List of countries by Human Development Index

Summary

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compiles the Human Development Index (HDI) of 193 nations in the annual Human Development Report. The index considers the health, education, income and living conditions in a given country to provide a measure of human development which is comparable between countries and over time.[1][2]

World map
World map representing Human Development Index categories (based on 2022 data, published in 2024)
  •   Very high (≥ 0.800)
  •   High (0.700–0.799)
  •   Medium (0.550–0.699)
  •   Low (≤ 0.549)
  •   Data unavailable
World map
World map of countries or territories by Human Development Index scores in increments of 0.050 (based on 2022 data, published in 2024)
  •   ≥ 0.950
  •   0.900–0.950
  •   0.850–0.899
  •   0.800–0.849
  •   0.750–0.799
  •   0.700–0.749
  •   0.650–0.699
  •   0.600–0.649
  •   0.550–0.599
  •   0.500–0.549
  •   0.450–0.499
  •   0.400–0.449
  •   ≤ 0.399
  •   Data unavailable

The HDI is the most widely used indicator of human development and has changed how people view the concept.[3][4] However, several aspects of the index have received criticism. Some scholars have criticized how the factors are weighed, in particular how an additional year of life expectancy is valued differently between countries;[4][5] and the limited factors it considers, noting the omission of factors such as the levels of distributional and gender inequality.[6] In response to the former, the UNDP introduced the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) in its 2010 report, and in response to the latter the Gender Development Index (GDI) was introduced in the 1995 report.[7][8] Others have criticized the perceived oversimplification of using a single number per country.[9][10]

To reflect developmental differences within countries, a subnational HDI (SHDI) featuring data for more than 1,600 regions was introduced in 2018 by the Global Data Lab at Radboud University in the Netherlands.[10] In 2020, the UNDP introduced another index, the planetary pressures–adjusted Human Development Index (PHDI), which decreases the scores of countries with a higher ecological footprint.[11]

Dimensions and indicators edit

The HDI was first published in 1990 with the goal of being a more comprehensive measure of human development than purely economic measures such as gross domestic product. The index incorporates three dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge, and decent living standards. Various indicators are used to quantify how countries perform on each dimension. The indicators used in the 2022 report were life expectancy at birth; expected years of schooling for children; mean years of schooling for adults; and gross national income per capita. The indicators are used to create a health index, an education index and an income index, each with a value between 0 and 1. The geometric mean of the three indices—that is, the cube root of the product of the indices—is the human development index. A value above 0.800 is classified as very high, between 0.700 and 0.799 as high, 0.550 to 0.699 as medium, and below 0.550 as low.[1][12][13]

The data used to calculate HDI comes mostly from United Nations agencies and international institutions, such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Rarely, when one of the indicators is missing, cross-country regression models are used. Due to improved data and methodology updates, HDI values are not comparable across human development reports; instead, each report recalculates the HDI for some previous years.[13][14]

 
Average annual HDI growth from 2010 to 2021 published in 2022
  •   ≥ 1.4%
  •   1.2%…1.4%
  •   1%…1.2%
  •   0.8%…1%
  •   0.6%…0.8%
  •   0.4%…0.6%
  •   0.2%…0.4%
  •   0%…0.2%
  •   −0.5%…0%
  •   −1%…−0.5%
  •   < −1%
  •   No data
HDI dimensions and indicators[15]
Dimensions Indicators Dimension index
Long and healthy life Life expectancy at birth Life expectancy index
Knowledge Expected years of schooling
Mean years of schooling
Education index
A decent standard of living GNI per capita (PPP $) GNI index

List edit

 
Average annual HDI growth from 2010 to 2021 published in 2022
  •   ≥ 1.4%
  •   1.2%…1.4%
  •   1%…1.2%
  •   0.8%…1%
  •   0.6%…0.8%
  •   0.4%…0.6%
  •   0.2%…0.4%
  •   0%…0.2%
  •   −0.5%…0%
  •   −1%…−0.5%
  •   < −1%
  •   No data

The Human Development Report includes all 193[16] member states of the United Nations, as well as Hong Kong SAR and the State of Palestine, except for DPR Korea (North Korea), Monaco. Some components of the index may be calculated for these countries. The Cook Islands, the Holy See (Vatican City), and Niue are the only state parties within the United Nations System that are not included in the report.[17] In total, the HDI is available for 192 countries and one territory.[2]

Countries ranked from 1 to 69 in 2022 are designated "very high" HDI; those ranked from 70 to 115 are designated "high" HDI; those ranked from 116 to 159 are denoted "medium" HDI; and those ranked from 160 to 193 are designated "low" HDI.

