Friday, July 23, 2010 – Blowing In The Wind

I looked up the report after Ms Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Water Resources, mentioned the UN Human Development Index in Parliament. You can see the report here and the statistics here.

Singapore is ranked 23rd on the index, as she said. It is one of only five Asian countries with very high human development, according to the index, based on life expectancy, literacy and standard of living. The others are Japan (10th), Hong Kong (24th), South Korea (26th) and Brunei (30th).

Norway is first, Australia second, Iceland third, Canada fourth and Ireland fifth on the list of 38 countries with very high human development, which include all the rich Western nations though some do better than others: the Netherlands (sixth), Sweden (seventh), France (eighth), Switzerland (ninth), America (13th), New Zealand (20th), the United Kingdom (21st) and Germany (22nd).  The Middle East is represented by Israel (27th), Kuwait (31st), Qatar (33rd) and the United Arab Emirates (35th).

Interestingly, some of the countries with very high human development also have high immigration rates. It’s as high as 20 per cent in Ireland, 13.1 per cent in Ireland and 11.8 per cent in New Zealand. Hong Kong is also close to double digits with 9.5 per cent. The United Kingdom also shows a slightly higher figure (6.6 per cent) than Singapore (6.3 per cent). Emigration from the United States is as low as 0.8 per cent, same as that from India, but just a little more than from Japan (0.7 per cent) and China (0.5 per cent).  India and China are not on the list of 38 countries with very high human development, which are all named at the end of this post.

The Gulf states have the highest influx of migrants. They make up 80.5 per cent of the population in Qatar, 70 per cent in the United Arab Emirates and 69.2 per cent in Kuwait.

The figure is 39.5 per cent for Hong Kong and 35 per cent for Singapore. 

America is host to nearly 40 million international migrants – more than any other country – but they make up a smaller portion of the population (13 per cent) than in several other Western nations. The figure is higher for Switzerland  (22.3 per cent), Australia ( 21.3 per cent), New Zealand (20.9 per cent), Canada (19.5 per cent) and Ireland (14.8 per cent). Israel (39.8 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (26.8 per cent) also have large migrant populations. The figure is 12.6 per cent for Germany, 10.9 per cent for Japan, 10.6 per cent for France and the Netherlands, 9.7 per cent for the United Kingdom and 5.2 per cent for Italy.

Here’s the list of 38 countries with very high human development.

1. Norway
  2. Australia
  3. Iceland
  4. Canada
  5. Ireland
  6. Netherlands
  7. Sweden
  8. France
  9. Switzerland
10. Japan
11. Luxembourg
12. Finland
13. United States
14. Austria
15. Spain
16. Denmark
17. Belgium
18. Italy
19. Liechtenstein
20. New Zealand
21. United Kingdom
22. Germany
23. Singapore
24. Hong Kong, China (SAR)
25. Greece
26. South Korea
27. Israel
28. Andorra
29. Slovenia
30. Brunei Darussalam
31. Kuwait
32. Cyprus
33. Qatar
34. Portugal
35. United Arab Emirates
36. Czech Republic
37. Barbados
38. Malta

Related posts:

1. Expats highest paid in Singapore but little mixing with locals
2. Singapore ‘average wealth per adult’ owned by less than 20%
3. We Are Wealthier Than Switzerland
4. Singapore happiest country in Asia but…
5. Views of A Singapore Migrant In Switzerland
6. Striking a balance in Australia’s immigration future
7. Singapore MPs’ pay highest in the world
8. UBS: Singapore has Russian standard of living
9. Stagnant wages, immigration fuel Singapore squeeze
10. Hong Kong vs. Singapore: Retirement