Poverty increased as the economy declined, but became more pervasive and intensified during the 1990s as the GDP per capita nearly halved during that period, reaching US$142 in 2000. About 82 percent of the population lived below the poverty line, and with a Gini Index of 66, Country X has had one of the most skewed income distribution in the world. Since 1996, Country X has been ranked among the least in the UNDP Human Development Index, and is ranked bottom in the 2004 Index. The poverty situation is worsened by the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS, typhoid, malaria and communicable diseases including tuberculosis