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. Countries fall into four broad categories based on their HDI: very high, high, medium, and low human development. Currently, no Oceanian country falls into the low human development category while Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen are the only Asian countries which fall into this category.

The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq[1] and Indian economist Amartya Sen.[2]

List

World countries by Human Development Index (2021)
  0.900 to 0.950
  0.850 to 0.899
  0.800 to 0.849
  0.750 to 0.799
  0.700 to 0.749
  0.650 to 0.699
  0.600 to 0.649
  0.550 to 0.599
  0.500 to 0.549
  0.450 to 0.499
  Data unavailable

The table below presents the latest Human Development Index (HDI)[3] for countries in Asia and the Pacific as included in a Development report of united nations development programme released on 8 September 2022 and based on data collected in 2021.[4]

Countries with contiguous boundaries that are partially (but not entirely) located in Asia are shown here in italics, but HDI figures are given for the whole country. Macau, North Korea, and Taiwan in Asia, as well as Nauru and Tuvalu in Oceania are not ranked as they are not included in the latest report by the United Nations Development Programme.

List of countries in Asia and Oceania by Human Development Index
Rank Nation Human Development
Index (HDI)
Region World HDI
value
(2021) 		Change in
HDI value
2020-21
Very High Human Development
1 4  Hong Kong, China (SAR)[note 1] 0.952 Increase 0.003
2 5  Australia 0.951 Increase 0.004
3 12  Singapore 0.939 Steady
4 13  New Zealand 0.937 Increase 0.001
5 19  Japan 0.925 Increase 0.002
5 19  South Korea 0.925 Increase 0.003
7 22  Israel 0.919 Increase 0.002
8 26  United Arab Emirates 0.911 Decrease 0.001
9 29  Cyprus[note 2] 0.896 Increase 0.002
10 35  Saudi Arabia 0.875 Increase 0.005
10 35  Bahrain 0.875 Decrease 0.002
12 42  Qatar 0.855 Increase 0.001
13 48  Turkey[note 3] 0.838 Increase 0.005
14 50  Kuwait 0.831 Increase 0.009
15 51  Brunei 0.829 Decrease 0.001
16 52  Russia[note 4] 0.822 Decrease 0.008
17 54  Oman 0.816 Decrease 0.011
18 56  Kazakhstan[note 5] 0.811 Decrease 0.003
19 62  Malaysia 0.803 Decrease 0.003
20 63  Georgia[note 6] 0.802 Steady
21 66  Thailand 0.800 Decrease 0.002
High Human Development
22 73  Sri Lanka 0.782 Increase 0.002
23 76  Iran 0.774 Decrease 0.003
24 79  China[note 7] 0.768 Increase 0.004
25 80  Palau 0.767 Decrease 0.006
26 85  Armenia[note 8] 0.759 Increase 0.002
27 90  Maldives 0.747 Increase 0.013
28 91  Azerbaijan[note 9] 0.745 Increase 0.015
28 91  Turkmenistan 0.745 Increase 0.004
30 91  Tonga 0.745 Steady
31 96  Mongolia 0.739 Decrease 0.006
32 97  Egypt[note 10] 0.731 Decrease 0.003
33 99  Fiji 0.730 Decrease 0.007
34 101  Uzbekistan 0.727 Increase 0.006
35 102  Jordan 0.720 Decrease 0.003
36 106  Palestine 0.715 Decrease 0.001
37 111  Samoa 0.707 Decrease 0.005
38 112  Lebanon 0.706 Decrease 0.020
39 114  Indonesia[note 11] 0.705 Decrease 0.004
40 115  Vietnam 0.703 Decrease 0.007
Medium Human Development
41 116  Philippines 0.699 Decrease 0.011
42 118  Kyrgyzstan 0.692 Increase 0.003
42 121  Iraq 0.686 Increase 0.007
44 122  Tajikistan 0.685 Increase 0.021
45 127  Bhutan 0.666 Decrease 0.002
46 129  Bangladesh 0.661 Increase 0.006
47 132  India 0.633 Decrease 0.009
48 131  Marshall Islands 0.639 Steady
49 134  Micronesia 0.628 Decrease 0.001
50 136  Kiribati 0.624 Increase 0.001
51 140  Laos 0.607 Decrease 0.001
51 140  East Timor 0.607 Decrease 0.007
51 140  Vanuatu 0.607 Decrease 0.001
54 143    Nepal 0.602 Decrease 0.002
55 146  Cambodia 0.593 Decrease 0.003
56 149  Myanmar 0.585 Decrease 0.015
57 150  Syria 0.577 Steady
58 155  Solomon Islands 0.564 Decrease 0.001
59 156  Papua New Guinea 0.558 Decrease 0.002
Low Human Development
60 161  Pakistan 0.544 Increase 0.001
61 180  Afghanistan 0.478 Decrease 0.005
62 183  Yemen 0.455 Decrease 0.005

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China.
  2. ^ Cyprus is geographically a part of Western Asia (or the Middle East), though politically and culturally it is often considered as being a part of Europe.
  3. ^ A portion of Turkey, known as East Thrace, is a part of Europe, making up about 3% of the country's land area and 14% of its population.
  4. ^ Russia is geographically a transcontinental country, though culturally and politically it is often considered as being a part of Europe. Asian Russia consists of over 75% of the country's territory, but only 22% of its population.
  5. ^ Two regions of Kazakhstan, namely Atyrau and West Kazakhstan, are partly located in Europe.
  6. ^ The municipality of Kazbegi is located in Europe, which makes up about 0.1% of Georgia's population.
  7. ^ Data for China are calculated for mainland China only, excluding Taiwan and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.
  8. ^ Armenia is geographically a part of Western Asia (or the Middle East), though culturally and politically it is often considered as being a part of Europe.
  9. ^ The districts of Khachmaz, Quba, Qusar, Shabran, and Siazan are geographically in Europe, placing about 5% of Azerbaijan's population in Europe.
  10. ^ The portion of Egypt located in Asia is the Sinai Region, comprising about 6% of the country's landmass. However, the country is politically a part of Africa.
  11. ^ The Aru Islands and Western New Guinea are geographically in Oceania, comprising approx. 22% of Indonesia's landmass and 2% of its population. However, the country is politically a part of Asia.

References

  1. ^ "History of the Human Development Report". United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  2. ^ "The Human Development concept". UNDP. 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Table 1: Human Development Index and its components".
  4. ^ "Human Development Report 2020" (PDF). Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
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