AIDS drops life expectancies in Africa to under 40 years

AIDS has lowered life expectancies in some African nations to less than 40 years, according to a report issued Thursday by the United Nations Development Program. The report gauges human development levels in 175 countries as well as Hong Kong and Israeli-occupied areas by examining life expectancy, infant mortality, education levels, and income levels. According to the report, seven African countries now have a life expectancy below 40 years because of the impact of AIDS. In Zambia, life expectancy is just 32 years. The other countries with life expectancies under 40 years are the Central African Republic, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. The report reads, "The picture that emerges is increasingly one of two very different groups of countries: those that have benefited from development and those that have been left behind." Norway ranked in the top spot in the report for human development; the United States ranks eighth, down one place from the agency's 2003 report.