Which Country Tops the 2019 Human Development Report Ranking by UNDP?

[Monique]

The UNDP has made a new ranking: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

Norway is still the best country to live in.

Top ten:

• Norway
• Australia
• Iceland
• Canada
• Ireland
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• France
• Switzerland
• Japan

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Isn't Norway pretty cold?

 

[Monique]

And dark for most of the year I was surprised that Japan is so high on the list, from what I've heard life can be pretty tough there where there is a lot of pressure to work hard and be successful (with high suicide rates as the result). They might be technologically very advanced, but what kind of effect does that have on the personal level of people living there?

 

[arildno]

Isn't Norway pretty cold?

So?

I LIKE that icicles form in my nose, it has such a ticklish feel to it.

Besides, cigarettes taste SO much better in -20C, they light up the environment, too, in a fairy-talish way.

 

[arildno]

As for Iceland, the numbers being used is pre-financial crisis; now, the entire country is bankrupt.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

And dark for most of the year I was surprised that Japan is so high on the list, from what I've heard life can be pretty tough there where there is a lot of pressure to work hard and be successful (with high suicide rates as the result). They might be technologically very advanced, but what kind of effect does that have on the personal level of people living there?

Very low birth rates have been shrinking the population. Apparently over 20% of their population are retirement age or older. Due to the stressing of family values most japanese will not have children they can not take care of and will often have only one child, the better to give the child the best life. Also many of the elderly are probably being taken care of by their families and many people over 65 may still be working.

They also have very low immigration and very strict citizenship requirements, so much so that there are people living there who were born there and speak only japanese but are not citizens. Many of the poor, mostly being foreign guest workers, are probably not counted in those statistics.

 

[Blenton]

Australia 2nd? It may be a good country, but for second.. other countries must be complete garbage.

 

[WhoWee]

Australia 2nd? It may be a good country, but for second.. other countries must be complete garbage.

I had the same reaction to Australia - what are the criteria?

 

[Evo]

The criteria looks like more tree-hugging than real statistics.

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

Thanks to cyrus for the video on tree hugging.

 

[WhoWee]

The criteria looks like more tree-hugging than real statistics.

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

Thanks to cyrus for the video on tree hugging.

The video made ME cry - thanks Cyrus.

 

[Evo]

The video made ME cry - thanks Cyrus.

People might want to turn the volume down before the screaming starts.

The woman that sounds like Minnie Mouse "bring me to this rock that has the most incredible life". Uhm, ok.

 

[russ_watters]

The criteria looks like more tree-hugging than real statistics.

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

The UNDP may be a tree hugging organization, but the HDI is just simplistic. It isn't bad, just limited. It has 3 components, income education and life expectancy:

The first Human Development Report (1990) introduced a new way of measuring development by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment and income into a composite human development index, the HDI (see box 1 below). The breakthrough for the HDI was the creation of a single statistic which was to serve as a frame of reference for both social and economic development. The HDI sets a minimum and a maximum for each dimension, called goalposts, and then shows where each country stands in relation to these goalposts, expressed as a value between 0 and 1.

The educational component of the HDI is comprised of adult literacy rates and the combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, weighted to give adult literacy more significance in the statistic. Since the minimum adult literacy rate is 0% and the maximum is 100%, the literacy component of knowledge for a country where the literacy rate is 75% would be 0.75, the statistic for combined gross enrolment is calculated in a analogous manner. The life expectancy component of the HDI is calculated using a minimum value for life expectancy of 25 years and maximum value of 85 years, so the longevity component for a country where life expectancy is 55 years would be 0.5. For the wealth component, the goalpost for minimum income is $100 (PPP) and the maximum is $40,000 (PPP). The HDI uses the logarithm of income, to reflect the diminishing importance of income with increasing GDP. The scores for the three HDI components are then averaged in an overall index.

 

[noblegas]

How does one define "best"? "Best" is subjective. Best could refer to a country with the highest income status, country with with the lowest suicide rate, could refer to a country with the with the most freedoms or best could be defined as a country having the highest happiness index such as denmark(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/denmark-is-the-worlds-happiest-country--official-410075.html)

 

[Evo]

The UNDP may be a tree hugging organization, but the HDI is just simplistic. It isn't bad, just limited. It has 3 components, income education and life expectancy:

Sorry, I am so bad, but the mistake below is just hysterical considering the context.

