WASHINGTON. Dec 31 : The Swiss remained the world's richest people per capita in 1992. while eight of the 10 poorest countries were in Africa, the World Bank said Thursday, reports AFP.

The Swiss had a per capita gross domestic product of 36.230 dollar, keeping them atop the bank's ranking while Mozambique came in as the poorest of the poor with Just 60 dollar.

The figures came in the Word Bank Atlas, a 30-page statistical compilation of economic. social and environmental data. .

The Swiss level was up 2.520 . dollar from the previous year — an amount equivalent to the combine totals of the 14 most destitute countries, the study said. Mozambique's figure was down 25 per cent from 1991.

After Switzerland comes Luxembourg (35.260 dollar), Japan (28.220 dollar). Sweden (26,780 dollar ). Denmark ( 25.930 dollar). Norway (25,800 dollar ), and Iceland (23,170 dollar).

The United States moved up a notch to eighth place with-23.120 dollar.

Among the dirt poor, eight of the 10 most destitute are In Africa— Mozambique. Ethiopia. Tanzania. Sierra Leone. Uganda. Guinea-Bissau. Malawi and Burundi.The other two are in Asia- Bhutan and Nepal. • .

Several poor countries such as Haiti and Angola did not provide statistics for 1992, the last reporting period for the study df 207 countries.

" Despite progress over the past generation, more than one billion people still five in acute poverty and suffer grossly inad-equate access to the resources-educatlon, health services, infrastructure. land and credit-required to give them a chance for a better life, the study said.

It said those billion people, a fifth of the world's jxipulatlon, "live on less than one dollar a day — a standard of living that Western Europe and the United States attained two hundred years ago."

Nearly half of the those living in abject poverty are in South

Asia although it accounts for a much smaller share of the world's population roughly 23 per cent.

"Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a smaller but still highly disproportionate share of global poverty," the report said.

On the health front, it said the world's highest infant mortality rate was recorded in Ethiopia with 168 deaths per 1,000 live births. The best rate was in Japan with five deaths per 1.000 births.

People in Japan have the longest life expectancy at 79 years, while Afghans have the shortest at 43.

Sierra Leone had the highest illiteracy rate at 79 per cent.

Inflation data showed that prices rose most in Latin American countries between 1985 and 1992. Nicaragua had the worst average Inflation at 2.533.8 per cent. Comparatively, India, one of the developing world's largest economies, had an Inflation rate of Just 9.5 per cent over the same period.