Human Development Index

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World map indicating Human Development Index (2007)

0.950 and over 0.900–0.949 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 0.350–0.399 under 0.350 not available

(Colour-blind compliant map) For red-green color vision problems.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is the measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to determine and indicate whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.^[1]

The index was developed in 1990 by Indian Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, with help from Gustav Ranis of Yale University and Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics and has been used since then by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report. Described by Sen as a "vulgar measure", because of its limitations, it nonetheless focuses attention on wider aspects of development than the per capita income measure it supplanted, and is a pathway for researchers into the wide variety of more detailed measures contained in the Human Development Reports.

The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:

A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth.
Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting).
A decent standard of living, as measured by the log of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) in USD.

Each year, UN member states are listed and ranked according to these measures. Those high on the list often advertise it,^[2] as a means of attracting talented immigrants (economically, individual capital) or discouraging emigration.

An alternative measure, focusing on the amount of poverty in a country, is the Human Poverty Index.

1 Methodology
- 1.1 Examples
2 2007 report
- 2.1 Top thirty countries (HDI range from 0.968 down to 0.894)
- 2.2 Countries not included
3 Past top countries
4 Predictions
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

HDI trends between 1975 and 2004

OECD Central and eastern Europe, and the CIS Latin America and the Caribbean East Asia

Arab States South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

In general to transform a raw variable, say $x$ , into a unit-free index between 0 and 1 (which allows different indices to be added together), the following formula is used:

$x$ -index = $\frac{x - \min\left(x\right)} {\max\left(x\right)-\min\left(x\right)}$

where $\min\left(x\right)$ and $\max\left(x\right)$ are the lowest and highest values the variable $x$ can attain, respectively.

The Human Development Index (HDI) then represents the average of the following three general indices:

Life Expectancy Index = $\frac{LE - 25} {85-25}$
Education Index =
- Adult Literacy Index (ALI) = $\frac{ALR - 0} {100 - 0}$
- Gross Enrolment Index (GEI) = $\frac{CGER - 0} {100 - 0}$
GDP Index = $\frac{\log\left(GDPpc\right) - \log\left(100\right)} {\log\left(40000\right) - \log\left(100\right)}$

LE: Life expectancy at birth
ALR: Adult literacy rate (ages 15 and older)
CGER: Combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools
GDPpc: GDP per capita at PPP in USD

UNDP has created a technical note on the definition of the HDI (see links below).

**Calculation examples of the indices.**
Index	Measure	Minimum value	Maximum value	Formula
Longevity	Life expectancy at birth (LE)	25 yrs	85 yrs	$L = \frac{\mathrm{LE}-25}{60}$
Education	Literacy rate (LR)	0%	100%	$E = \frac{2\mathrm{LR} + \mathrm{CGER}}{3}$
Education	Combined gross enrolment ratio (CGER)	0%	100%	$E = \frac{2\mathrm{LR} + \mathrm{CGER}}{3}$
GDP	GDP per capita (PPP)	100 USD	40,000 USD	$G = \frac{\log_{10}\mathrm{GDPpc}-2}{2\mathrm{.}60206}$

Main article: List of countries by Human Development Index

The report for 2007 was launched in Brasilia, Brazil, on November 27, 2007. Its focus was on "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world." [1] Most of the data used for the report are derived largely from 2005 or earlier, thus indicating an HDI for 2005. Not all UN member states choose to or are able to provide the necessary statistics.

The report showed a small increase in world HDI in comparison with last year's report. This rise was fueled by a general improvement in the developing world, specially of the least developed countries group. This marked improvement at the bottom was offset with a decrease in HDI of high income countries.

A HDI below 0.5 is considered to represent "low development". All 22 countries in that category are located in Africa. The highest-scoring Sub-Saharan countries, Gabon and South Africa, are ranked 119th and 121st, respectively. Nine countries departed from this category this year and joined the "medium development" group.

A HDI of 0.8 or more is considered to represent "high development". This includes all developed countries, such as those in North America, Western Europe, Oceania, and Eastern Asia, as well as some developing countries in Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and the oil-rich Arabian Peninsula. Seven countries were promoted to this category this year, leaving the "medium development" group: Albania, Belarus, Brazil, Libya, Macedonia, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

On the following table, green arrows () represent an increase in ranking over the previous study, while red arrows () represent a decrease in ranking. They are followed by the number of spaces they moved. Blue dashes () represent a nation that did not move in the rankings since the previous study.

