Irish quality of life has improved, says UN report

A UN report measuring the quality of life around the world is expected to show a significant improvement in Ireland's overall ranking when it is released tomorrow.

However, the United Nations Human Development Report will likely remain critical of some Government failures, such as Ireland's poverty gap and persistent levels of inequality.

Nevertheless, this year's report will be welcomed by the Government as a sign of progress when it is launched at a high-profile Dublin event, to be attended by Bono and Mary Robinson as well as senior UN officials and development officials.

In last year's report, Ireland was placed in 18th position on a scale of 173 countries on the report's main measure of quality of life, called the Human Development Index. Ireland's political system was also praised for the state of its democratic structures.

However, despite the high overall quality of life rating, the Government faced criticism last year for presiding over comparatively high levels of poverty and inequality, highlighted in previous reports.

Last year's findings showed Ireland had one of the highest levels of poverty among Western countries. It also had higher levels of inequality than almost any other Western state.

The criticisms were all the more striking given that Ireland was ranked as the fourth-wealthiest nation in the world, with a per-capita gross national product exceeded only by Luxembourg, the US and Norway.

Previous reports have also criticised Ireland over its gender inequalities, finding that Irish women were worse off economically than in any other industrialised country.

Women were also found to be less likely to hold positions of influence in business or politics. Another sore point was illiteracy, with functional illiteracy here recorded as higher than in the 16 other industrialised states covered by the survey.

According to the UN, Ireland was chosen for the launch of this year's report which concentrates on the UN targets of reducing poverty and AIDS because if its strong commitment to the developing world.

This year for the first time Ireland enters the top ten list of donors of development aid, contributing a total 0.7% of GDP.

That commitment will be highlighted today when former US President Bill Clinton meets Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to sign an agreement of co-operation between the Government's aid programme and the Clinton Foundation on fighting AIDS in developing countries.