All Topics  
List of countries by Human Development Index

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

List of countries by Human Development Index
 
 
  Topics List of countries by Human Development Index Topic Home

data) (Color-blind compliant map) For red-green color vision problems (2007).]] This is a list of countries by Human Development Index
Human Development Index

The Human Development Index is an index used to rank countries by level of "human development", which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a developed country, developing country....
 as included in a United Nations Development Program's Human Development
Human development (humanity)

In the scope of humanity, human development is an international and economic development paradigm....
 Statistical Update released on December 18, 2008, compiled on the basis of data from 2006. It covers 177 U.N. member countries
United Nations member states

This article lists the member states of the United Nations . There are currently 192 UN member states, and each of them is a member of the United Nations General Assembly....
 (out of 192), along with: Hong Kong (SAR of China)
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
 and PA-governed territories
Palestinian territories

The Palestinian territories are composed of two discontiguous regions, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whose final status has yet to be determined....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'List of countries by Human Development Index'
Start a new discussion about 'List of countries by Human Development Index'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


data)
   
(Color-blind compliant map) For red-green color vision problems (2007).]] This is a list of countries by Human Development Index
Human Development Index

The Human Development Index is an index used to rank countries by level of "human development", which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a developed country, developing country....
 as included in a United Nations Development Program's Human Development
Human development (humanity)

In the scope of humanity, human development is an international and economic development paradigm....
 Statistical Update released on December 18, 2008, compiled on the basis of data from 2006. It covers 177 U.N. member countries
United Nations member states

This article lists the member states of the United Nations . There are currently 192 UN member states, and each of them is a member of the United Nations General Assembly....
 (out of 192), along with: Hong Kong (SAR of China)
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
 and PA-governed territories
Palestinian territories

The Palestinian territories are composed of two discontiguous regions, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whose final status has yet to be determined....
. Fifteen U.N. member countries are not included due to lack of data. The average HDI of regions of the World and groups of countries are also included for comparison. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy
Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is the average expected lifespan of an individual. Life expectancy is heavily dependent on the criteria used to select the group....
, literacy
Literacy

The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language to Reading , Writing, Listening, and Speech communication....
, education
Education

File:Inukshuk Monterrey 1.jpgEducation can be seen as a product or a process and considered in a broad sense or a technical sense. According to philosophy of education George F....
 and standards of living
Standard of living

The standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people, and the way these goods and services are distributed within a population....
 for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare
Child welfare

Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and encourage family stability. These typically include investigation of alleged child abuse, child protective services, foster care, adoption services, and services aimed at supporting at-risk families so they can remain intact....
. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed
Developed country

The term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and there is fierce debate about this....
, a developing
Developing country

A developing country is a country that has often low standards of democracy, industrialisation, Social work, and Human rights for its citizens....
 or an under-developed country
Least Developed Countries

Least Developed Countries are countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic International development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of list of countries....
, and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
i economist
Economics

File:Ballard Farmers' Market - vegetables.jpgEconomics is the Social sciences that studies the Production theory basics, Distribution , and Consumption of Good and Service ....
 Mahbub ul Haq
Mahbub ul Haq

Mahbub ul Haq , born in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, was an influential and world renowned Pakistani Economics. He is the pioneer of Human development theory and founder of the Human Development Report....
 and India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
n economist Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen

Amartya Kumar Sen Order of the Companions of Honour , is a Bengali people Indian economist, philosopher, and a winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998, "for his contributions to welfare economics" for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, and political C...
.

Countries fall into three broad categories based on their HDI: high, medium and low human development.

Complete list of countries

= increase. = steady. = decrease.
  • Similar HDI values in the current list do not lead to ranking ties, since the HDI rank is actually determined using HDI values to the sixth decimal point.
  • The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed (up or down) since the 2005 survey.


Note: This revision of the index was released on December 18, 2008. This so-called "statistical update" covers the period up to 2006 and was published without an accompanying report on human development. The update is relevant due to newly released estimates of purchasing power parities
Purchasing power parity

The purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power. Developed by Gustav Cassel in 1920, it is based on the law of one price: the theory states that, in ideally efficient markets, identical goods should have only one price....
 (PPP), implying substantial adjustments for many countries, resulting in changes in HDI values and, in many cases, HDI ranks.