Iceland 0.968 ( 1)
Norway 0.968 ( 1)
Australia 0.962 ()
Canada 0.961 ( 2)
Ireland 0.959 ( 1)
Sweden 0.956 ( 1)
Switzerland 0.955 ( 2)
Japan 0.953 ( 1)
Netherlands 0.953 ( 1)
France 0.952 ( 6)

Finland 0.952 ()
United States 0.951 ( 4)
Spain 0.949 ( 6)
Denmark 0.949 ( 1)
Austria 0.948 ( 1)
United Kingdom 0.946 ( 2)
Belgium 0.946 ( 4)
Luxembourg 0.944 ( 6)
New Zealand 0.943 ( 1)
Italy 0.941 ( 3)

Hong Kong 0.937 ( 1)
Germany 0.935 ( 1)
Israel 0.932 ()
Greece 0.926 ()
Singapore 0.922 ()
South Korea 0.921 ()
Slovenia 0.917 ()
Cyprus 0.903 ( 1)
Portugal 0.897 ( 1)
Brunei 0.894 ( 4)

The following United Nations member states are not ranked in the 2007 Human Development Index, for being unable or unwilling to provide the necessary data at the time of publication.

Africa

Asia

Europe

Oceania

The number one ranked country in each year of the index. Canada has been the highest ranked country ten times, followed by Norway, which stayed at the top six times. Japan has been ranked highest twice and Switzerland and Iceland once.

1997 – Canada
1996 – Canada
1995 – Canada
1994 – Canada
1993 – Japan

Though Westerns have gotten more wealthy in terms of per capita over the past decades, they are indeed feeling poorer than ever because of the fact that other nations have risen up to their level (Primarily East Asia and India). While other nations have risen up at incredible rates, the European Unions have only risen from the current .93 to .97 in 2040. North America and Australia have risen from .96 to .997 in this matter. Although Western nations have a slightly better HDI than most, other places (East Asia) have gotten pretty close to them and the difference in wealth would be hard to distinguish. Because of their lower population than East Asia, they will be second in total economy. Eastern Europe will not do as good with a HDI of around .91 or close to South America in 2040.

In 2040, China is expected to have risen from a GDP of .777 to .937 due to its fast rising economy. Even by then, China still will probably not have finished its economic boom. East Asia, including China will total an average of .938 mainly due to China economic rise causing it to near the GDP per capita of western nations and the already high living standards in the other East Asian nations including Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan. By 2040, it is predicted that East Asian nations will all have similar HDI to those of the western nations like the European Union, USA, Australia, and Canada in the mid to high .900's. Although East Asia does not have as high of a HDI as western nations do, due to their sheer population out numbering western nations by 1:2, the East Asian economy's total worth will be higher.

By 2040, African nations' HDI will still be fairly low, but will increase a fairly large amount. Northern Africa will have HDI of around .783 from the current .65, Southern Africa of around .854 from the current .65, Eastern Africa of around .597 from the current .43, Middle Africa of around .546 from the current .45, and Western Africa will have HDI nearing .603 from the current .47.

Other parts of Asia that will also receive a fairly high amount of HDI increase is South Asia with HDI of .716 which is a notch up from the current HDI of .600 primarily caused by the economy of India. By then, India will be growing at a more steady and faster rate than China so fast HDI increase have not yet ended in this region. Southeast Asia will also increase a lot from the current HDI of .73 to .86. West Asia will also have grown from .725 to .796.

Latin America would also see a rapid growth in HDI. Take South America for example, rapid growth raised its HDI from .81 to .903 in 2040. Central America will also rise in HDI from .8 to .884. The Carribeans will have also risen from .73 to .814.

v • d • e

Economic classification of countries

Developed country · Developing country · Least developed country · High income country · Newly industrialized country

Worlds Theory

First World · Second World · Third World · Fourth World

Lists of countries

GDP per capita	List of countries by GDP (nominal), (per capita) · List of countries by GDP (PPP), (per capita), (per hour)
Human Development Index	List of countries by Human Development Index
Human Poverty Index	List of countries by percentage of population living in poverty
Literacy rate	List of countries by literacy rate

Sustainable development Portal

v • d • e

Lists of countries with rankings

Geography

Area · Coastline · Highest point · Lowest point · Compactness · Coast/area ratio · Northernmost point · Southernmost point · Continent · Number of neighbouring countries

Demographics

Population (graphical • by density) · Population growth rate · Life expectancy · Infant mortality rate · Fertility rate · Birth rate · Death rate · List of countries by sex ratio · Homicide rate · Human Development Index · Income equality · Literacy rate · HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate · Unemployment rate · Employment rate · Population living in poverty · Poverty Index · Immigrant population · Suicide rate · Undernourishment rate · Firearm-related death rate · Gun ownership

Economy

Current account balance · Foreign exchange reserves · Imports · Number of internet users · Number of telephone lines · Exports (per capita) · Debt (External, Public) · Consumption (Electricity, Natural gas, Electricity Intensity) · Production (Natural gas production by country, Natural gas proven reserves, Oil proven reserves, Automobile production, Steel production, Aluminium production, Coal production)

GDP	Nominal (per capita) · PPP (per capita • per capita per hour) Past (nominal • PPP) · Future (nominal • PPP • PPP per capita) • GNI per capita (Atlas Method) · Growth (real • per capita) Sector composition · Demographics comparison