This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in a United Nations Development Program's Human Development Statistical Update released on December 18, 2008, compiled on the basis of data from 2006. It covers 180 U.N. member countries (out of 192), along with: Hong Kong (SAR of China) and PA-governed territories. Fifteen U.N. member countries are not included due to lack of data. The average HDI of regions of the World and groups of countries are also included for comparison. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, a developing or an under-developed country, and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Indian economist Amartya Sen.[1]
Countries fall into three broad categories based on their HDI: high, medium and low human development.
Complete list of countries
- ▲ = increase.
- ▬ = steady.
- ▼ = decrease.
- Similar HDI values in the current list do not lead to ranking ties, since the HDI rank is actually determined using HDI values to the sixth decimal point.
- The number in brackets represents the number of ranks the country has climbed (up or down) since the 2005 survey.
Note: This revision of the 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.[2]
High
Medium
Low
| Rank |
Country |
HDI
in 2006 (published in 2008) |
| 2006 data (published in 2008) |
Change compared to 2005 data (published in 2007) |
| 155 |
▲ (4) |
 Nigeria |
▲ 0.499 |
| 156 |
▼ (17) |
 Lesotho |
▼ 0.496 |
| 157 |
▼ (2) |
 Uganda |
▼ 0.493 |
| 158 |
▲ (5) |
 Angola |
▲ 0.484 |
| 159 |
▼ (8) |
 Timor-Leste |
▼ 0.483 |
| 160 |
▼ (7) |
 Togo |
▼ 0.479 |
| 161 |
▼ (5) |
 Gambia |
▼ 0.471 |
| 162 |
▲ (2) |
 Benin |
▲ 0.459 |
| 163 |
▲ (2) |
 Malawi |
▲ 0.457 |
| 164 |
▲ (2) |
 Zambia |
▲ 0.453 |
| 165 |
▼ (7) |
 Eritrea |
▼ 0.442 |
| 166 |
▼ (4) |
 Rwanda |
▼ 0.435 |
| 167 |
▬ (0) |
 Côte d'Ivoire |
▼ 0.431 |
|
|
List of countries by continents
Africa
|
10 highest HDIs
|
10 lowest HDIs
|
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