The Human Development Index (HDI) was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities.
The HDI a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development:
The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at birth, using a minimum value of 20 years and maximum value of 85 years. The education dimension is measured by mean of years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and expected years of schooling for children of school entering age. The standard of living dimension is measured by gross national income per capita. The scores for the three HDI dimension indices are then aggregated into a composite index using geometric mean.
Source: The United Nations Development Programme: Human Development Reports (2014).
Source: Technical Notes of the Human Development Report 2013
HDI classifications are based on HDI fixed cut-off points, which are derived from the quartiles of distributions of component indicators. The cut-off points are HDI of
Source: Human Development Report 2014
Sources: The United Nations Development Programme and World Bank.
Note 1: Interporlation has been applied to HDI for a smooth display of data.
Note 2: Categorization based on cutting points introduced in the 2013 Human Development Report.
2013 HDI Rank | Country | Population in 1980 | Population in 2013 | HDI 1980 | HDI 2013 | HD Classification 2013 | Position in Classification | Note | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Norway | 4,085,620 | 5,084,190 | 0.793 | 0.944 | Very High | 1 of 49 | Most expensive worldwide | |
2 | Australia | 14,692,000 | 23,130,900 | 0.841 | 0.933 | Very High | 2 of 49 | Oceania | |
3 | Switzerland | 6,319,408 | 8,081,482 | 0.806 | 0.917 | Very High | 3 of 49 | 2nd most expensive | |
5 | USA | 227,225,000 | 316,128,839 | 0.825 | 0.914 | Very High | 5 of 49 | North America | |
8 | Canada | 24,593,000 | 35,158,304 | 0.809 | 0.902 | Very High | 8 of 49 | North America | |
41 | Chile | 11,192,384 | 17,619,708 | 0.640 | 0.822 | Very High | 41 of 49 | Highest Ranked in LA | |
49 | Argentina | 28,120,135 | 41,446,246 | 0.665 | 0.808 | Very High | 49 of 49 | 3d LA country to appear | |
50 | Uruguay | 2,915,735 | 3,407,062 | 0.658 | 0.790 | High | 1 of 53 | Most peaceful LA country | |
57 | Russia | 139,010,000 | 143,499,861 | NA | 0.778 | High | 8 of 53 | BRIC | |
71 | Mexico | 70,353,013 | 122,332,399 | 0.595 | 0.756 | High | 22 of 53 | North America | |
79 | Brazil | 121,740,438 | 200,361,925 | 0.545 | 0.744 | High | 30 of 53 | BRIC | |
91 | China | 981,235,000 | 1,357,380,000 | 0.423 | 0.719 | High | 42 of 43 | Most populated country / BRIC | |
103 | Maldivas | 154,316 | 345,023 | N/A | 0.698 | Medium | 1 of 42 | 200/1,200 inhabited islands | |
135 | India | 698,965,575 | 1,252,139,596 | 0.369 | 0.586 | Medium | 33 of 42 | BRIC | |
145 | Nepal | 14,384,864 | 27,797,457 | 0.286 | 0.540 | Low | 1 of 43 | Mount Everest | |
187 | Niger | 5,834,248 | 17,831,270 | 0.191 | 0.337 | Low | 43 of 43 | Ranked Last in 2013 |
According to income-based measures of poverty, 1.2 billion people live with $1.25 or less a day. However, according to the UNDP Multidimensional Poverty Index, almost 1.5 billion people in 91 developing countries are living in poverty with overlapping deprivations in health, education and living standards. And although poverty is declining overall, almost 800 million people are at risk of falling back into poverty if setbacks occur. Many people face either structural or life-cycle vulnerabilities.
Source: Global Launch of 2014 Human Development Report