Uruguay was ranked at number 52 among the 188 countries surveyed with a scale that goes from high to low human development in the world, placing Uruguay in “high” level, and ranked third in Latin America, said the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, Denise Cook. For the report presentation, Uruguay was chosen for the “progressive politics” that are implemented.
“The United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) chose Uruguay to present the report because it’s been a while” since it has been implementing actions and policies to improve this indicator, said Cook while talking to reporters after presenting the report on Monday in the Executive Tower.
The Human Development Report examines the links between work and personal development, addresses gender inequalities, paid and unpaid work, its sustainability, among others.
Uruguay´s index value is 0.73, which positions it in the category of high human development, occupying the 52nd position of a total of 188 countries and territories studied for this paper. In Latin America, the country ranks third behind Chile and Argentina.
Between 1980 and 2014, this index increased from 0.664 to 0.793, implying an increase of 19.4%. Life expectancy in this period grew 6.9 years, the average years of schooling increased by 2.2 years and 3.4 years of school expectancy.
He added that “the presentation in Uruguay seeks to acknowledge the country that has shown that work is more than employment through progressive policies in terms of unpaid work and other facets of the world of work”.
Cook was accompanied by the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ernesto Murro, and by the Minister of Social Development, Marina Arismendi.
The head of the UN specialized agencies in Uruguay said that the report is annual and has been done for the last 25 years around the world.
This year, the report takes up work as a factor in human development, which “is not just an economic issue,”he said.
Work, “apart from enriching the economies, has to enrich people who work,”he said.
