A FAVOURABLE RATING

Azerbaijan's rapid socio-economic development is instrumental in converting the country's financial capacities to the development of its human potential. These achievements have frequently merited the positive appraisal of prestigious international organizations. The increasing standard of living of our citizens, their social security system and high degree of public safety were once again reflected in the prosperity ratings of the world's countries - Prosperity Index 2014 - that were presented recently.

In participatory terms, Azerbaijan's dynamically developing economy today provides about three quarters of the total potential of the states of the South Caucasus and lies in fourth place among the CIS countries in the volume of Gross Domestic Product. The stability of its basic macroeconomic indices, its high degree of investment appeal and - most importantly - the dynamic development of the non-oil sector are contributing to sustained socio-economic growth irrespective of global upheavals. By way of comparison, whereas in 1995 Azerbaijan occupied 125th place in the world for level of economic development, today the country is in 65th position. In general, from 1995 until now Azerbaijan's nominal per capita GDP has on average doubled every five years. Even at a time of a slowing down of the rate of development of the world's economy, in the post-crisis period the country has been able to maintain a positive dynamic of economic growth, having unwrapped a programme of new industrialization, the development of the ICT sector and a new stage in the modernization of the agrarian industry.

An effective economic policy has been conducive to a growth in state revenue, and this has enabled the government to substantially increase the parameters of the country's social development in a comparatively short time. For example, the poverty level in Azerbaijan, which was 60 per cent at the beginning of the 1990s, has been reduced to 5.3 per cent, and today the poverty figure in the country is three times below the world average. In the past decade real incomes of the population have increased annually at an average of 8.3 per cent, and according to the Gini index ratio, Azerbaijan is one of the world's 25 leading countries.

"The many state programmes that have been implemented in the country, including the programme for the socio-economic development of the regions, have helped create over 1.3 million new jobs, which has reduced many times the level of unemployment, which now stands at about 5 per cent," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated recently. He said that in a number of the developed states unemployment stands at 30 per cent, and one in two young people are without a permanent job. "In the three quarters of the current year, monetary incomes of the population increased by 5.4 per cent," the head of state stressed, "whereas the level of inflation was only 1.5 per cent, one of the lowest among the former Soviet countries. In other words, the rate of growth of incomes of the population exceeds inflation more than threefold, and this is the best possible balance for any state." 

A number of facts may be mentioned that indirectly confirm the increase in the well-being of broad sections of the republic's population: for example, an appreciable increase in the purchase of property, cars and domestic appliances, an increase in the number of citizens travelling abroad for their holidays, and so on. These positive trends may best be illustrated by two examples: according to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, turnover on the country's real-estate market increased by 24.51 per cent in the January-September period this year, and the total number of market operations in the sale and purchase of property was over 3.6bn manats, compared with 2.9bn the previous year. A no less significant factor reflecting the growth in people's well-being is the increasing popularity of car ownership. For example, whereas in 2003 there were just over 511,000 saloon cars in the country, by the middle of this year the figure had increased to about 1.27 million, an increase of 2.5 times. The ratio between the number of private vehicles and the number of the population demonstrates this comparison: according to the State Statistical Committee, the number of vehicles for every 100 families has increased 2.6 times, from 22 in 2003 to 46 in 2012, and in this respect Azerbaijan has drawn closer to the level of the countries of Europe.

"Azerbaijan requires about 5-6 years for the further development and consolidation of modernization trends before it is fully included among the countries with a high level of incomes," Elman Rustamov, the head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, believes. And this opinion is shared by many international financial organizations and ratings agencies, who year on year note the effectiveness of the country's economic policy. However, when assessing the degree of development of a state the world's experts do not as a rule confine themselves to its economic potential, but also compare the accessibility of basic social and cultural opportunities for the broad sections of the population. And in various surveys of the degree of development of human potential, the figures for health, education and security of the population are generally taken as basic. It is significant that in most of these disciplines Azerbaijan has performed well for some years now. 

By way of example one may cite the Human Capital Report 2013 of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which was presented at the beginning of this year. In arriving at the human capital index, such parameters as education, health, employment and a favourable business environment were taken into account, and by scoring 0.157 points Azerbaijan moved to 64th place in the ratings table. At the same time, in joint development of human capital the WEF placed our country in third position in the CIS, behind just Kazakhstan and Russia.

Our country received similar favourable reviews with regard to the annual report of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for the Human Development Index. In the UNDP's report "On Human Development 2014", which was published in July this year, Azerbaijan's position improved by six and the country moved to 76th. Significantly, in the group with high economic development, which included our former USSR neighbours, Azerbaijan was in fourth position behind Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Further confirmation of the success of our country's humanitarian development is illustrated in a survey of the prestigious British analytical centre Legatum Institute, which recently published the Prosperity Index 2014 ratings of the world's states. This index measures the achievements of various countries from the point of view of their population's prosperity. The research covers 142 countries, whose citizens make up 96 per cent of the planet's whole population and whose total GDP forms 99 per cent of the world's economy. The index is assessed on the basis of eight factors: degree of development of the economy, education, health, social capital, and also level of personal freedoms, security, opportunities for entrepreneurship and effectiveness of state management. 

According to updated figures for three years, Azerbaijan rose 15 places in the ratings, from 94th in 2012 to 79th in 2014. The country demonstrates the best dynamic of improvement in people's lives in the South Caucasus region: Armenia was in 95th place in the ratings, having moved only three places in three years, and Georgia in 80th, having advanced 13 places.

However, not all the former Soviet countries were able to achieve any significant growth in the ratings table. For example, the most economically developed country in the CIS - Russia - was in 68th place this year, having slumped seven places, which was the worst change in the European region. This year was also unsuccessful for Kazakhstan, with the country occupying 55th place in the Prosperity Index 2014 table, dropping eight points.

It is worthy of note that in a number of areas surveyed by the Legatum Institute Azerbaijan has performed much better than the country's final position in the table shows. For example, in the state of the economy and opportunities for entrepreneurial activity the country occupied 65th and 67th places respectively. In such areas as security and social capital, Azerbaijan secured 75th and 77th places. The results of the survey also confirmed the very favourable situation in the sphere of private safety and social stability in the republic. In particular, only 0.6 per cent of people who were questioned confirmed that they had been attacked or threatened last year, whereas 73.1 per cent responded positively to the question "Do you feel safe when you go for a walk alone at night?" And in level of security of its citizens Azerbaijan is significantly ahead of average figures worldwide. 

The country's socio-economic prosperity is also reflected in its citizens' loyalty to state institutions. During the course of the Legatum Institute poll, 60.3 per cent of our people said they were convinced of the objectivity of the elections and the level of people's confidence in the government in general was 84.3 per cent, which is appreciably higher than the average figures worldwide.

These appraisals of international organizations are also in tune with the moods within Azerbaijani society. According to a poll carried out by the Azerbaijani "Rey" monitoring centre which covered 1,300 people, if presidential elections were held now 83 per cent would vote for the incumbent head of state Ilham Aliyev. Almost the same number of respondents (82 per cent) believes that Ilham Aliyev expresses their interests. At the same time, 65 per cent of the population do not see any alternative to Aliyev as president, and 68 per cent believe that affairs in the country are on the right course.

And so, the survey of international and local organizations clearly confirms the obvious fact that the government's effective economic policy, which provides a high standard of living and security for a significant section of the population, is the most reliable guarantee of stability and social peace in the country.