New Human Development Index measuring standard of living around the world!

[Strongbow]

The UNDP has released the new Human Development Index for 2007/2008 measuring standard of living in the world and ranking the countries with the highest to the lowest standard of living.

Here are the results for this year:


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




This year, Iceland removes Norway from the #1 spot, which Norway has held onto for at least the past 6 years. The United States has gone down four places, from #8 last year to #12 this year. Ireland went down one spot from #4 to #5. China went up three spots from #84 to #81. Brazil and Russia slipped a few spots. Falling in the rankings does not necessarily mean a decrease in standard of living for that particular country, nor does holding the same rank or increasing slightly mean an increase in the actual standard of living for the specific country. Many of the decreases in the actual rank come as a result of greater increases in standards of living in other countries. For example, while Portugal has not slipped in its ranking, its rating of 0.897 now, is less than it was in 2000 when it was at 0.904. While the United States is ranked 12 this year compared to 9th in 2000, its rating of 0.951 this year is higher than it was in 2000 when it was at 0.942.

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

 

[U2democrat]

Fascinating.

 

[phillyfan26]

Also, countries not included in the list:

Afghanistan
Andorra
Iraq
Kiribati
Korea, Dem. Rep. of
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Marshall Islands
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.
Monaco
Nauru
Palau
San Marino
Somalia
Tuvalu

 

[Caroni]

Venezuela 74

 

[Axver]

Wow, Australia's #3. That's pretty cool.

Considering how similar Australia and New Zealand are though, I'm surprised New Zealand's down at #19. Clearly living in Australia isn't all bad for me right now.

 

[Strongbow]

Also, countries not included in the list:

Afghanistan
Andorra
Iraq
Kiribati
Korea, Dem. Rep. of
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Marshall Islands
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.
Monaco
Nauru
Palau
San Marino
Somalia
Tuvalu

The reason some countries are not included in the list is because there is not enough data available for them in order to make an accurate estimate. The first year the report was done, was in 1990, but the UNDP has provided estimates for 1975, 1980, and 1985. I don't think Afghanistan has ever appeared on the list.

 

[Strongbow]

Wow, Australia's #3. That's pretty cool.

Considering how similar Australia and New Zealand are though, I'm surprised New Zealand's down at #19. Clearly living in Australia isn't all bad for me right now.

Australia was at #3 last year as well. Very impressive, but their unlikely to ever shake Norway or Iceland out of that top spot. Norway is sitting on a nice stash of oil relative to the size of its population. Iceland has only 300,000 people and spends nothing on defense.

 

[ntalwar]

Sicko had an interesting deleted scene on Norway. Among the health benefits is a two-week spa vacation. Having oil wealth helps.

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/19529...ne-from-sicko-because-no-one-would-believe-it

 

[Strongbow]

Sicko had an interesting deleted scene on Norway. Among the health benefits is a two-week spa vacation. Having oil wealth helps.

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/19529...ne-from-sicko-because-no-one-would-believe-it

The average work week in Norway is 25 hours?!?!

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Wow, Australia's #3. That's pretty cool.

Considering how similar Australia and New Zealand are though, I'm surprised New Zealand's down at #19. Clearly living in Australia isn't all bad for me right now.

And don't you forget it!!!!

 

[martha]

The average work week in Norway is 25 hours?!?!

Yeah, but those are some dark-ass hours in winter.

 

[anitram]

I have a friend in Norway. He told me that their student minimum wage was something like $20/hr.

 

[Strongbow]

Yeah, but those are some dark-ass hours in winter.

True, sunrise today in Oslo will be 9:09 AM, sunset will be at 3:08 PM. Just under 6 hours of sunlight and were still 10 days out from the winter solstice.

Then again, Reykjavik, Iceland has the following to deal with today, Sunrise 11:09 AM, Sunset 3:33 PM.

 

[BVS]

So why did you change your name?

 

[Strongbow]

So why did you change your name?

I had trouble accessing the old acount. Have you ever had the cider Strongbow before? I'm sure your aware of Strongbow from Irish history. He happens to be one of W's ancestors, and a lot of other people as well.

 

[BVS]

Never had the cider, but yeah I know the name. Welcome back.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I have a lot of Norwegian friends. They have it pretty good up there. From what I recall one of my male friends got a good amount of paid paternal leave when his wife had their children. She had I think at least a year of paid maternity leave and her job garunteed to be waiting for her when she came back. Not to mention daycare. Talk about family values.

Looks like Mali hasn't moved on the list. It was 5th from the bottom when I lived there and still is. I'm a little surprised that Burkina Faso ranks below Mali. For some reason, when I visited it seemed to be a little ahead of Mali in terms of development. But I guess it's all relative.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Very interesting.

 

[UberBeaver]

Also, countries not included in the list:

Afghanistan
Andorra
Iraq
Kiribati
Korea, Dem. Rep. of
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Marshall Islands
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.
Monaco
Nauru
Palau
San Marino
Somalia
Tuvalu

Also missing - Philadelphia.


LOL PWNED!



And since the US can totally take out countries 1-11, we are technically #1. Sorry Norway! We win, AGAIN!

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Honduras #115.

Can´t believe we were beat by Nicaragua, though.