Human Development Index

World map indicating the Human Development Index (based on 2007 data, published on October 5, 2009)

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

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

The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index used to rank countries by level of "human development", which usually also implies whether a country is developed, developing, or underdeveloped.

Summary

The HDI combines normalized measures of life expectancy, educational attainment, and GDP per capita for countries worldwide. It is claimed as a standard means of measuring human development—a concept that, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), refers to the process of widening the options of persons, giving them greater opportunities for education, health care, income, employment, etc. The HDI attempts to measure a country's development.

The HDI combines three dimensions:

• Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity
• 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).
• Standard of living, as measured by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity.

Methodology

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 = ${\frac {2}{3}}\times ALI+{\frac {1}{3}}\times GEI$
  • Adult Literacy Index (ALI) = ${\frac {ALR-0}{100-0}}$
  • Gross Enrollment Index (GEI) = ${\frac {CGER-0}{100-0}}$
• GDP = ${\frac {\log \left(GDPpc\right)-\log \left(100\right)}{\log \left(40000\right)-\log \left(100\right)}}$

2009 report

Main article: List of countries by Human Development Index

The 2009 report was released on October 5, 2009, and covers the period up to 2007. It was titled "Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development". The top countries by HDI were grouped in a new category called "Very High Human Development". The report refers to these countries as "developed countries". They are:

1. Norway 0.971 ()
2. Australia 0.970 ()
3. Iceland 0.969 ()
4. Canada 0.966 ()
5. Ireland 0.965 ()
6. Netherlands 0.964 ( 1)
7. Sweden 0.963 ( 1)
8. France 0.961 ( 3)
9. Switzerland 0.960 ()
10. Japan 0.960 ()
11. Luxembourg 0.960 ( 3)
12. Finland 0.959 ( 1)
13. United States 0.956 ( 1)

14. Austria 0.955 ( 2)
15. Spain 0.955 ()
16. Denmark 0.955 ( 2)
17. Belgium 0.953 ()
18. Italy 0.951 ( 1)
19. Liechtenstein 0.951 ( 1)
20. New Zealand 0.950 ()
21. United Kingdom 0.947 ()
22. Germany 0.947 ()
23. Singapore 0.944 ( 1)
24. Hong Kong 0.944 ( 1)
25. Greece 0.942 ()
26. South Korea 0.937 ()

27. Israel 0.935 ( 1)
28. Andorra 0.934 ( 1)
29. Slovenia 0.929 ()
30. Brunei 0.920 ()
31. Kuwait 0.916 ()
32. Cyprus 0.914 ()
33. Qatar 0.910 ( 1)
34. Portugal 0.909 ( 1)
35. United Arab Emirates 0.903 ( 2)
36. Czech Republic 0.903 ()
37. Barbados 0.903 ( 2)
38. Malta 0.902 ( 3)

In this report, five countries were promoted from the "medium" category to the "high development" category: Grenada, Peru, Colombia, Turkey, and Lebanon. Furthermore Angola, Lesotho, Uganda and Nigeria left the "low" category and are now in the "medium" group.

Countries not included

The following nations are not ranked in the 2009 Human Development Index, for being unable or unwilling to provide the necessary data at the time of publication.

Africa

• Somalia
• Zimbabwe

Asia

• Iraq
• North Korea

Europe

• Monaco
• San Marino
• Vatican City

Oceania

• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Micronesia
• Nauru
• Palau
• Tuvalu

2008 statistical update

Main article: List of countries by Human Development Index

A new 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 (PPP), implying substantial adjustments for many countries, resulting in changes in HDI values and, in many cases, HDI ranks.

1. Iceland 0.968 ()
2. Norway 0.968 ()
3. Canada 0.967 ( 1)
4. Australia 0.965 ( 1)
5. Ireland 0.960 ()
6. Netherlands 0.958 ( 3)
7. Sweden 0.958 ( 1)
8. Japan 0.956 ()
9. Luxembourg 0.956 ( 9)
10. Switzerland 0.955 ( 3)
11. France 0.955 ( 1)

12. Finland 0.954 ( 1)
13. Denmark 0.952 ( 1)
14. Austria 0.951 ( 1)
15. United States 0.950 ( 3)
16. Spain 0.949 ( 3)
17. Belgium 0.948 ( 1)
18. Greece 0.947 ( 6)
19. Italy 0.945 ( 1)
20. New Zealand 0.944 ( 1)
21. United Kingdom 0.942 ( 4)
22. Hong Kong 0.942 ( 1)

23. Germany 0.940 ( 1)
24. Israel 0.930 ( 1)
25. South Korea 0.928 ( 1)
26. Slovenia 0.923 ( 1)
27. Brunei 0.919 ( 3)
28. Singapore 0.918 ( 3)
29. Kuwait 0.912 ( 4)
30. Cyprus 0.912 ( 2)
31. United Arab Emirates 0.903 ( 8)
32. Bahrain 0.902 ( 9)
33. Portugal 0.900 ( 4)

Countries not included

The following nations are not ranked in the 2008 Human Development Index, for being unable or unwilling to provide the necessary data at the time of publication.

Africa

• Somalia
• Zimbabwe

Europe

• Andorra
• Liechtenstein
• Monaco
• San Marino
• Vatican City

Oceania

• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Micronesia
• Nauru
• Palau
• Tuvalu

2007/2008 report

The report for 2007/2008 was launched in Brasilia, Brazil, on November 27, 2007. Its focus was on "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world." 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, especially 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.

