Sri Lanka moves up three positions in the World Human Development tables, but income poverty remains a problem. The report released in 2005 is relates to 2003 data.
Sri Lanka moved up three places from 96th to 93rd position in the latest human development index tables, displacing Maldives which lead the South Asian region in the previous year.
The report published this year has the 2003 HDI table.
Though Sri Lanka still manages to score high on HDI, poverty remains a problem.
The report says East Asia's economic growth has been central to its reduction of poverty.
In the 1980's India started to achieve growth rates of about 4 percent per capita, where incomes double every 17 years.
In the 1990's India adopted even more outward looking policies.
Before 1980, in ultra socialist closed economy of India, per capita growth rates were about 1 percent.
At these rates it took 66 years for incomes to double.
The report says, conflict, poverty and economic mismanag