Jamaica moved up three places in the Human Development Index after it was ranked 101 out of 177 countries in the 2007 Human Development Index, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This places the country in the medium Human Development category. Last year Jamaica was ranked 104.

However, Sean Ffrench, sociology of development specialist, said that while Jamaica's improve-ment is positive, it is nothing to celebrate.

"This is a cause for concern because, when compared to our Caribbean neighbours, we are still underperforming," Ffrench, who is also a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.

Only Haiti falls below Jamaica at 146. Barbados was ranked at 31, Bahamas 49, Trinidad and Tobago 59, Grenada 82, St. Lucia 72, Dominica 71, Belize 80 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines 92.

Ffrench sai Jamaica improved this year with an HDI of .736, this is still not its best performance as in 2000 the nation's HDI was .744.

Iceland's number one

Icelanders' longevity has allowed the country to overtake Norway and claim first place in 2007.

The index ranked 177 countries on measures of health, wealth and education.

The United States dropped four places to 12th position.

The bottom 24 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. Violence, poor governance and HIV/AIDS are mainly to blame, according to the UNDP report.