High

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
1 0.968 +0.001
2 0.968 +0.001
3 0.967 +0.002
4 0.965 +0.002
5 0.960 +0.002
6 0.958 +0.002
7 0.958 +0.001
8 0.956 +0.003
9 0.956 +0.002
10 0.955 +0.002
11 0.955 +0.002
12 0.954 +0.004
13 0.952 +0.003
14 0.951 +0.003
15 0.950
16 0.949 +0.003
17 0.948 +0.003
18 0.947 +0.004
19 0.945 +0.003
20 0.944 +0.001
21 0.942 -0.002
22 (SAR) 0.942 +0.004
23 0.940 +0.002
24 0.930 +0.003
25 0.928 +0.006
26 0.923 +0.006
27 0.919 +0.002
28 0.918 +0.002
29 0.912 -0.003
30 0.912 +0.001
31 0.903 +0.002
32 0.902 +0.006
33 0.900 +0.002
34 0.899 +0.004
35 0.897 +0.005
36 0.894 +0.003
37 0.889 +0.002
38 0.877 +0.004


Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
39 0.875 +0.005
40 0.874 +0.003
41 0.872 +0.007
42 0.871 +0.006
43 0.869 +0.005
44 0.863 +0.007
45 0.862 +0.005
46 0.860 +0.006
47 0.859 +0.005
48 0.855 +0.017
49 0.854 +0.002
50 0.847 +0.004
51 0.842 +0.005
52 0.840 +0.004
53 0.839 +0.005
54 0.836 +0.002
55 0.835 +0.003
56 0.834 +0.005
57 0.833 +0.007
58 0.832 +0.005
59 0.830 +0.004
60 0.830 +0.002
61 0.826 +0.010
62 0.825 +0.008
63 0.823 +0.004
64 0.822 +0.006
65 0.821 +0.004
66 0.821 +0.005
67 0.817 +0.007
68 0.808 +0.003
69 0.807 +0.004
70 0.807 +0.005
71 0.807 +0.008
72 0.807 +0.003
73 0.806 +0.005
74 0.802 +0.005
75 0.802 +0.005


Medium

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
76 0.798 +0.007
77 0.797 -0.001
78 0.796 +0.001
79 0.788 +0.008
80 0.787 +0.005
81 0.786 +0.004
82 0.786 +0.006
83 0.777 +0.010
84 0.777 +0.007
85 0.774 +0.002
86 0.774 +0.001
87 0.771 +0.003
88 0.771
89 0.770 +0.006
90 0.769 +0.006
91 0.768 +0.007
92 0.766 +0.004
93 0.763 +0.004
94 0.762 +0.008
95 0.762 +0.006
96 0.760 +0.002
97 0.758 +0.016
98 0.752 +0.003
99 0.749 +0.002
100 0.748 +0.003
101 0.747 +0.002
102 0.745 +0.002
103 0.743
104 0.742 +0.003
105 0.736 +0.005
106 0.731 +0.003
107 0.729 +0.002
108 0.728 +0.001
109 0.726 +0.007
110 0.725 +0.004
111 0.723 +0.005
112 0.720 +0.006
113 0.719 +0.005
114 0.718 +0.004
Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
115 0.717 -0.002
116 0.716 +0.004
117 0.714 +0.006
118 0.705 +0.008
119 0.701 +0.003
120 0.699 +0.006
121 0.696 +0.006
122 0.694 +0.002
123 0.686 +0.006
124 0.684 +0.004
125 0.670 -0.001
126 0.664 +0.008
127 0.646 +0.008
128 0.643 +0.006
129 0.634 +0.003
130 0.619 +0.007
131 0.613 +0.013
132 0.609 +0.009
133 0.608 +0.007
134 0.591 +0.003
135 0.585 +0.004
136 0.575 +0.009
137 0.572 +0.004
138 0.567 +0.006
139 0.562 +0.014
140 0.557 +0.010
141 0.542 -0.003
142 0.533 +0.009
143 0.533 +0.005
144 0.532 +0.006
145 0.530 +0.009
146 0.526 +0.012
147 0.524 +0.007
148 0.521 +0.006
149 0.516 +0.002
150 0.514
151 0.513 +0.005
152 0.503 +0.009
153 0.502 +0.003


Low

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
154 0.499 +0.005
155 0.496 +0.002
156 0.493 +0.007
157 0.484 +0.010
158 0.483 -0.003
159 0.479 +0.003
160 0.471 +0.002
161 0.459 +0.007
162 0.457 +0.009
163 0.453 +0.006
164 0.442
165 0.435 +0.005
166 0.431 -0.001
Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
167 0.423 +0.006
168 0.391 +0.007
169 0.389 +0.010
170 0.389 -0.001
171 0.383 +0.005
172 0.382 +0.012
173 0.372 +0.010
174 0.370 +0.007
175 0.366 +0.005
176 0.364 +0.007
177 0.361 +0.003
178 0.352 +0.003
179 0.329 +0.006


List of countries by continents


Africa


10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
High
1 0.840 +0.004
2 0.836 +0.002
3 0.802 +0.005
Medium
4 0.762 +0.006
5 0.748 +0.003
6 0.729 +0.002
7 0.717 -0.002
8 0.716 +0.004
9 0.705 +0.008
10 0.670 -0.001
10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
Low
1 0.329 +0.006
2 0.352 +0.003
3 0.361 +0.003
4 0.364 +0.007
5 0.366 +0.005
6 0.370 +0.007
7 0.372 +0.010
8 0.382 +0.012
9 0.383 +0.005
10 0.389 -0.001