1. Iceland 0.968 ( 1)
2. Norway 0.968 ( 1)
3. Australia 0.962 ()
4. Canada 0.961 ( 2)
5. Ireland 0.959 ( 1)
6. Sweden 0.956 ( 1)
7. Switzerland 0.955 ( 2)
8. Japan 0.953 ( 1)
9. Netherlands 0.953 ( 1)
10. France 0.952 ( 6)

11. Finland 0.952 ()
12. United States 0.951 ( 4)
13. Spain 0.949 ( 6)
14. Denmark 0.949 ( 1)
15. Austria 0.948 ( 1)
16. Belgium 0.946 ( 4)
17. United Kingdom 0.946 ( 1)
18. Luxembourg 0.944 ( 6)
19. New Zealand 0.943 ( 1)
20. Italy 0.941 ( 3)

21. Hong Kong 0.937 ( 1)
22. Germany 0.935 ( 1)
23. Israel 0.932 ()
24. Greece 0.926 ()
25. Singapore 0.922 ()
26. South Korea 0.921 ()
27. Slovenia 0.917 ()
28. Cyprus 0.903 ( 1)
29. Portugal 0.897 ( 1)
30. Brunei 0.894 ( 4)

Past top countries

The list below displays the top-ranked country from each year of the index. Canada has been ranked the highest eight times, followed by Norway at seven times. Japan has been ranked highest three times and Iceland twice.

In each original report

The year represents when the report was published. In parentheses the year for which the index was calculated.

2009 (2007)–Norway 2008 (2006)–Iceland 2007 (2005)–Iceland 2006 (2004)–Norway 2005 (2003)–Norway 2004 (2002)–Norway 2003 (2001)–Norway

2002 (2000)–Norway 2001 (1999)–Norway 2000 (1998)–Canada 1999 (1997)–Canada 1998 (1995)–Canada 1997 (1994)–Canada 1996 (1993)–Canada

1995 (1992)–Canada 1994 (????)–Canada 1993 (????)–Japan 1992 (1990)–Canada 1991 (1990)–Japan 1990 (????)–Japan

2009 revision

The 2009 Report calculated HDIs for past years using a consistent methodology and data series. They are not strictly comparable with those in earlier Human Development Reports. The index was calculated using data pertaining to the year shown.

2007–Norway 2006–Norway 2005–Norway 2000–Norway

1995–Norway 1990–Canada 1985–Canada 1980–Norway

Criticisms

The Human Development Index has been criticized on a number of grounds, including failure to include any ecological considerations, focusing exclusively on national performance and ranking, and not paying much attention to development from a global perspective. Two authors claimed that the human development reports "have lost touch with their original vision and the index fails to capture the essence of the world it seeks to portray". The index has also been criticized as "redundant" and a "reinvention of the wheel", measuring aspects of development that have already been exhaustively studied. The index has further been criticized for having an inappropriate treatment of income, lacking year-to-year comparability, and assessing development differently in different groups of countries.

Some authors have proposed alternative indices to address some of the index's shortcomings.

Economist Bryan Caplan has criticized the way scores in each of the three components are bounded between zero and one, so rich countries effectively cannot improve their ranking in certain categories, even though there is a lot of scope for economic growth and longevity left, "This effectively means that a country of immortals with infinite per-capita GDP would get a score of .666 (lower than South Africa and Tajikistan) if its population were illiterate and never went to school." Scandinavian countries consistently come out top on the list," he argues, "because the HDI is basically a measure of how Scandinavian your country is."

The HDI has been criticized as a redundant measure that adds little to the value of the individual measures composing it; as a means to provide legitimacy to arbitrary weightings of a few aspects of social development; as a number producing a relative ranking which is useless for inter-temporal comparisons, and difficult to compare a country's progress or regression because the HDI for a country in a given year depends on the levels of, say, life expectancy or GDP per capita of other countries in that year. However, each year, UN member states are listed and ranked according to the computed HDI. If high, the rank in the list can be easily used as a means of national aggrandizement; alternatively, if low, it can be used to highlight national insufficiencies. Using the HDI as an absolute index of social welfare, some authors have used panel HDI data to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.

Ratan Lal Basu criticizes the HDI concept from a completely different angle. According to him the Amartya Sen-Mahbub ul Haq concept of HDI considers that provision of material amenities alone would bring about Human Development, but Basu opines that Human Development in the true sense should embrace both material and moral development. To quote: ‘So human development effort should not end up in amelioration of material deprivations alone: it must undertake to bring about spiritual and moral development to assist the biped to become truly human.’

See also

• Managing for development results
• Globalization and Health
• List of countries by Human Development Index
• List of U.S. states by Human Development Index
• List of Chinese administrative divisions by HDI
• Education Index
• Democracy Index
• Freedom House
• Legatum Prosperity Index
• Gini coefficient
• Gender Parity Index
• Gender-related Development Index
• Gender Empowerment Measure
• Living Planet Index
• Gross national happiness
• Happy Planet Index
• Physical quality-of-life index
• Human development (humanity)
• Globalization and Health
• American Human Development Report
• Child Development Index

External links

• Human Development Report
• Human Development Report Office
• Human Development Index - Updated Country Rankings (Dec. 2008)
• Template:PDFlink
• List of countries by HDI at NationMaster.com
• Human Development Map
• America Is # ... 15? by Dalton Conley, The Nation, March 4 2009