The educational component of the HDI is comprised of adult literacy rates and the combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, weighted to give adult literacy more significance in the statistic.

Bolding is mine.

 

[Phrak]

The UNDP has made a new ranking: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

They seem not motivated to disclose how they stick their thumb in the air to gauge temperature. What good are they but for spot filler on entertainment news?

 

[russ_watters]

They seem not motivated to disclose how they stick their thumb in the air to gauge temperature. What good are they but for spot filler on entertainment news?

I'm not sure what you mean by that first part, but the usefulness of this (to me) is more in tracking the changes in the human conditions using this rough standard as a lens.

 

[arildno]

To see why such a report IS extremely simplistic as russ watters said, and, indeed, misleading, let's take Norway:

In the course of, in practice, strangling the the possibility for small-to-medium businesses to take on apprentices in the 1980s and 1990s (WAY too costly and time-consuming),
the number of 15-18 year olds who were in need for something to do,mushroomed.

However, since their "natural" growth zone would have been apprenticeships, but these were withered away, they were to be put into the higher level theoretical schools instead.

Since they didn't (and don't) have either the inclination or competence to attend such schools, the requirements for them to enter them have been removed (all Norwegian youth have now the "right" for a place in the school, normally up to 18 years of age, but stretchable to 21), and the curricular demands have plummeted as well, in order to maximize the number of pupils passing on their final exams.

Not that it has worked very well, though, at the more craft-oriented schools, the drop-out rate is well above 30%, not that much less on the theoretical schools (guesstimate: 15-20%).


However, the simplistic calculation in the HDI will most likely give the Norwegian school system five stars, although it actually is in total shambles, something international tests like PISA have shown conclusively.

 

[Alfi]

hehehe - sounds like a bunch of 'sour grape' posts from people not in the top ten eh.

 

[leroyjenkens]

I'm surprised the United States is so high on the list.

 

[BobG]

The UNDP may be a tree hugging organization, but the HDI is just simplistic. It isn't bad, just limited. It has 3 components, income education and life expectancy:

How does one define "best"? "Best" is subjective. Best could refer to a country with the highest income status, country with with the lowest suicide rate, could refer to a country with the with the most freedoms or best could be defined as a country having the highest happiness index such as denmark(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/denmark-is-the-worlds-happiest-country--official-410075.html)

Yes, the HDI is simplistic with only 3 components. At a minimum, public nudity should be included in the rankings, since it improves quality of life. I think that category should pretty much sink countries like Norway, Iceland, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Or maybe not.

How is it the leading countries in public nudity are Scandinavian countries and Germany? Don't they own thermometers?

 

[arildno]

hehehe - sounds like a bunch of 'sour grape' posts from people not in the top ten eh.

Since I happen to be Norwegian, I'm not quite sure what you mean.

Something is rotten in the state of Norway.
(Actually, Denmark fares better)

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Yes, the HDI is simplistic with only 3 components. At a minimum, public nudity should be included in the rankings, since it improves quality of life. I think that category should pretty much sink countries like Norway, Iceland, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. Or maybe not.

How is it the leading countries in public nudity are Scandinavian countries and Germany? Don't they own thermometers?

One more time, Finland friends

Pleased you liked it.
Hope this doesn't offend anyone

 

[f95toli]

However, the simplistic calculation in the HDI will most likely give the Norwegian school system five stars, although it actually is in total shambles, something international tests like PISA have shown conclusively.

Well, I visited my brothers new school last week (he is 11 years old) and it seemed VERY nice and his parent are very happy with it. It was certainly the best equiped school I've ever seen anywhere in Sweden or in the UK.

So although you are probably right in that there are problems, I am not at all sure that the they are any worse than in Norway than in other European countries. Problems with the "quality" of education similar to what you describe is certainly always on the agende here in the UK (althoughI have no experience whatsoever when it comes to the school system here, so I don't know if this is only media hype or not, I just know that people have always complained about "kids today")

 

[mheslep]

I'm surprised the United States is so high on the list.

It is usually higher. GDP PPP per cap, one of the components of the score, took a larger hit than many OECD countries.