human development index

A Brief Introduction

About the Human Development Index

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

Human Development Classifications

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

Countries Development Over Time With Territories Proportional To China's Population In 2013

Year Visualized 1980
Category of Human Development

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.

Index And Population Variations In Some Countries

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

Key messages of the 2014 Human Development Report

Source: Human Development Report 2014

References