Inference

Human Development Index

I was fascinated when i first came across this terminology, it is a ratio of several qualitative aspects which are quantified. It really is amazing how these parameters are converted into a number which is very useful to relate.

Below is the pictorial definition provided on the UN Website http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi

The index ranges from 0 to 1 with 1 being the highest. One would get easily get confused and expect countries with a high GDP to have a high HDI but data proves otherwise. Top 10 countries mostly are from Europe and quiet surprisingly even 2 Asian countries made it at top. Below is the latest HDI data on the UN website.

Country	Continent	H.D.I	Rank
Norway	Europe	0.953	1
Switzerland	Europe	0.944	2
Australia	Oceania	0.939	3
Ireland	Europe	0.938	4
Germany	Europe	0.936	5
Iceland	Europe	0.935	6
HongKong,China(SAR)	Asia	0.933	7
Sweden	Europe	0.933	7
Singapore	Asia	0.932	9
Netherlands	Europe	0.931	10

Now lets dice in slightly more. We have data from 1995-2017- 22 years which is more than sufficient to chalk out some inferences.

Continent	1995	2017	%	Average	Rank	#Countries
Europe	0.75	0.86	14%	0.81	1	47
North America	0.65	0.75	15%	0.71	2	20
Oceania	0.69	0.72	5%	0.70	3	11
South America	0.65	0.75	16%	0.70	3	15
Asia	0.61	0.72	18%	0.67	5	42
Africa	0.43	0.54	26%	0.49	6	54

We see that there is an increase in H.D.I values from 1995 to 2017 for all regions. However there is an observable pattern, regions with lowest values seems to be growing at a higher rate. From bottom up the values are low but certainly the growth is higher. Growth here in this case also happens to be a function of countries in a particular region for instance Oceania has only 11 countries and hence we see only 5% growth but South America which is close with 15 countries seems to be doing a lot better with 16% growth.

There are countries which have made a significant improvement in their economy, lifestyle, education, life expectancy and health care. It is a very good sign to see them growing especially all of them being African countries it is worth an applaud from where they have picked up and risen. There is huge potential for growth and they for sure will be looking still better in next two decades.

Country	1995	2017	% Growth
Rwanda	0.234	0.524	124%
Mozambique	0.229	0.437	91%
Mali	0.262	0.427	63%
Uganda	0.321	0.516	61%
Guinea	0.295	0.459	56%

While there are a couple of countries from the pool which did not make any improvements .Libya is still better off without any improvement but still maintaining a good H.D.I value but conflicts and terrorism has made Syria lose on human index values which greatly defines people trying to flee this country and seeking refuge in better regions.

Country	1995	2017	%
Libya	0.704	0.706	0%
Syrian Arab Republic	0.579	0.536	-7%

Inference- A quantifiable number can let people know which country is best to live and which country is to be improved upon. In this case we see until 2017 if you live in Norway you are leading the best lives compared to rest of the world while not so likely with Syria.