Human Development Index

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For other uses of the abbreviation HDI, see HDI (disambiguation).

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The UN Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, childbirth, and other factors for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child | welfare. It is used by many people to distinguish whether or not the country is a first, second, or third world country. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, and has been used since 1993 by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report.

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, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weight).
A decent standard of living, as measured by 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 (e.g., Jean Chrétien, ex-Prime Minister of Canada ^*), 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.

Method used to calculate the Human Development Index

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 = $\frac{2} {3} \times ALI + \frac{1} {3} \times GEI$

Adult Literacy Index (ALI) = $\frac{ALR} {100}$

Gross Enrollment Index (GEI) = $\frac{CGER} {100}$

GDP Index = $\frac{\log\left(GDPpc\right) - \log\left(100\right)} {\log\left(40000\right) - \log\left(100\right)}$

LE: Life expectancy
ALR: Adult literacy rate
CGER: Combined gross enrollment ratio
GDPpc: GNP per capita at PPP in USD

2005 report

The report for 2005 shows that, in general, the HDI for countries around the world is improving, with two major exceptions: Post-Soviet states, and Sub-Saharan Africa, both of which show steady decline. Worsening education, economies, and mortality rates have contributed to HDI declines amongst countries in the first group, while HIV/AIDS and concomitant mortality is the principal cause of decline in the second group.

Most of the data used for the 2005 report, indicating country HDIs for 2003, are derived largely from 2003 or earlier. Not all UN member states choose to or are able to provide the necessary statistics. Notable absences from the list (excluding micro-states) are Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, North Korea, Serbia, Montenegro, and Somalia. While these countries are either unwilling or unable to provide data, they are generally considered countries of medium to low human development.

An HDI below 0.5 is considered to represent low development and 30 of the 32 countries in that category are located in Africa, with the exceptions of Haiti and Yemen. The bottom ten countries are all in Africa. The highest-scoring Sub-Saharan country, South Africa, is ranked 120th (with an HDI of 0.658), which is well above most other countries in the region.

An HDI 0.8 or more is considered to represent high development. This includes countries of northern and western Europe, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Canada, United States, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Japan and South Korea. Other countries that exhibit high human development amidst countries with lower HDIs include (with their position) Costa Rica (47th), Cuba (52nd), Mexico (53rd) and Panama (56th).

Top thirty countries (HDI range from 0.963 down to 0.878)

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Bottom ten countries (HDI range from 0.281 up to 0.379)

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Top/bottom three countries by region

Africa

51. (↓ 16)
58. (=)
65. (↓ 1)
...
175. (=)
176. (↑ 1123)
177. (↓ 1)

Asia

11. (↓ 2)
22. , (People's Republic of China) (↑ 1)
23. (↓ 1)
...

139. (↓ 1)
140. (↑ 18)
151. (↓ 2)

Europe

1. (=)
2. (↑ 5)
4. (↑ 11)
...
100. (↓ 3)
101. (↓ 10)
115. (↓ 2)

North America

5. (↓1)
10. (↓ 2)
30. (↓ 1)
...
116. (↓ 1)
117. (↑ 4)
153. (=)

Oceania

3. (=)
19. (↓ 1)
54. (↑ 9)
...
118. (↑ 11)
128. (↓ 4)
137. (↓ 4)

South America

34. (=)
37. (↑ 6)
46. (=)
...
88. (↑ 1)
107. (↓ 3)
113. (↑ 1)

Past top countries

The number one ranked country in each year of the index.

Countries not included

The following countries or territories are not ranked in the 2006 Human Development Index, for being unable or unwilling to provide the necessary data.

Africa

Americas

Puerto Rico

Asia

Europe

Oceania

* The Republic of China (Taiwan) has calculated its HDI to be 0.910 for 2003 based on the following data: life expectancy of 76.1 years, adult literacy rate of 97.0%, combined gross enrolment rate of 97%, and GDP per capita (PPP) of US$23,911. If included among UN HDI figures, Taiwan would rank 25th: behind Greece and in front of Singapore. ^* (This has not been independently verified by international bodies.)