Americas


10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
High
1 0.967 +0.002
2 0.950
3 0.889 +0.002
4 0.874 +0.003
5 0.860 +0.006
6 0.859 +0.005
7 0.855 +0.017
8 0.854 +0.002
9 0.847 +0.004
10 0.842 +0.005
10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
Medium
1 0.521 +0.006
2 0.696 +0.006
3 0.699 +0.006
4 0.714 +0.006
5 0.723 +0.005
6 0.725 +0.004
7 0.747 +0.002
8 0.752 +0.003
9 0.766 +0.004
10 0.768 +0.007


Asia & Oceania


10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
High
1 0.965 +0.002
2 0.956 +0.003
3 0.944 +0.001
4 (SAR) 0.942 +0.004
5 0.930 +0.003
6 0.928 +0.006
7 0.919 +0.002
8 0.918 +0.002
9 0.912 -0.003
10 0.903 +0.002
10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
Low
1 0.483 -0.003
Medium
2 0.516 +0.002
3 0.524 +0.007
4 0.530 +0.009
5 0.562 +0.014
6 0.567 +0.006
7 0.575 +0.009
8 0.585 +0.004
9 0.591 +0.003
10 0.608 +0.007


Europe


10 highest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
High
1 0.968 +0.001
2 0.968 +0.001
3 0.960 +0.002
4 0.958 +0.002
5 0.958 +0.001
6 0.956 +0.002
7 0.955 +0.002
8 0.955 +0.002
9 0.954 +0.004
10 0.952 +0.003
10 lowest HDIs

Rank Country HDI
2006 data Change compared to 2005 data
Medium
1 0.719 +0.005
2 0.786 +0.006
High
3 0.802 +0.005
4 0.806 +0.005
5 0.807 +0.004
6 0.808 +0.003
7 0.817 +0.007
8 0.821 +0.004
9 0.822 +0.006
10 0.825 +0.008


HDI by regions & groups


Rank Region or Group HDI
High
1 High-income OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international organization of 30 countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free market economy....
 		 0.950
2 OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international organization of 30 countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free market economy....
 		 0.925
3 Central
Central Europe

Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
 and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
 and the CIS
Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics.The CIS is comparable to a confederation similar to the original European Community....
 		 0.814
4 Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
 and the Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
 		 0.810
Medium
5 East Asia and the Pacific
Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific or APAC is the area generally regarded as encompassing littoral East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia near the Pacific Ocean, plus the states in the ocean itself ....
 		 0.762
— World
World

World is a common name for the planet Earth seen from a human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general....
 		0.747
6 Arab states 0.713
7 Developing countries
Developing country

A developing country is a country that has often low standards of democracy, industrialisation, Social work, and Human rights for its citizens....
 		 0.688
8 South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
 		 0.606
Low
9 Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara....
 		 0.495
10 Least Developed Countries
Least Developed Countries

Least Developed Countries are countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic International development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of list of countries....
 		 0.480
Group HDI
High Human Development 0.901
Medium Human Development 0.690
Low Human Development 0.444
High income 0.942
Middle income 0.774
Low income 0.564


Countries missing from latest report


UN member states (latest UNDP data)


Year Country HDI Rank Source
Publication Data
1997 0.946
1997 0.946
1997 0.944
1997 0.944
1998 0.861
1998 1995 0.766 75
1998 0.663
2000 1998 0.583 126
Year Country HDI Rank Source
Publication Data
1998 0.583
1998 0.569
1998 0.563
1998 0.515
2007 2005 0.513 151
2007 0.345 174
2001 2001 0.284 161


Non-UN members (not calculated by the UNDP)


Year Country or Territory HDI Rank Source
Publication Data
1998 0.942
2007 2005 (Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
) 		0.932 23
2008 2005 0.929 24
1998 0.927
2008 2005 0.912 28


Year Country or Territory HDI Rank Source
Publication Data
2006 2004 0.909 28
2008 2005 0.878 34
2007 2004 0.870 35
2008 2005 0.864 42
2008 2005 0.862 43
2004 2002 0.733


See also


  • Satisfaction with Life Index
    Satisfaction with Life Index

    The Satisfaction with Life Index was created by Adrian G. White, an Analytic Social Psychologist at the University of Leicester, using data from a metastudy....
  • Happy Planet Index
    Happy Planet Index

    The Happy Planet Index is an index of human well-being and environmental impact, introduced by the New Economics Foundation , in July 2006. The index is designed to challenge well-established indices of countries? development, such as Gross Domestic Product and the Human Development Index , which are seen as not taking sustainability into...
  • OSCE countries statistics
  • American Human Development Report
    American Human Development Report

    The Measure of America: American Human Development Report 2008-2009, published by Columbia University Press and Social Science Research Council, applies the Human Development approach to the United States and includes a modified American Human Development Index....


External links


  • Archive of