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

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

The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of life expectancy, literacy, educational attainment, and GDP per capita for countries worldwide. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, Educational attainment is a term commonly used by statisticans to refer to the highest degree of education an individual has completed 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. In the scope of Humanity, human development is an international and economic development paradigm The basic use of HDI is however to rank countries by level of "human development" which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country. The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed Economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties

     High income      Upper-middle income      Lower-middle income      Low income

The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Sir Richard Jolly, with help from Gustav Ranis of Yale University and Lord Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics. Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Mahbub ul Haq ( February 22, 1934 - July 16, 1998) born in the Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, was an influential Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai Baron Desai (born 10 July 1940) is a British economist writer and Labour politician The London School of Economics and Political Science, more commonly referred to as The London School of Economics or LSE, is a specialist college of the It has been used since then by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report. The Human Development Report (HDR is an annual milestone publication by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP It is claimed that ideas of Indian Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen were influential in the development of the HDI. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Amartya Kumar Sen CH (Hon (অমর্ত্য কুমার সেন Ômorto Kumar Shen) (born 3 November 1933) is an Indian Sen described it however as a "vulgar measure", because of its limitations, though accepting that it nonetheless focuses attention on wider aspects of development than the per capita income measure it supplanted. Nowadays the HDI is a pathway for researchers into the wide variety of more detailed measures contained in the Human Development Reports.

The HDI combines three basic dimensions:

• Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age
• 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). traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, The gross enrolment ratio ( GER) or gross enrolment index ( GEI) is a statistical measure used in the Education sector and by the
• The standard of living, as measured by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) in USD. The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been

From the time it was created, 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; and as a number producing a relative ranking which is useless for inter-temporal comparisons, and difficult to interpret 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. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} Each year, however, UN member states are listed and ranked according to the computed HDI. This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in the United Nations Development Program 's Human Development Report 2007 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. Quality of life is the degree of well-being felt by an individual or group of people ^[5]

An alternative measure, focusing on the amount of poverty in a country, is the Human Poverty Index. The Human Poverty Index is an indication of the Standard of living in a country developed by the United Nations (UN

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 =

where and are the lowest and highest values the variable x can attain, respectively. Central Europe is the Region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries A variable (ˈvɛərɪəbl is an Attribute of a physical or an abstract System which may change its Value while it is under Observation. This article is about index in an economics and finance sense In Mathematics and in the Sciences a formula (plural formulae, formulæ or formulas) is a concise way of expressing information In Mathematics, maxima and minima, known collectively as extrema, are the largest value (maximum or smallest value (minimum that

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

• Life Expectancy Index =
• Education Index =
  • Adult Literacy Index (ALI) =
  • Gross Enrollment Index (EI) =
• GDP Index =

LE: Life expectancy at birth
ALR: Adult literacy rate (ages 15 and older)
CGER: Combined gross enrollment 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). The gross enrolment ratio ( GER) or gross enrolment index ( GEI) is a statistical measure used in the Education sector and by the The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power.

Examples

Calculation examples of the indices.

Index	Measure	Minimum value	Maximum value	Formula
Longevity	Life expectancy at birth (LE)	25 yrs	85 yrs
Education	Literacy rate (LR)	0%	100%
	Combined gross enrollment ratio (CGER)	0%	100%
GDP	GDP per capita (PPP)	100 USD	40,000 USD

2007 report

Main article: List of countries by Human Development Index

The report for 2007 was launched in Brasilia, Brazil, on November 27, 2007. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age A year (from Old English gēr) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the Orbit of the Earth around the Sun A year (from Old English gēr) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the Orbit of the Earth around the Sun The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in the United Nations Development Program 's Human Development Report 2007 Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Brasília (bɾaˈziliɐ is the Capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country along a Plateau |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Events 1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. 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. This article lists the member states of the United Nations (UN.

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. Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties Least Developed Countries ( LDCs or Fourth World countries are Countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest This marked improvement at the bottom was offset with a decrease in HDI of high income countries. A High income country is defined by the World Bank as a country with a Gross National Income per capita of $11116 or more

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. Gabon (gəˈbɒn or /gaˈbõ/ in French) is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa 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. The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed Economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) Seven countries were promoted to this category this year, leaving the "medium development" group: Albania, Belarus, Brazil, Libya, Republic of Macedonia, Russia and Saudi Arabia. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab The Republic of Macedonia (Република Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi

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.

Countries not included

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. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

Past top countries

The number one ranked country in each year of the index. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra ( Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small Landlocked country in western The Principality of Liechtenstein (Fürstentum Liechtenstein) is a tiny doubly landlocked Alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland For other uses see Monaco (disambiguation Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco ( French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque Montenegro ( British English) Montenegrin / Serbian: PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE LANGUAGES WITHOUT CONSENSUS ON THE TALK PAGE! The Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino is a country in the Apennine Mountains. Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Kiribati or ( kirr-i-bas or KEE-ree-buhss ˈkiɾibas in Gilbertese) officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an Island nation located in The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI is a Micronesian nation of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean The Federated States of Micronesia is an Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, north of Papua New Guinea. Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, is an Island nation in the Micronesian South Pacific. Palau, officially the Republic of Palau (Beluu er a Belau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800  km) east Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and Canada has been the highest ranked country ten times, followed by Norway, which stayed at the top six times. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Japan has been ranked highest twice and Switzerland and Iceland once. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland (

References

See also

• Democracy Index
• Freedom House
• Gini coefficient
• Gender-related Development Index
• Gender Empowerment Measure
• Living Planet Index
• Gross national happiness
• Happy Planet Index
• Physical quality-of-life index
• Human development (humanity)
• World development

External links

• Human Development Report Office
• Human Development Report 2007/2008 - summaryPDF
• Human Development Report 2007/2008 - completePDF (12. The Economist has in a study examined the state of Democracy in 167 countries and attempted to quantify this with an Economist Intelligence Unit Index of Democracy Freedom House is a United States -based international Non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on Democracy, political The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth The Gender-related Development Index (GDI is an indication of the Standard of living in a country developed by the United Nations (UN The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM is a measure of inequalities between men's and women's opportunities in a country The Living Planet Index (LPI is an indicator of the state of global biological diversity based on trends in Vertebrate populations of species from around the world Gross National Happiness (GNH is an attempt to define Quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product. The Happy Planet Index (HPI is an Index of human well-being and environmental impact introduced by the New Economics Foundation (NEF in July 2006 The physical quality-of-life index (PQLI is an attempt to measure the Quality of life or well-being of a country In the scope of Humanity, human development is an international and economic development paradigm 01 MiB)
• Technical note explaining the definition of the HDIPDF (5. A mebibyte (a contraction of me ga bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, abbreviated MiB. 54 MiB)
• List of countries by HDI at NationMaster.com
• Human Development Map