outdated non-credible crap.

 

[Che Guevara]

Pakistan super over rate them self...PDF Pakistanis are best example...good for India

 

[CZAR]

what can we say, not everyone is a galactic supa dupa pawa like India who comes in at number 1 in starving population.

Click on the following link -
GHI Data | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

It has two attachments. The first being the raw data that IFPRI has considered to arrive at the index.

The data has been broadly categorized into 3 parts - "proportion of undernourished in the population", "prevalence of underweight in children under five years" and "under five mortality rate".

1. Proportion of undernourished in the population - Data from the table clearly shows that pakistan has consistently failed to provide adequate nourishment to its population with india performing better in terms of undernourishment levels at every stage of the data collected. As per the latest data - undernourishment in india is pegged at 21% as opposed to 26% in pakistan. FAO database backs similar trends of chronic undernourishment in pakistan and more importantly, India consistently performing better.

2. Prevalence of underweight in children under five years - this data point has shown a worrying trend with respect to india vis-a-vis pakistan - with pak performing better in terms of prevalence of undernourishment in children. However, the underlying trend of the data is unmistakable - that though India might lag behind, BUT it is improving at a pace much faster than what its neighbor has managed. As per the data, India has brought down undernourishment in children by 1600 basis points from 88-92 to 2004-09 vs pak bringing down undernourishment in children by 1150 basis points for the same period. Again, India via its bigger health spend (as % of GDP) is doing a better job of taking corrective action.

3. Under five mortality rate - pakistan has again failed to keep pace with its much larger neighbor. Both, in terms, extent and pace of reduction of under 5 mortality rate, India stands head and shoulders above pakistan.

As a percentage of population, pak has more hungry people to feed!!

So before you rant about hunger in India again, please consider this IFPRI report. Even, your favourtite - the misguided Mr. Riaz Haq loves to cite this report and would swear by it.

 

[madooxno9]

Pakistan is one of the largest and most important countries in the world.

Defiantly , Pakistan is most important nation in making

 

[RiazHaq]

Lol you declares the positions or rank of your country which looks like 10, 17, 34, 26 etc!!!!
and you also feel proud of them

It's hard for any country to compete with India with its world's largest population of poor, hungry and illiterates two-thirds of whom defecate in the open.

Haq's Musings: 63 Years After Independence, India Remains Home to World's Largest Population of Poor, Hungry and Illiterates

 

[RiazHaq]

Click on the following link -
GHI Data | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)


So before you rant about hunger in India again, please consider this IFPRI report. Even, your favourtite - the misguided Mr. Riaz Haq loves to cite this report and would swear by it.

Among other South Asian nations, India's GHI score improved to 23.7 in 2011 to where it was in three years earlier in 2008 after worsening from 23.7 (2008) to 23.9 (2009) to 24.1 (2010). India's ranking remained at 67 in 2011, the same as it was in 2010 but worse than 66 in 2008 and 65 in 2009.

Haq's Musings: World Food Day: Pakistan Hunger Rising

 

[Mirza Jatt]

^^^Lol....mate if Indians start using personal blogs to show Pakistanis where Pakistan stands today...belive me half the members participating in this thread will get banned (Indians ofcourse) and the thread closed

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

It's hard for any country to compete with India with its world's largest population of poor, hungry and illiterates two-thirds of whom defecate in the open.

Haq's Musings: 63 Years After Independence, India Remains Home to World's Largest Population of Poor, Hungry and Illiterates

Its certainly is for Pakistan, having lower HDI than even India

 

[CZAR]

Among other South Asian nations, India's GHI score improved to 23.7 in 2011 to where it was in three years earlier in 2008 after worsening from 23.7 (2008) to 23.9 (2009) to 24.1 (2010). India's ranking remained at 67 in 2011, the same as it was in 2010 but worse than 66 in 2008 and 65 in 2009.

Haq's Musings: World Food Day: Pakistan Hunger Rising

Selectively highlighting facts in the desperate hope of upholding a flimsy hypothesis - is a great trick that you should save for your blog. Either that or you find it convinient to indulge in hypocrisy.

You have an issue with the UNDP granting India a higher HDI ranking merely because the index has placed greater weight on literacy rates. You question the weight allotted while not offering any credible reasons why it shouldn't have been so. All this to debunk one of the more credible barometers of gauging human development, all because it doesn't reflect too well on pak vis-a-vis India.

Yet, you are overly generous in allowing other indices to escape similar Haq-style scrutiny, because it provides a higher ranking to pak. I have broken down the data that IFPRI relied on, in my earlier post. And as in the case of HDI, the IFPRI index seems to have placed greater importance on one out of the three indicators - "prevalence of underweight in children under five" - without, seemingly, offering any explanation for the added weight.

Nevermind the fact, that in terms of the other two indicators - ""proportion of undernourished in the population" and "under five mortality rate" - India stands head and shoulders above Pak.

So, as is most obvious, "comprehensive" indices apart, there is absolutely no denying the fact that, with respect to hunger, as per percentage of population - pak has always and continues to underperform India.

 

[RiazHaq]

Here's the 2012 Global Hunger Index Rankings:

Quote:

"India has lagged behind in improving its GHI score despite strong economic growth. After a small increase between 1996 and 2001, India’s GHI score fell only slightly, and the latest GHI returned to about the 1996 level."

http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ghi12.pdf

 

[RiazHaq]

Pakistan's meat and dairy based diet is much more nutritious that the Indian diet which relies mostly on daal for proteins.

Pakistanis consumed nearly 39 million tons of milk in 2011-12, according to Economic Survey of Pakistan. This translates into 223 Kg of milk consumption per person which is about the same as the developed world's per capita milk consumption and more than twice that of neighboring India's 96 kg per capita.

Indians consume only 3.2 Kg of meat per capita, less than one-fifth of Pakistan's 18 Kg. Daal (legumes or pulses) are popular in South Asia as a protein source. Indians consume 11.68 Kg of daal per capita, about twice as much as Pakistan's 6.57 Kg.

Another ingredient popular in South Asian cuisine is vegetable oil. It's an important source of fat and protein for a nutritious and tasty diet. Edible oil consumption soars during the holidays as hundreds of millions of people eat sweets and fried foods during the September-December festive season. Pakistanis use about 20 Kg of oil, the per capita amount recommended by the World Health Organization, while Indians consume about 13 Kg per capita.

Haq's Musings: Pakistan Among Top Meat Consuming Nations