A RECENT report from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed Benguet residents enjoy a better quality of life than in any other province in the Cordillera region.
NSCB regional director Benjamin Navarro said the 2009 Human Development Index (HDI) revealed people living in Benguet generally enjoy a better quality of life compared to the other six provinces in the region.
The report claimed that in 2009, Benguet obtained an HDI of 0.883, the highest in the Cordillera Administrative Region followed by Kalinga with an index of 0.562, Apayao (0.529), Abra (0.508), Ifugao (0.483) and Mt. Province (0.449).
Navarro said the HDI is a composite index measuring achievements in three basic dimensions of human development which are: to lead a long and healthy life, to acquire knowledge and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living.
In the region in 2009, only Benguet province posted a high Human Development Index.
A province can be classified under high-HDI if its index is above 0.800; medium, if it is within the range 0.500 - 0.800; and low, if the index is less than 0.500.
In 2009, Kalinga, Apayao and Abra were categorized under the medium-HDI provinces while Ifugao and Mt. Province belonged to the low-HDI range.
Per HDI component, in 2009, Benguet obtained the Highest Education Index among the six provinces in the region at 0.988 reached as a composite of the mean years of schooling and expected average years of schooling, the NSCB reported.
Mean years of schooling for adults in Benguet was 10.0 years or about 1.3 year higher than the national average. It was followed by Abra (8.7 years), Mt. Province (7.5 years), Apayao (7.4 years), Kalinga (7.1 years) and Ifugao (6.4 years).
The expected average years of schooling for the youth was 14.0 years in Benguet, the highest in the region and two years higher than the country’s average.
For the education index, four provinces were classified under high-HDI group: Benguet, Abra, Mt. Province and Apayao. The province of Kalinga and Ifugao were categorized under medium-HDI.
Benguet was also highest in the Income Index at 0.802. The Income Index is measured using real per capita income. Except for Benguet, all other provinces in the region were classified under the low-HDI group in the standard of living component.
The generation of the 2009 HDI is a joint effort of the NSCB and the Human Development Network adopting the refined version of the Human Development Index introduced in the Human Development Report 2010 published by the United Nations Development Programme.
The NSCB, in partnership with the Human Development Network, recently released the 2009 Human Development Index (HDI) for the various provinces of the country to aid agencies as well as local governments in crafting programs that would address needs of the public in attaining a better quality of life.