Every year UNDP publishes the Human Development Report which is considered to be a significant and reliable economic and social reference in the world.
Each country’s HDI is calculated based on the states’ life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling and its per capita gross national income (GNI).
According to the report analysis most developing countries made dramatic yet often underestimated progress in health, education and basic living standards in recent decades, with many of the poorest countries posting the greatest gains, revealing a detailed new analysis of long-term HDI trends in the 2010 Human Development Report.
Yet patterns of achievement vary greatly, with some countries losing ground since 1970, the 2010 Human Development Report shows.
By introducing three new indices, the 20th anniversary edition of the report documents wide inequalities within and among countries, deep disparities between women and men on a wide range of development indicators and the prevalence of extreme multidimensional poverty in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Norway, Australia and New Zealand ranked highest respectively, while Afghanistan along with many African countries had the lowest ranking.
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