I

ndonesia remains far behind most of its Asian peers on the UN's Human Development Index (HDI) - slipping four places from last year to 111th -in the key measure to gauge the quality of life in a country and its competitiveness.

The HDI is basically a measurement of a country's ability to offer its people opportunities to improve their lives based on economic opportunities and access to healthcare and education, notably school enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

"This year, Indonesia's HDI is 0.734 - in the medium human development range - positioning the country at 111th out of 182 countries and areas," read the report, launched Monday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

By comparison, Singapore is ranked 23rd, Brunei 30th, while Malaysia is in 66th place and entered the high human development bracket in 2008.

China has overtaken the Philippines and is now ranked 92nd, while Thailand is at 82 and the Pacific Island state of Samoa, recently devastated by tsunamis, is ranked in 94th place.

Even the conflict-ravaged Occupied Palestinian Territories fared better than Indonesia by one spot.

Indonesia's HDI is below the average of 0.770 for East Asia and the Pacific. Within this region, Indonesia's most comparable neighbors are Fiji (108th) and Mongolia (115th).

However, "Indonesia's position actually remains stable from 2008 when it attained the rank of 107th from 179 countries, as this year the UNDP also included three more countries, including Honduras," UNDP communications officer Olenka Priyadarsani told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

In 2008, Indonesia's HDI was 0.726. This year's ranking therefore marks a four-place drop but an HDI gain of 0.008 points.

The index is based on 2007 data available at the time the report was being prepared.

The report shows life expectancy in Indonesia is 70.5 years (ranked 99th), the adult literacy rate is 92 percent (61st) and combined gross enrolment ratio is 68.2 percent (115th), while GDP per capita is US$3,712 (ranked 121st).

Besides the HDI, the report also ranks countries by their human poverty index, where Indonesia ranks 69th among 135 countries.

On the same day, the UNDP also issued a report on migration, pointing out that the major sources of migration-related problems in many countries, including Indonesia, were the inadequate policies and regulations.

"Migration, both within and across borders, brings significant gains across the board, which could be further enhanced by better policies at home and abroad," says the report's lead author, Jeni Klugman.

The report goes on to point out Indonesia shares similar issues with neighboring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, where both gains and problems are enormous.

Although countries across Southeast Asia have implemented many effective and innovative strategies to facilitate and manage migration in the region, pressure to migrate has only grown as economic development continues unevenly among the countries.

Meanwhile, globally, the report gives Norway the world's highest quality of life, with Niger placed at the opposite end.

Australia and Iceland are placed second and third respectively on the list, which drew on statistics dating from 2007, before Iceland was hit hard by the global economic downturn.