Summary:
- During Thursday’s session in the Liberian Senate, Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Konneh stated that Liberia ranks 177th out of 193 in the UN Index of Poor Human Development
- He also claimed that newborns have only a 36% chance of reaching their full potential in the country.
- Our Fact-check revealed that while his claim about Liberia’s human development ranking is correct, the percentage regarding newborns is incorrect.
On March 13, Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Konneh made two claims about Liberians’ human development potential.
In the first claim, he stated that Liberia is ranked 177th out of 193 countries on the United Nations Index of Poor Human Development.
Sen. Konneh made this statement during Thursday’s session, streamed live on several online platforms, including Spoon TV and Hott FM, while advocating for the government to build capacity and empower Liberians to meet their basic needs in the country. He cited the United Nations index of Poor Human Development as his reliance.
Claim #1
Sen. Konneh’s exact statement: “Our Country [Liberia] is ranked 177 out of 193 in the world on the UN index of Poor human development.”
Rating Justification
To fact-check whether Liberia is ranked 177 on the UN index of poor human development, we reviewed the 2023-2024 United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI) Report.
The HDI is an annual publication by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that measures and ranks countries based on human development factors beyond just economic growth. It evaluates three key dimensions, including Health – measured by life expectancy at birth; Education – Measured by mean years of schooling (for adults) and expected years of schooling (for children); and Standard of Living – Measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
This HDI report confirms that Liberia is ranked 177th out of 193 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), with a score of 0.487.
Based on these findings, we conclude that Sen. Konneh’s claim that Liberia is ranked 177th out of 193 countries on the United Nations Index of Poor Human Development is correct. A 2023-24 HDI report that Liberia is ranked 177th out of 193 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), with a score of 0.487
Claim #2
Sen. Konneh also claimed that if unemployment persists among Liberian parents, newborns would have only a 36% chance of reaching their full potential due to their parents’ joblessness. He referenced the United Nations and the World Bank as his reliance.
The Claim
Said Sen. Konneh: “Every newborn in this country, if we continue with this, according to the same UN and the World Bank, they get 36 percent change of living up to their full potential in their lifetime in this country.”
Rating Justification
To authenticate this claim, we launched another online search and found a 2025 report from the World Bank Liberia Country Economic Memorandum (CEM). The report titled “Escaping the Natural Resource Trap: Pathways to Sustainable Growth and Economic Diversification in Liberia” provides an in-depth analysis of Liberia’s economic landscape and offers strategic recommendations for achieving sustainable development.
The 2025 CEM report shows that Liberia scores 0.32 on the Human Capital Index, which indicates that, under current healthcare and education conditions, a newborn in Liberia is expected to achieve only 32% of their potential productivity as an adult, not 36%, as Sen. Konneh claimed.
We also found a report by UNESCO which states that, “The estimate is that a child born in Liberia today will reach only 32 percent of its potential. This is lower than the average for sub-Saharan Africa region and low-income countries.”
The report cited a Human Capital Index for Liberia also provides useful statistics based on five other variables: (i) the probability that a child will survive past age five (93 percent); (ii) the years of schooling that a child is expected to complete by age 18 (4.2 years); (iii) the learning-adjusted years of schooling that a child is expected to complete, a measure combining years of schooling and average harmonized test scores (2.2 years); (iv) the adult survival rate (78 percent of 15-year olds surviving until age 60); and finally (v) the probability that a child will not be stunted in early childhood (70 percent).
Based on these findings, we conclude that Gbarpolu County Senator’s second claim is incorrect. According to the World Bank and UNESCO, a “child born in Liberia today will reach only 32 percent of its potential.”
Conclusion
We conclude that the Senator Konneh is correct that Liberia is ranked 177th out of 193 countries on the United Nations Index of Poor Human Development, however, he is incorrect that newborns reach only 32 percent of their potential in Liberia.
