The Diario Libre, El Caribe and Hoy all mention the report issued by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which says that per capita income has risen in the Dominican Republic, and so has the overall educational level of the country. On the other hand, life expectancy has dropped from 67.1 to 66.7 years.
With the study?s findings based on figures for 2001, the Dominican Republic is ranked 13th in Latin America for development, with an index of 0.737. Argentina comes in at 0.849 to lead Latin America, and Norway at 0.944, leading the world overall. The DR was ranked 94th in the world.
The literacy rate for adults over 15 is now at 84%, up from 83.6% in 2000. On the down side, however, malnutrition is pegged at 24% of the population for the years 1998-2000, and children under five show a 5% rate of being underweight for the years 1996-2000.