Data are for the year 2022.[18]

Regions and groups edit

The Human Development Report also reports the HDI for various groups of countries. These include regional groupings based on the UNDP regional classifications,[19] HDI groups including the countries currently falling into a given HDI bracket, OECD members and various other UN groupings.[20] The aggregate HDI values are calculated in the same way as for individual countries with the input data being the weighted average for all countries with available data in the group.[21]

Table of regions and groups by HDI[22]
Region or group 1990 2000 2010 2020 2021 2022
OECD 0.795 0.840 0.875 0.897 0.899 0.906
Very high human development 0.784 0.826 0.868 0.895 0.896 0.902
Europe and Central Asia 0.664 0.681 0.746 0.793 0.796 0.802
East Asia and the Pacific 0.507 0.592 0.684 0.748 0.749 0.766
Latin America and the Caribbean 0.633 0.689 0.733 0.755 0.754 0.763
High human development 0.557 0.625 0.700 0.753 0.754 0.764
World 0.601 0.645 0.697 0.735 0.732 0.739
Small Island Developing States 0.601 0.649 0.693 0.732 0.730 0.730
Arab states 0.555 0.618 0.676 0.708 0.708 0.704
Developing countries 0.513 0.569 0.638 0.687 0.685 0.694
Medium human development 0.453 0.506 0.582 0.642 0.636 0.640
South Asia 0.442 0.500 0.576 0.638 0.632 0.641
Sub-Saharan Africa 0.407 0.430 0.503 0.549 0.547 0.549
Least developed countries 0.357 0.408 0.487 0.542 0.540 0.542
Low human development 0.356 0.399 0.477 0.519 0.518 0.517

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ HDI not available before 2011 in latest report
  2. ^ HDI not available before 2022 in latest report
  3. ^ HDI not available before 2022 in latest report

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Human Development Index (HDI) | Human Development Reports". hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 28 January 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b Rank and index on pages 272-276. Change in rank and percentage growth on pages 277-280. Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. pp. 272–280. ISBN 978-9-211-26451-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  3. ^ Ivanova, I.; Arcelus, F. J.; Srinivasan, G. (February 1999). "An Assessment of the Measurement Properties of the Human Development Index". Social Indicators Research. 46 (2): 157–179. doi:10.1023/A:1006839208067. ISSN 0303-8300. JSTOR 27522364. S2CID 142628010. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b Sanderson, Warren; Scherbov, Sergei; Simone, Ghislandi (8 November 2018). "The best country to live in might not be Norway after all". Quartz. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  5. ^ Ravallion, Martin (1 November 2012). "Troubling tradeoffs in the Human Development Index" (PDF). Journal of Development Economics. 99 (2): 201–209. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2012.01.003. ISSN 0304-3878.
  6. ^ Sharma, Shalendra D. (1 February 1997). "Making the Human Development Index (HDI) gender-sensitive". Gender & Development. 5 (1): 60–61. doi:10.1080/741922304. ISSN 1355-2074. PMID 12320744. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  7. ^ Human Development Report 2010 (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 2010. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-230-28445-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  8. ^ Human development report 1995 (PDF). Oxford University Press for the United Nations Development Programme. 1995. pp. 72–74. ISBN 0-19-510023-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  9. ^ Castles, Ian (1998). "The Mismeasure of Nations: A Review Essay". Population and Development Review. 24 (4): 834–836. doi:10.2307/2808029. ISSN 0098-7921. JSTOR 2808029. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  10. ^ a b Iñaki, Permanyer; Jeroen, Smits (31 May 2018). "The Subnational Human Development Index: Moving beyond country-level averages". United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  11. ^ Human Development Report 2020 The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. pp. 291–231. ISBN 978-9-211-26442-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  12. ^ Human Development Report 1990 (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 1 May 1990. pp. iii, iv, 5, 9, 12. ISBN 0-1950-6481-X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Human Development Report 2019 – Technical notes" (PDF). hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. pp. 2–4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Human Development Report 2020: Reader's Guide". hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Human Development Index (HDI)". UNDP. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  16. ^ Nations, United. "Member States". United Nations. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  17. ^ "A World Tour of the States not recognized by the UN". Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  18. ^ Human Development Report 2023-24: Breaking the gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world. United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "Developing regions | Human Development Reports". hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Human Development Report 2020: Reader's Guide | Human Development Reports". hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Human Development Report 2020 – Technical notes" (PDF). hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  22. ^ Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. p. 280. ISBN 978-9-211-26451-7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.

External links edit

  • UN Human Development Reports