Nunavut sits in 38th place on human development index

If Nunavut were a country, it would rank only 38th in the world for its quality of social and economic well-being, a study released this month found.

The study, done by an Ottawa-based group called the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, takes a well-known tool used since 1990 to measure the well-being of nation states and uses it to measure the well-being of each Canadian province and territory.

Called the Human Development Index, it gives each jurisdiction a combined score based on three key areas: life expectancy, education and income.

And even though Nunavut’s well-being improved between 2000 and 2011, the quality of Nunavut’s socio-economic well-being still ranks well below all other provinces and territories and well below that of many countries.

“…[D]espite its fast HDI growth, Nunavut remained the lowest ranked jurisdiction in both 2000 and 2011,” the study said.

That’s because Nunavut is dragged down by low scores in education and life expectancy, putting the territory in 38th place, tied with Hungary and ranked just below Qatar, Malta and Slovakia.

Nunavut’s worst showing is in life expectancy. The study found that if Nunavut were a country, it would rank in 100th place.

With a life expectancy of only 72.4 years, Nunavut ranks below Paraguay, Lebanon, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Iran and Honduras, and just above Samoa, Tonga, Lithuania, El Salvador and Morocco.

And in a measurement called “expected years of schooling,” Nunavut would rank only 89th in the world if it were a country.

On “average educational attainment,” Nunavut ranked in 30th place.

But in gross national income per capita — a measure of purchasing power — Nunavut ranks high, in 11th place, well above some other Canadian provinces.

Overall, Canada ranks sixth in the Human Development Index, just behind Germany, the Czech Republic, the United States, New Zealand and Norway.

The study also found:

• Alberta enjoys the highest human development ranking, closely followed by Ontario, the Northwest Territories and British Columbia;

• Nunavut suffers the lowest ranking, followed by Prince Edward Island in second-last place;

• in gross income per capita, the Northwest Territories ranks in first place among all provinces and territories while Prince Edward Island ranks in last place;

Canada’s high standing overall conceals big disparities within the country, the study found.

“The highest HDI score in 2011 among the provinces and territories belongs to Alberta, which would be third in the international rankings, while the lowest ranking region is Nunavut, which would be in 38th place,” the study said.

And although Nunavut lags far behind, the territory’s HDI score rose rapidly between 2000 and 2011, a rate of improvement rivalled only by Newfoundland-Labrador.

For this reason, the study’s authors suggest there’s hope that Canada’s disparities may level off in the future.