Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Norway ranks 1st in UN’s development index

In the latest Human Development Index (HDI) compiled by the United Nations, Norway came out on top as the best place to stay today.

HDI is an index used to rank countries by level of “human development”, which usually also implies whether a country is developed, developing , or underdeveloped. Needless to say, it is an index also where one sees the grave disparities between rich and poor countries.

The development index is a compilation of 182 countries ranked by the UN Development Program (UNDP) on standards based life expectancy, literacy, education and gross domestic product (GDP) per person.

Australia and Iceland completed the first three spots. Niger, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic were all found at the bottom of the list.

It was China that was seen to have made a significant stride in improving the welfare of its citizens as it moved up as the 92nd most developed country due to an improved income levels, life expectancy and educational standard.

France which was not included in the top 10 last year made a come back this year to rank 8th.  The United States placed 13th, slipping one spot down from last year.

This year’s index is said to have been based on data from 2007 and does not consider the impact of the global economic crisis.

The UN development index showed the top 10 countries as follows: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.

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