All but three of the 30 lowest-ranked countries were in Africa, one of several disheartening statistics in a survey that underscored the brutal impact of AIDS on that continent.
While average Canadian life expectancy is edging up toward 80 years in keeping with developed world trends, life spans in AIDS-ravaged Africa continue tracking in the opposite direction.
In Zimbabwe - where the life expectancy was 56 years in the early 1970s - it is now 33.1 years. In Zambia, it's 32.4 years and it's 34.2 in Sierra Leone.
That war-ravaged west African country remains at the bottom of the index for the seven consecutive year, ranked 177th.
About 30 nations were not included because of insufficient data, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
The UN has consistently warned national governments to avoid gloating over high rankings, arguing they don't offer a complete portrait of life in any given country.
"Canada is at the top of the human-development ranking," said Ricardo Fuentes, a statistical specialist at UN headquarters in New York City.
"All the countries in the vicinity of Canada are very close. The human-development index is like a photo finish for all the highly developed countries."
He said three factors contributed to Canada's bounce: A rise in GDP per capita to $29,480 (from $27,130 last year); an increase in life expectancy to 79.3 years (from 79.2 last year); and a small spike in schooling levels.
But the main factor in Canada's improved standing - the GDP increase - is somewhat of a statistical technicality. The UN relies on estimates from the World Bank, which revised its formula for calculating per capita GDP.
Canada would have risen to sixth place under the old formula, Fuentes said.
The UN ranking includes a variety of criteria, including health, education, life expectancy, income, poverty levels and environmental quality.
Among the findings:
Canada's population was aging at about the average rate among countries ranked in the top 10, with the number of seniors set to outweigh the under-15 population well before 2015.
Canada has fallen far behind numerous countries in public education spending as a percentage of the overall economy, spending only 5.2 per cent of GDP on learning in 1999-2001, down from 6.5 per cent in 1990. Denmark (8.3 per cent), Sweden (7.3), Norway (6.8), France (5.7) and the U.S. (5.6) were among many countries with better records.
Per capita health spending - $2,792 for private and public care combined - was third among the top 10 countries, short of Norway's $2,920 and far behind the whopping $4,887 in the U.S.
Cell phone usage in Canada was extremely low compared with other developed countries and was by far the lowest among the top 25. Canada claimed 377 cell phones per 1,000 residents in 2002, compared with well over 700 per 1,000 in most of the other countries ranked in the top 25. But Canadian use of the Internet - 512 per 1,000 in Canada - ranked among the highest in the world.
To former prime minister Jean Chrétien, Canada's erstwhile No. 1 ranking was a favourite arrow in his political quiver.
He would use the status to rail against Quebec separatists and other political opponents, accusing them of complaining about "the best country in the world." The UN index first placed Canada at the top of its rankings in 1992.
Canada maintained the No. 1 spot for almost a decade before dropping to third in 2001, behind Norway and Sweden.
Canada fell another five rankings in 2002, dropping back of Australia and the U.S.
See also: Canada 4th best place to live--Editor
Note: Canada 4th best place t...
Stumble It!
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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va
Waiting lists can be dealt with as long as we have the medical teams guiding the flow of dollars, and directing them to the proper place at the proper time.
Politicians cannot do this.
Unfortunately, when I see our country lagging far behind other countries regarding education spending, that is a warning sign to get the lead out and fix it !!
Education is KEY to having a better chance at good jobs.
Why was this allowed to happen ? Ask people like mike harris, he knows.
I actually thought harris was onto something in the Ontario education system, and here is an example of what I see as a problem:
Lindsay, Ontario used to have the Victoria County School board, (the name has now changed), and here are some stats that make my point;
During a certain time frame several years ago, the increase in students was 11%, BUT the increase in administration was 120% during the same time frame.
This is what I call "Empire Building", and there are plenty of examples of this phenomenon in most school boards across the country.
This is why the spending in education is ever-expanding, and not to any specific areas, just to keep expanding the services that they supply to the schools.
School boards have but one function: to support the schools, and keep them supplied with books and materials used in the classroom.
Why do we need a Director of Education at $250,000 per year, and several Superintendents of Education, at perhaps more than $100,000 per year, and I can go down the list.
This is one reason education is so expensive, "Empire Building."
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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca
What are you talking about? So many people are denied access to care because of this system. Anything owned and controlled by private interests have (obviously) their own interests at heart and dont give a crap about real people that are suffering. Yes, our system is screwed too, but that is because of the Liberals who dont have a practical plan in place.
In Canada we have elected politicians who are held accountable for Health Care issues. Elected politicians is much safer then a market that is unpredictable to take care of the Health Care needs of the people.
Kevin
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"Love actually, is all around us" --From the movie Love Actually.
Are you being sarcastic?
Similarly, Canada's average annual unemployment rate of 9 per cent between 1992 and 2002 compares unfavourably with those of Iceland (3.6 per cent), Japan (3.8 per cent), Norway (4.4 per cent), the Netherlands (4.8 per cent) and Sweden (6.4 per cent).
Paul Harris
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Dave Ruston
Serious though, take my wife etc. etc. #1 Norway didn't join one the huge neo-liberal trading blocs we all belong to (they voted no to the EU) and they charge huge royalities on North Sea Oil.
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If you don't like these ideas, I've got others. --Marshall McLuhan