25Jul2014

Entitled Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience, the new UNDP 2014 Human Development Report provides a fresh perspective on vulnerability and proposes ways to strengthen resilience. Persistent vulnerability threatens human development. And unless it is systematically tackled by policies and social norms, progress will be neither equitable nor sustainable.

Levels in human development continues to rise – yet the pace has slowed for all regions and progress has been highly uneven. The lower human development groups appear to be improving at a higher rate – grounds for optimism that the gap between higher and lower human development groups is narrowing.

In the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific region, and Latin America and the Caribbean, average annual growth rate in HDI dropped by about half over 2008–2013 compared to 2000–2008. Threats such as financial crises, fluctuations in food prices, natural disasters and violent conflict significantly impede progress.

Overall inequality has declined slightly in most regions, as measured by the Inequality-Adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). This has been driven mainly by improvements in health in recent years. However high disparities in education persist. The Report shows that older generations continue to struggle with illiteracy, while younger ones are having difficulty making the leap from primary to secondary schooling. The highest levels of education inequality are found in South Asia, the Arab states and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Report calls for stronger collective action, as well as better global coordination and commitment to shoring up resilience, in response to vulnerabilities that are increasingly global in origin and impact. To increase support for national programmes and open up policy space for nations to adapt universalism to specific country conditions, the Report calls for “an international consensus on universal social protection” to be included in the Post-2015 agenda.

2014 Human Development Index (HDI)

Very high human development	High human development	Medium human development	Low human development
1 Norway	50 Uruguay	103 Maldives	145 Nepal
2 Australia	51 Bahamas	103 Mongolia	146 Pakistan
3 Switzerland	51 Montenegro	103 Turkmenistan	147 Kenya
4 Netherlands	53 Belarus	106 Samoa	148 Swaziland
5 United States	54 Romania	107 Palestine, State of	149 Angola
6 Germany	55 Libya	108 Indonesia	150 Myanmar
7 New Zealand	56 Oman	109 Botswana	151 Rwanda
8 Canada	57 Russian Federation	110 Egypt	152 Cameroon
9 Singapore	58 Bulgaria	111 Paraguay	152 Nigeria
10 Denmark	59 Barbados	112 Gabon	154 Yemen
11 Ireland	60 Palau	113 Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	155 Madagascar
12 Sweden	61 Antigua and Barbuda	114 Moldova (Republic of)	156 Zimbabwe
13 Iceland	62 Malaysia	115 El Salvador	157 Papua New Guinea
14 United Kingdom	63 Mauritius	116 Uzbekistan	157 Solomon Islands
15 Hong Kong, China (SAR)	64 Trinidad and Tobago	117 Philippines	159 Comoros
15 Korea (Republic of)	65 Lebanon	118 South Africa	159 Tanzania (United Republic of)
17 Japan	65 Panama	118 Syrian Arab Republic	161 Mauritania
18 Liechtenstein	67 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	120 Iraq	162 Lesotho
19 Israel	68 Costa Rica	121 Guyana	163 Senegal
20 France	69 Turkey	121 Viet Nam	164 Uganda
21 Austria	70 Kazakhstan	123 Cape Verde	165 Benin
21 Belgium	71 Mexico	124 Micronesia (Federated States of)	166 Sudan
21 Luxembourg	71 Seychelles	125 Guatemala	166 Togo
24 Finland	73 Saint Kitts and Nevis	125 Kyrgyzstan	168 Haiti
25 Slovenia	73 Sri Lanka	127 Namibia	169 Afghanistan
26 Italy	75 Iran (Islamic Republic of)	128 Timor-Leste	170 Djibouti
27 Spain	76 Azerbaijan	129 Honduras	171 Côte d'Ivoire
28 Czech Republic	77 Jordan	129 Morocco	172 Gambia
29 Greece	77 Serbia	131 Vanuatu	173 Ethiopia
30 Brunei Darussalam	79 Brazil	132 Nicaragua	174 Malawi
31 Qatar	79 Georgia	133 Kiribati	175 Liberia
32 Cyprus	79 Grenada	133 Tajikistan	176 Mali
33 Estonia	82 Peru	135 India	177 Guinea-Bissau
34 Saudi Arabia	83 Ukraine	136 Bhutan	178 Mozambique
35 Lithuania	84 Belize	136 Cambodia	179 Guinea
35 Poland	84 The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	138 Ghana	180 Burundi
37 Andorra	86 Bosnia and Herzegovina	139 Lao People's Democratic Republic	181 Burkina Faso
37 Slovakia	87 Armenia	140 Congo	182 Eritrea
39 Malta	88 Fiji	141 Zambia	183 Sierra Leone
40 United Arab Emirates	89 Thailand	142 Bangladesh	184 Chad
41 Chile	90 Tunisia	142 Sao Tome and Principe	185 Central African Republic
41 Portugal	91 China	144 Equatorial Guinea	186 Congo (Democratic Republic of the)
43 Hungary	91 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		187 Niger
44 Bahrain	93 Algeria
44 Cuba	93 Dominica
46 Kuwait	95 Albania
47 Croatia	96 Jamaica
48 Latvia	97 Saint Lucia
49 Argentina	98 Colombia
	98 Ecuador
	100 Suriname
	100 Tonga
	102 Dominican Republic