This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Report 2007/2008, compiled on the basis of 2005 data and published on November 27, 2007. It covers 175 U.N. member countries (out of 192), along with: Hong Kong (SAR of China) and PA-governed territories. 17 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 2004 survey.
High
Medium
Low
| Rank |
Country |
HDI
in 2005 (published in 2007) |
| 2005 data (published in 2007) |
Change compared to 2004 data (published in 2006) |
| 156 |
▬ (0) |
 Senegal |
▲ 0.499 |
| 157 |
▬ (0) |
 Eritrea |
▲ 0.483 |
| 158 |
▲ (1) |
 Nigeria |
▲ 0.470 |
| 159 |
▲ (3) |
 Tanzania |
▲ 0.467 |
| 160 |
▬ (0) |
 Guinea |
▲ 0.456 |
| 161 |
▼ (3) |
 Rwanda |
▲ 0.452 |
| 162 |
▼ (1) |
 Angola |
▲ 0.446 |
| 163 |
▬ (0) |
 Benin |
▲ 0.437 |
| 164 |
▲ (2) |
 Malawi |
▲ 0.437 |
| 165 |
▬ (0) |
 Zambia |
▲ 0.434 |
| 166 |
▼ (2) |
 Côte d'Ivoire |
▲ 0.432 |
|
|
Not calculated by the UN
List of countries by continents
Americas
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