Human Development Index (HDI) - What is it? What can it tell me? Have your say - Poll Included
What is it?
Have you ever wondered where you can find a list of all of the countries in the world, created in an impartial way, that shows how good of a country a certain place is when everything is taken into account? The Human Development Index (HDI) is a ranking system that is updated yearly, and began in 1990. It ranks countries in order of human development, including life expectancy, education, and average income, Literacy and just about everything that is important regarding a standard of living. There are four basic tiers into which countries are separated Very high, High, Medium and Low. There is also a numerical statistic which ranks countries regarding their development between 0.000 and 1.000. The latest HDI index places Norway at the top with the highest score of 0.943. There are only a handful of countries that are not counted due to the unavailability of statistics due to War, political unrest or other.
We can see through the photos, that looks can be deceiving, but the point of the HDI is to examine the quality of life for people, in every respect, and from my travels, I find it to be very accurate. Forget about the media, racial prejudice and even what people from a certain country say about their own home. Who knows! Maybe they have high standards. maybe they don't travel enough to understand what challenges other individuals face, or maybe the media fill us so full of spin, that it is difficult for us to know what is true anymore. Look at the list below with an open mind.
Very High Human development.
1 Norway 0.943
2.Australia 0.929
3 Netherlands 0.910
4 United States 0.910
6 Canada 0.908
7 Ireland 0.908
8 Liechtenstein 0.905
9 Germany 0.905
10 Sweden 0.904
11 Switzerland 0.903
12 Japan 0.901
13 Hong Kong 0.898
14 Iceland 0.898
15 South Korea 0.897
16 Denmark 0.895
17 Israel 0.888
18 Belgium 0.886
19 Austria 0.885
20 France 0.884
21 Slovenia 0.884
22 Finland 0.882
23 Spain 0.878
24 Italy 0.874
25 Luxembourg 0.867
26 Singapore 0.866
27 Czech Republic 0.865
28 United Kingdom 0.863
29 Greece 0.861
30 United Arab Emirates 0.846
31 Cyprus 0.840
32 Andorra 0.838
33 Brunei 0.838
34 Estonia 0.835
35 Slovakia 0.834
36 Malta 0.832
37 Qatar 0.831
38 Hungary 0.816
39 Poland 0.813
40 Lithuania 0.810
41 Portugal 0.809
42 Bahrain 0.806
43 Latvia 0.805
44 Chile 0.805
45 Argentina 0.797
46 Croatia 0.796
47 Barbados 0.793
High Human Development
48 Uruguay 0.783
49 Palau 0.782
50 Romania 0.781
51 Cuba 0.776
52 Seychelles 0.773
53 Bahamas 0.771
54 Montenegro 0.771
55 Bulgaria 0.771
56 Saudi Arabia 0.770
57 Mexico 0.770
58 Panama 0.768
59 Serbia 0.766
60 Antigua and Barbuda 0.764
61 Malaysia 0.761
62 Trinidad and Tobago 0.760
63 Kuwait 0.760
64 Libya 0.760
65 Belarus 0.756
66 Russia 0.755
67 Grenada 0.748
68 Kazakhstan 0.745
69 Costa Rica 0.744
70 Albania 0.739
71 Lebanon 0.739
72 Saint Kitts and Nevis 0.735
73 Venezuela 0.735
74 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.733
75 Georgia 0.733
76 Azerbaijan 0.731
77 Ukraine 0.729
78 Mauritius 0.728
79 Macedonia 0.728
80 Jamaica 0.727
81 Peru 0.725
82 Dominica 0.724
83 Saint Lucia 0.723
84 Ecuador 0.720
85 Brazil 0.718
86 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 0.717
87 Armenia 0.716
88 Colombia 0.710
89 Iran 0.707
90 Oman 0.705
91 Tonga 0.704
92 Turkey 0.699
93 Belize 0.699
94 Tunisia 0.698
Medium
95 Jordan 0.698
96 Algeria 0.698
97 Sri Lanka 0.691
98 Dominican Republic 0.689
99 Samoa 0.688
100 Fiji 0.688
101 China 0.687
102 Turkmenistan 0.686
103 Thailand 0.682
104 Suriname 0.680
105 El Salvador 0.674
106 Gabon 0.674
107 Paraguay 0.665
108 Bolivia 0.663
109 Maldives 0.661
110 Mongolia 0.653
111 Moldova 0.649.
112 Philippines 0.644
113 Egypt 0.644
114 Palestinian territories 0.641
115 Uzbekistan 0.641
116 Federated States of Micronesia 0.636
117 Guyana 0.633
118 Botswana 0.633
119 Syria 0.632
120 Namibia 0.625
121 Honduras 0.625
122 Kiritabi 0.624
123 South Africa 0.619
124 Indonesia 0.617
125 Vanuatu 0.617
126 Kyrgyzstan 0.615
127 Tajikistan 0.607
128 Vietnam 0.593
129 Nicaragua 0.589
130 Morocco 0.582
131 Guatemala 0.574
132 Iraq 0.573
133 Cape Verde 0.568
134 India 0.547
135 Ghana 0.541
136 Equatorial Guinea 0.537
137 Congo 0.533
138 Laos 0.524
139 Cambodia 0.523
140 Swaziland 0.522
141 Bhutan 0.522
Low
142 Solomon Islands 0.510
143 Kenya 0.509
144 São Tomé and Príncipe 0.509
145 Pakistan 0.504
146 Bangladesh 0.500
147 Timor-Leste 0.495
148 Angola 0.486
149 Burma 0.483
150 Cameroon 0.482
151 Madagascar 0.480
152 Tanzania 0.466
153 Papua New Guinea 0.466
154 Yemen 0.462
155 Senegal 0.459
156 Nigeria 0.459
157 Nepal 0.458
158 Haiti 0.454
159 Mauritania 0.453
160 Lesotho 0.450
161 Uganda 0.446 0.00
162 Togo 0.435
163 Comoros 0.433
164 Zambia 0.430
165 Djibouti 0.430
166 Rwanda 0.429
167 Benin 0.427
168 Gambia 0.420
169 Sudan 0.408
170 Côte d'Ivoire 0.400
171 Malawi 0.400
172 Afghanistan 0.398
173 Zimbabwe 0.376
174 Ethiopia 0.363
175 Mali 0.359
176 Guinea-Bissau 0.353
177 Eritrea 0.349
178 Guinea 0.344
179 Central African Republic 0.343
180 Sierra Leone 0.336
181 Burkina Faso 0.331
182 Liberia 0.329
183 Chad 0.328
184 Mozambique 0.322
185 Burundi 0.316
186 Niger 0.295
187 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0.286
Do you find the HDI to be an accurate portrayal of the quality of living in a country?
Do you find that your country is accurately portrayed within the HDI index?
Do you think that peoples opinion of the Human Development Index is skewed by the standing of their Country within it?
Now, look at Question one and Question two. Isn't it odd how the majority of people find the HDI accurate, except in relation to THEIR country.
For more information and past years analysis.
- Indices & Data | Human Development Reports (HDR) | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
The Human Development Report (HDR) was first launched in 1990 with the single goal of putting people back at the center of the development process in terms of economic debate, policy and advocacy. Since the first report, four new composite indices fo
