Leading Issues in the Economy of Pakistan: Agenda for Reforms Table 14.2: HDI in 1990 and 2021-22 1990 2021-22 Sri Lanka India 0.629 0.429 0.782 0.633 Cumulative Growth (%) 24.3 47.6 According to Table 14.2, Pakistan had a higher HDI than Bangladesh and Nepal in 1990. However, these countries are now ahead of Pakistan because of the faster cumulative growth in their HDI from 1990 to 2021-22. Pakistan 0.402 0.544 35.3 The spectacular success of Bangladesh Bangladesh 0.394 0.661 67.8 in improving the level of human Nepal 0.387 0.602 50.0 development of its people must be Source: UNDP, Global HDR, 2021-22 recognized. Among the five South Asian countries it has achieved the fastest cumulative growth of HDI of 68 percent between 1990 and 2021 and now has a HDI higher than even India. 14.2 Why the Lower HDI of Pakistan? What explains the lower level of HDI of Pakistan? The HDI has three equal components, namely, per capita income, health, and education. Health is measured by the life expectancy and education by mean and expected years of schooling of the adult population. The magnitude of these three variables in each South Asian country is given in Table 14.3. Table 14.3: Magnitude of Human Development Indicators – 2021 Per Capita Income 2017(PPP$) Life Expectancy (Years) Sri Lanka 12,578 78.5 India 6,590 67.2 Bangladesh 5,472 72.4 Nepal 3,877 68.4 Pakistan 4,624 66.1 Source: UNDP, Global HDR, 2021-22 Mean Years of Schooling (Years) 10.8 6.7 7.4 5.1 4.5 Table 14.3 indicates that among the five South Asian countries, Pakistan has the lowest magnitude in life expectancy and mean years of education. The gap is very large in the latter case. With regard to per capita income, Pakistan has a higher magnitude than one other country, Nepal. The fact that Pakistan has fallen behind even Nepal and Bangladesh is a source of great sadness. We were ahead of these countries three decades age. We have faltered since then because of the underinvestment in our people. Expenditures on health and education have 134