The rationale behind the index is to focus development attention on the bottom countries. The studies that the UN does in this regard are far from a waste of time - whereas the media picks up and ranks the best, the UN sponsored aid, food and social programs (such as the millenium development plan) tend to focus their effort on bringing up the rankings of the bottom countries.
The situation in some countries is scary - Swaziland alone has an HIV infection rate of 47%, in addition to poor everything else.
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